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Typography Basics

Designers use typography to communicate a client's message to an audience. They explore the creative possibilities presented by words (typography). It is up to the designer not only to find or create appropriate letterforms but also to establish the best balance between them.

The Legibility of a Font

Legibility is the measure of how quickly a font can be read. The choice of color in relation to its background can have a strong effect on the legibility of a font.

Very Legible

Fonts are usually selected for either their legibility or their stylistic effect. The balance between legibility and style is one of the important factors to be considered when choosing a font for a design.

Serif fonts like 'Times New Roman' above are the easiest to read. They usually appeal more to an older target audience who are more concerned with content than style.

Less  Legible

Novelty fonts like 'Monoton' are fun but are less legible and inclined to date quickly. They tend to appeal more to a younger target audience who often prefer style over content.

Calligraphic or script fonts like 'Old English Text', especially in capitals, are often the most illegible.

illegibe.gif

Fonts

The term 'Font' was originally used to identify the design elements in a typeface e.g. bold, underlined, or italic.

Bold type can add an emphasis or strength to a font.

Underlined type is an effective way of emphasising the title of a document. It can also be used to call attention to an important section of text.

Italic type can also emphasize an important word or passage of text, but it tends to be used in a more informal context. Italic fonts have an animated style and are often selected for designs where there is a need to convey the illusion of speed and energy.

Typefaces

The term 'Typeface' was originally used to identify a family of fonts.

'Century' is a typeface. The fonts above are all members of the 'Century' family. Their height is measured in points - the standard unit for printed text. There are about 72 points to one inch.

Although the above fonts are all the same height, note how their width varies according to their style. Some fonts are more suited to fitting into a confined area of a design, while others like to spread themselves out.

T   T

San Serif     Serif

There are two main font types: serif and sans-serif.

Serifs are the extended corners at the ends of a letter and like all good design, they evolved naturally. They originated in the stone-carved letters of the Ancient Romans. Stone masons discovered that it was technically easier to finish chiseling the ends of a letter in a slow curve. Not only did serifs look more elegant but they were also very practical as they formed a natural channel for water or rain to flow away as it cleaned dust from the corners.

Serif fonts are the most legible and are commonly used for large blocks of text. Their wide horizontal baseline emphasizes the line of text for the eye and makes reading more comfortable.

Sans-serif fonts are simply fonts without serifs ('sans' means 'without' in French). They are also sometimes called Gothic fonts.

Kerning
Kerning describes the space between letters or characters. Proper kerning keeps two letters or characters from becoming too close together. Without proper kerning, readers may misinterpret the letters in a piece of text.

 

Tracking
Tracking describes the space between words. Without proper tracking, the text can seem too squished or too spaced out.

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