Typography

Typography is an Artform in itself, in fact in early printing techniques it was and is certainly still a craft. It is extremely important to have a good understanding of its fundamental characteristics and creative rules of use.

Because of its wide variety of uses, from web base pages to signage to publications and press advertising. A good understanding of typography and the knowledge of its creative and functional uses comes from years of experience. Its one of those things that is often overlooked but truly influential and can lift a design message vastly without the audience ever considering what effort has gone into the precise task of utilising it.

Choosing the right font for the message you want to communicate needs considerable visual understanding. It is important to know the structure of letterforms, how to deal with spacing (letter spacing, word spacing and leading) and also type sizes. Even if it appears on a computer screen and not on a printed document, the content should still be pleasing to look at and easy to read. Making for a lasting impression to help people to want to read into the purpose of the device.

Designing for a computer screen has its own set of problems. The elastic nature of a web page, which has to work across different platforms and screen sizes, is a task for any graphic designer.

It is the Wizarts job to understand these issues and to address them - to maintain control when everything else is shifting. Within web pages, most of the text has been "poured" into areas on the page, any current browser will take a block of text and display it on the computer screen in a reasonable typeface and size but with considerably less control than an ancient typewriter. This is why we sometimes use graphics to control the general look and feel of a website, whilst still maintaining content for SEO.

Some simple steps for a better understanding of typography

Measure
The Measure is the name given to the width of a body of type. There are several units of measurement used for defining the Measure’s width. The three basic units are:

Leading
A simple rule is your leading should be wider than your word spacing. This is because when the balance is correct, your eye will move along the line easily instead of down the lines. If your measure is wider than the guidelines for optimum legibility then increase the leading, or line-height as it’s some times wrongly called. This will have the effect of increasing legibility. Your leading should increase proportionally to your Measure. Small Measure, less leading. Wide Measure, more leading. It’s a simple but effective rule.

Reversing
When reversing colour out, eg white text on black, make sure you increase the leading, tracking and decrease your font-weight. This applies to all widths of Measure. White text on a black background is a higher contrast to the opposite, so the letter forms need to be wider apart, lighter in weight and have more space between the lines.

Tracking
The general rule of thumb in tracking your words (not the characters) is that the shorter the line length the tighter the tracking, the opposite is also true.

Following these simple rules will ensure your bodies of text will be as legible as they can be. These rules come from a typo graphic craft back ground which unfortunately, for our industry in particular, are not being taught as much as they should be in the art schools around the world. As a result they are not being practiced and correct, well-considered typography is basically taking a nose-dive.

It’s our responsibility, as designers, to embrace the rules which are born of a craft which goes back hundreds of years. It's quite a shame to see so many bad cases of typography around, especially now that desktop computing is everywhere. 

For design with Typography skill:
Email us or call today on 9894 7504
or visit us personally at our Graphic Design Studio in Blackburn, the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. Contact us today and see just how easy we are to work with.