Lecture 110
Introduction to Typography | “Working with Typography in InDesign"
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- InDesign 2.3: “Working With Text”
- InDesign 2.4: “Working With The Character Palette”
- InDesign 2.5: “Working With The Paragraph Palette”
- InDesign 2.6: "Working with Character Styles"
- InDesign 2.7: "Working with Paragraph Styles"
Lecture Notes for Lecture 110: Typography
Typography
Typefaces (definition of terms)
Style
- Styles:
- Regular
- Italic
- Bold
- They are often used to provide contrast and emphasis
- Choose style from within the font family, not through the operating system
Weight
- Refers to the lightness or darkness of letterforms marked by changes in stroke (line) width
- Weights:
- Light
- Medium
- Bold
- Design By: Giampietro+Smith
Width
- Refers to different variations within a typeface family
- Widths:
- Condensed
- Compressed
- Extended
- Design By: Capsule
x-height
- Refers to the height of the x
- lowercase letters without ascenders or descenders
- easily determined by looking at the letter “x”
cap-height
- Refers to the height of capital letters
- cap-height is measured from baseline to capline
- x-height and cap-height vary by typeface and are useful comparisons
- Design By: Henderson Bromstead Art Co.
counters
- white spaces located inside and around letterforms
- affect legibility, readability and density
- thin fonts at large type sizes have open counters that can overpower light strokes
- the opposite is true for bold fonts
- Design By: Giampietro+Smith
small capitals
- complete sets of uppercase letters that are the same height as lowercase letters
- often used when large capitals would result in unwanted emphasis (acronyms/abbreviations)
- Design By: Kontour
lining and non-lining figures
- lining figures are a set of numerals with the same width and height as full capitals
- non-lining figures share the same x-height as lowercase letters and include ascenders and descenders
- Design By: Kontour
ligatures
- a specially designed character produced by combining two or three characters together
- basically ligatures replace letters that would otherwise collide
- Design By: nb:studio
choosing the right font...
typeface selection
- what is the longevity of the piece?
- what is the purpose of the piece?
- innovative or outdated?
- traditional or too conservative?
- Design By: No.Parking
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- compare side by side for...
- readability
- emotion evoked
- legibility
- reflect the needs of the client and the viewer
- Design By: Capsule
combining typefaces
- A single type family with a range of fonts will satisfy any project
- Adding multiple type families extends the possibilities within the design
- Design By: nb:studio
combining typefaces
- Serif & Sans Serif typefaces are typically combined if...
- they have similar x-heights and widths
- Big Caslon and Myriad Pro
combining typefaces
- Remember display and script typefaces for titles, headings and sub-headings
- Design By: Kontour
- Design By: No.Parking
designing with type
legibility and readability
- essential for successful communication
- legibility = recognition of individual letter forms and their relative position to other letters
- readability = how the typography is presented to the viewer as words, lines and paragraphs
- Design By: No.Parking
objective representation
- practical and straightforward
- clear and ordered presentation of information
- Design By: No.Parking
subjective representation
- conceptual and interpretive
- heavily focused on theme or idea that creates an experience
- Design By: Kontour
macro perspectives
- the overall design layout
- establishes the format of the composition
- contains the typographic hierarchy and the placement of elements
- Design By: Giampietro+Smith
- Design By: Giampietro+Smith
micro perspectives
- attention to small details like kerning, spacing, and ragging
- ensure a clean presentation and consistent application
- Design By: Giampietro+Smith
- Design By: Kontour
symmetry and asymmetry
- symmetrical = balance and harmony
- asymmetrical = activity and motion
- Design By: Kontour
alignment
- the horizontal and vertical position of typography within the margins
- alignment creates visual relationships between the elements of design
- Design By: Kontour
- Design By: Kontour
typographic color
- refers to the density of typographic elements and their perceived gray value
- the overall lightness or darkness of the page
- Design By: Kontour
type size
- measured in points
- changes in type size often result in nice hierarchy of elements
- develop a proportionate scale of type sizes
- Design By: Meghan Eplett
case
- lowercase letters are more readable than uppercase letters
- UPPERCASE EMPHASIZES LETTER TO LETTER RECOGNITION (WHICH SLOWS DOWN READING)
kerning
- adjusts spacing between individual letters
- used to correct letter collisions and unwanted spaces
- allows the text to flow and read smoothly
- Check: Ty, Va, Yi, 11, 19
tracking
- adjusts spacing between words, lines and paragraphs
- can greatly improve readability
- also influences typographic color
- don’t track lowercase letters!
- Design By: Kontour
leading
- space between lines of text measured from one baseline to the next
- tall x-heights, heavy typefaces and sans serifs need more leading that shorter, lighter wider and serif typefaces
- Design By: Kontour
- Design By: Meghan Eplett
About the Author:
Grant Adams
Associate Professor of Architecture
Diablo Valley College
www.youtube.com/digitaltoolsforarch | @270Photos | www.lulu.com/spotlight/dtfa | www.vimeo.com/grantadams