Biology Typography Assignment

Typography

Graphic Elements: Type

Typography

 The art and process of arranging type

on a page

Characteristics of type - parts

of a letter form

 Em

 En

Categories of Type



The character of type

 Every typeface has a distinctive rhythm

of strokes and spaces

 This gives type it’s “personality,” “feel,”

or “character.”

Typeface

 Font

 Style

 Italic

 Bold

 Semi-bold

 Condensed

 Black

 Etc

Six aspects of a typeface

 Case

 All upper (or smalls caps) is hard to read

 Stroke weight

 Medium is easiest to read,

 Heavy stands out,

 Thin lightens a layout

 Width

Six aspects of a typeface

 Posture (variation from straight up and down)

 Italics are hard to read

 Serif/Sans Serif

 Decorative/Neutral

Type Size

 Type is traditionally measured in points

 72 points = 1 inch

 Pica

 12 points = 1 pica

 6 picas = 72 points= 1 inch

 The larger the point size the larger the type

 Small point 9 -12 pt is best for body text

sizes

 Larger point sizes > 18 pt are

considered headline or display sizes

Type size and letter style

 In smaller sizes type looks uniform

 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah

 When it is enlarged, changes in character height, stroke width, and shape become apparent



 Spacing must change at different sizes

 Smaller type needs more space

 Choose type with a larger stroke for small

sizes

Letter spacing

 Letterspacing: the space between

individual letters and characters

 Tracking - whole line

 Kerning - individual letters

Kerning Pairs

Line spacing

 Leading: the vertical space between

lines of type

 It is often difficult to read type with tight letter spacing and leading

 Wide letter spacing in short texts such as headlines or a name can seem stylish and sophisticated

 Increased space between letterforms and lines can impact legibility of message

Characteristics of type - word /

line / paragraph

 Leading

 Flush left

 Ragged right

 Justified

Characteristics of type - word /

line / paragraph

 Centered

 Text wrap

Running ragged

 Justified = Rivers

 Ragged  Organic unforced “ripple”

 Optimal rag = 1/5 to 1/7 of paragraph width

 Hyphenation

 Line length

 Deep rag - can be desirable for effect  Must be consistent

Line Length

 An important component of designing readable text

 Long lines of type are hard to read

 Really short lines are tedious to read

 For best legibility-line length should be no more than approx. 50 to 60 characters.

Type optics

 Type changes when reversed (cut out, or knock out)  Reversed type reads best with a uniform stroke weight

 Serif reversed type is hard to read

 Never use typefaces that are similar, either use the same font family or use very different (serif / san serif) typefaces.