Understanding typography in design, part two of two. Legibility issues, alignment, leading and kerning.

2. The UnderstandingCentury Type Design
Evolution of 20th Typography
Part Two
Legibility issues and typographic design principles

3. Adjusting Text Spacing
Leading and Kerning
Leading: The space in between lines of text
Term refers to lead pieces inserted in between lines of type
to add more space on old fashioned printing presses

4. Adjusting Text Spacing
Leading and Kerning
Kerning: Spacing in between individual letters
and words in a single line of text

5. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility: Making sure the audience can read your text
Similarity, alignment: Creating organization of information
Uniformity and consistency: Repeating elements in a composition
to direct the viewer s attention and create design harmony
Hierarchy: Organizing information in terms of its importance to the viewer
Contrast: Creating interest and distinguishing different types of information
with different typefaces

6. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility
Legibility is a combination of factors:
Font family
Font size
Letter, word, and line spacing
Alignment
Font and background colors

7. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility

8. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility
Font sizes above 14 points break down the continuity of large blocks of text,
making words difficult for readers to follow

9. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility
Other Legibility Issues: If letters, words, or lines are too close together,
readers have a hard time because text blocks tend to look too dark

10. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility
Other Legibility Issues: If letters, words, or lines are too far apart, readers
have a hard time because blocks of text tend to look too light, causing
readers to lose a sense of continuity

11. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility
Other Legibility Issues: Spacing between words should be consistent to
promote legibility; too much variation in letter and line leads to eyestrain

12. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility
Other Legibility Issues: White type on a black background can also make
large blocks of text difficult to read
This type of typographic treatment usually works best on headline or subhead
areas of a layout

13. Typographic Design Principles
Legibility
Other Legibility Issues: Certain color combinations, particularly those lacking
strong contrast (such as yellow type on white background) are difficult to read

14. Typographic Design Principles
Unity and Concordance
To maintain overall uniformity, limit the number of different font families per
page to two or three at most
Use the same font for headings and body text to produce a uniform look;
this is known as concordance

15. Typographic Design Principles
Contrast
Using the same font family throughout a
layout creates uniformity but may make
documents seem visually boring
To add contrast, combine two font families
(for example, one serif and one sans serif
or script font)
Heading and body type can use different
fonts to separate information and create
visual interest

16. Typographic Design Principles
Hierarchy
Hierarchy helps your audience distinguish between levels
of information, such as title, header, subhead and body
Information can be set apart by changing font family,
font type, size, color
To maintain unity, keep typographic choices consistent
for each section throughout a layout

17. Typographic Design Principles
Hierarchy
Top-level headings can use unconventional
typographic treatments
Different levels use different font sizes,
families, colors, and leading to arrange
and separate information

18. Typographic Design Principles
Other Things to Consider
Copy length: Choose fonts that will allow for the best readability and flexibility
of arrangement (kerning, leading, etc) when typesetting large amounts of text
Line length: Blocks of text that are either too long or too short are difficult to read
Character count should be between 35 to 70 characters long as general rule of thumb
Type should not be adjusted by stretching it on the computer; this distorts its appearance
Use the kerning and leading tools available in computer software instead

19. Text Alignment
Flush Left
Type lines up on the left with ragged the right margin
Advantage: Easy to read in large blocks
Disadvantage: Pay attention to the shape made
by the right edge of the text
Text shape should be convex (curve outward) rather
than concave (curve inward)
Avoid putting very short lines of text next to long ones

20. Text Alignment
Flush Right
Aligns text to the right; leaves ragged left edge
Advantage: Allows designer control over kerning
spacing of text on individual lines
Disadvantage: Can be hard for the reader to follow
lines of type if they don t line up under one another
on the left
Best used for small amounts of type

21. Text Alignment
Centered
Type that aligns along the middle axis in a composition
Advantage: Just like with left and right justification,
designer can control word spacing for good legibility
Disadvantage: Can be difficult for the reader to find
the beginning of the next line of text when lines
don t justify left
Works best using small areas of type, such as lists,
headlines, etc.

22. Text Alignment
Justified
Aligns type on both the left and right edge
Advantage: If done correctly, this can make
areas of text appear uniform and clean, giving
crisp edges on both sides of an area of text
Disadvantage: Harder to control word spacing

23. Text Alignment
Random Asymmetrical
No apparent structure to type
Advantage: Can be used to create unusual
or unexpected effects
Disadvantage: Can be extremely difficult for readers
to follow due to lack of apparent structure

24. Text Alignment
Organization with Alignment
Aligned text creates a visual line in a design; such lines help
readers draw connections between different parts of a document

25. Text Alignment
Other Considerations
Rivers: Bad words spacing can create rivers,
or unintentional areas of white space that flow down
a page and create a visual distraction for the reader

26. Text Alignment
Other Considerations
Orphan: An orphan is a short line that appears at the top of a column
Occurs when the last word of a paragraph continues onto the next page
A word that floats on a page by itself is distracting and confuses the reader
Also applies to paragraphs- bad typography to begin first sentence of
a paragraph at the end of a page

27. Text Alignment
Other Considerations
Widow: A very short line at the end of a paragraph
Can be a single word, short phrase or the last syllable
of a hyphenated word