1. Word
Noun: A single distinct meaningful element
of speech or writing, used with others (or
sometimes alone) to form a sentence and
typically shown...
Verb: Choose and use particular words in
order to say or write (something).
Exclamation: Used to express agreement:
"“That Jay is one dangerous character.”
“Word.”".
Synonyms: noun. speech - vocable - prom-
ise
verb. phrase - formulate - couch - verbalize

2. Impact
The choice of words is one of the key com-
ponenets of persuasive commnication.
However, in written language, words have
the greatest impact when they are readable
and legible. This is achieved by a number of
techniques, some of which shall be shown
on the following pages.
One of the key considerations in the impact
of a word is CONTRAST.
Contrast can be created using size, colour,
direction and font type. It is created when
a specific voice is placed next to an oppos-
ing voice, often a directly opposing voice.
High contrast can be used to create, among
other things, a sense of urgency, strength,
obviousness or irony.

3. Size
The voice of a piece is affected by font size.
Larger font sizes will seem louder, smaller
will seem quieter. Larger size will convey
boldness, confidence, surety and, in the
right context, attitude. Smaller will seem
subtle, an afterthought, or in the right
context, even smarmy. Much of the power
font size has over the voice of a piece is in
context with other elements on the page.
This same concept is often seen in
advertising. The disparity between large
and small text is used to differentiate
important information from the less
important.
The illustration from the jiong.com
home page you can see how your eye is
immediately drawn to the “super sized” G.
In fact the word “ Jiong” is the first thing
you pay attention to on the page. The key
point here is that the font used for the
lettering is the same.

4. Weight
The weight of words can be used to
emphasise or to make things stand out in
contrast.
The image to the right ‘Titler’ home page
combines bold and ultra bold versions of
the type face with the Roman , the eye is
immediately drawn to the words “have”,
“a” and “you”. The contrast principal of size
is also at play here.
In the example below, Carl Dair uses this
idea to great effect, where the contrast of
weight is immediately eviednt in a brouchre
produces by Carl Dair in the early 1950s.

5. Texture
Texture is derived from the letterforms and
how they are arranged on the page. Dair’s
description of this is both succinct and
artistic :”Like threads in a cloth types form
the fabric of our daily communication.”
The image below, from the Getty Research
Library was designed by Cirus Studios of Los
Angeles is a great example of typographic
contrast from the Getty Research Institute.

6. Typesetting
This is purely an aesthetic aspect of
typography.
Typesetting is used to affect the spaces
between individual words, between
individual letters, and the vertical spacing
between lines.
Generally speaking, the tighter the spacing
the better, insofar as readability is not
negatively effected. Tighter spacing will
make your text look more professional and
thought out. Bolder and larger fonts can
take much tighter spacing and still remain
readable than can skinny or small fonts.
The vertical space between the individual
lines of a block of copy can be manipulated
to give the writing a specific meeter that
can accentuate a piece well.

7. Kerning
Kerning refers to the space between two
letters where as tracking refers to a group
of characters. Some pairs of letters need
more spacing between them so kerning is a
way to rectify this.

8. Tracking
Adjusting the overall spacing of a group of
letters is called tracking.
By expanding the tracking across a word,
line, or entire block of text, the designer
can create a more airy, open field. In
blocks of text, tracking is usually applied
in small increments, creating a subtle
effect not noticeable to the casual reader.
Occasionally, a single word or phrase is
tracked for emphasis, especially when
CAPS or small caps are used within a line.
Negative tracking, rarely desirable in text
sizes, can be used sparingly to help bring
up a short line of text.
White type on a black background is
considered more legible when it is tracked.

9. Word spacing
EVEN WORD SPACING
If word spaces are too large, they break the
lines up into separate elements and disrupt
reading. This is especially true if justified
type is used on a short line length. If the
word spaces are too small, it becomes dif-
ficult to distinguish each separate word. A
good trick to use to check word spacing is
to turn the page upside down and squint at
it. Excessively large word spaces will stand
out. Be especially careful with condensed
and expanded fonts, reversed type, and
vertical, narrow typefaces (like Bodoni).
EVEN LETTER SPACING
When letters are correctly spaced, a para-
graph of type takes on an even color. From
a distance it should look like a screened
gray block. The shade of gray will depend
on the heaviness of the typeface. Any inter-
ference with normal letter spacing is very
hard to read. If the letter spacing is uneven,
darker spots stand out in places against the
gray color. Often, tight tracking will create
uneven letter spacing.

10. Ligatures
A ligature is a single sort in which two or
more letters are joined, usually to improve
the space between them. There are a few
ligatures that are still seen today, such as
the connected fi, fl, the triple play ffl, and
sometimes even the stylish ct ligature. A
typographic diphthong is a glyph of two
vowels spliced together, and it symbolizes
a phonemic diphthong, two linked vowel
sounds. Ligatures and diphthongs are also
known as tied characters, tied letters, and
sometimes quaints.

11. Other special characters
Some of the other special characters for
legibility or for added interest include:
SWASHES
Swashes are fancy characters that are used
in small quantities to add interest to type.
They are not usually included in the stand-
ard font set, but often appear as Expert
Sets.
OLD STYLE FIGURES (NUMBERS)
The numbers in a regular font are usually
larger and sit on the baselines. When these
regular numbers appear in text they seem
out of place. Oldstyle figures (available in
Expert Sets) fit in better with lowercase let-
ters because they also have ascenders and
descenders.

12. Punctuation
Punctuation is important to consider as
a typographer, as text can be difficult to
understand or it can be misleading if used
incorrectly.
There is more to punctuation than just
periods, of course. As every type designer
soon realizes, a complete font set will also
need an apostrophe (’), colon (:), semicolon
(;), comma (,), hyphen (-), an en-dash (–),
an em-dash (—), ellipsis

13. Punctuation...
Dashes, Rules and Dot Leaders
The smallest typographic line is the hy-
phen, the short dash used to link hyphen-
ated words and for wordbreaks at the end
of a line. Ems and ens return to help de-
scribe the other line dashes: the en dash,
the width of an en space, and the em dash,
a popular line the width of an em space.
Accent marks, which rest over and under
the letters of foreign expressions, are also
known as diacritical marks or diacritics.
Some common diacritics are the acute or
aigu (é), the cedille (ç), the caret, circum-
flex or circonflexe (ê), the grave (à), the
tilde or swung dash (ñ), and the umlaut,
a feature in many German words (ü), is
identical to the diaeresis or trema (ö) that
is rare and not mandatory in English (don’t
be naïve), but is a regular feature of Dutch,
French and Spanish.