Graphic Design 1 - Typography

Multi-column grids' unique characteristics:

- Margins that provide boundaries for typographic elements and define active space on the page - Text columns - Gutters that separate text columns - Flow lines that create a dominant axis for the alignment of elements from page to page

Three specific variables related to columns govern these relationships:

- Proportion of column height to width - Texture (the tactile appearance of the type) - Tone (the lightness and darkness of type) *It is through the manipulation of these variables that pages become visually activated, balanced and organized.

Essential three independent variables to balance when working with multi-column grids:

- Type size - Line length - Interline spacing (leading)

Bowl

A curved stroke enclosing the counterform of a letter. An exception is the bottom form of the lowercase roman g, which is called a loop.

Shoulder

A curved stroke projecting from a stem.

Tail

A diagonal stroke or loop at the end of a letter, as in R, y or j.

The Univers Family

A full range of typographic expression and visual contrast becomes possible when all the major characters - weight, proportion, and angle - are unified in one family. It has 21 type styles and was design by Adrian Frutiger. Frutiger used numerals to designate the typefaces. The 55 version is the "parent" face; its stroke weight and proportions are the norm from which all the other designs were developed.

Stem

A major vertical or diagonal stroke in the letterform

Arm

A projecting horizontal stroke that is unattached on one or both ends, as in the letters T and E

Spur

A projection--smaller than a serif--that reinforces the point at the end of a curved stroke, as in the letter G.

Em Quad

A quad that is a square of the point size

En Quad

A quad that is one-half of an em quad

Ear

A small stroke that projects from the upper right side of the bowl of the lowercase roman g.

Ascender

A stroke on a lowercase letter that rises above the meanline.

Descender

A stroke on a lowercase letterform that falls below the baseline.

Tracking

Adjusting the space between letters in an entire word

Kerning

Adjusting the space between two letters

Visual Hierarchy

An arrangement of elements in a graduated series, from the most prominent to the least prominent.

Meanline

An imaginary line that establishes the height of the body of lowercase letters.

Capline

An imaginary line that runs along the tops of the capital letters.

Baseline

An imaginary line upon which the base of each capital rests.

Grid

An underlying framework used by designers to organize information within a spatial field. It is a system characterized by the dualities of freedom and constraint, simplicity and complexity.

Stroke

Any of the linear elements within a letterform: originally, any mark or dash made by the movement of a pen or brush in writing.

Dingbats

Assorted signs, symbols, reference marks, and ornaments designed for use with type font

Old Style history

Began with designs of the punchcutter Francesco Griffo. Griffo's designs evolve from earlier Italian type designs.

The parts of letterforms

Capline, meanline, x-height, baseline, beard line

Accented characters

Characters with accents for foreign language typesetting

Small caps

Complete set of capital letters that are the same height as the x-height of the lowercase letters. These are often used for abbreviations, cross references, and emphasis.

Transitional (history)

During the 1700's, typestyles gradually evolved from Old Style to Modern. Typefaces from the middle of the eighteenth century, including those by John Baskerville, are called __________.

Typographic counterparts

Elements with similar qualities that bring harmony to their spatial relationship

Modern

Evolved to have extreme contrasts between thick and thin strokes. Thin strokes are reduced to hairlines. The weight stress of rounded characters is vertical. Serifs are horizontal hairlines that join the stems at the right angle without bracketing. The uppercase width is regularized; wide letters such as M and W are condensed and other letters, like P and T, are expanded. Has a strong geometric quality projected by rigorous horizontal, vertical, and circular forms.

Superior Figures

Hangs from the capline

Egyptian (or Slab-Serif) (history)

In 1815, English type-founder Vincent Figgins introduced this kind of typestyle under the name Antique. At the time, there was a mania for ancient _________ artifacts, hence the name.

Color

Incorporating ______ into type significantly affects legibility. Legibility suffers as the contrast between type and background diminish. When type and background are assigned complimentary colors (i.e. - red type on green background) legibility is reduced. Adjusting the value of either color improves contrast and thus makes the text easier to read.

Second digit of Univers Family classification

Indicates expansion and contraction of the spaces within and between the letters, which results in expanded and condensed styles.

Even numbers of Univers Family classification

Indicates oblique fonts

Odd numbers of Univers Family classification

Indicates roman fonts

First digit of Univers Family classification

Indicates stroke weight, three being the lightest and eight being the heaviest

Types of type alignment

Justified, flush left/ragged right, flush right/ragged left, and centered

Modern (didot) (history)

Late in the 1700's, this typeface evolved to have extreme contrasts between thick and thin strokes.

Italic

Letterforms that slant to the right. Some styles are based on handwriting with connected strokes and are called scripts.

Monetary symbols

Logograms used to signify monetary systems. (U.S. dollar, British pound, etc.)

Double space tap

Never place two word spaces after periods, commas, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation marks. One space is all you need after punctuation.

Lining figures

Numbers that are the same height as the capital letters and sit on the baseline.

Serifs

Provide some of the most identifiable features of typefaces. Those that appear most often in typefaces include: straight, oblique, bracketed, unbracketed, squared, rounded, wedged, concave, pointed, hairline, sans serif, and hybrid stroke terminals.

Typographic counterpoint

Relationships that bring opposition and dissonance to the design.

Posture

Roman letters that slant to the right but are structurally the same as upright. These letters are referred to as oblique. Italic letters, which are based on handwriting, are structurally different from these letters of the same type family. Italic letters with connecting strokes are called scripts. The angle of these letters varies from typeface to typeface; however, a slant of approximately 12% is considered to be normal.

Font families

Screen fonts are bitmaps, which are digitized images made up of tiny dots. To render a letterform on screen, it must be rasterized, or converted to tiny dots called pixels. Many typefaces lose their beautiful nuances when on screen

Capitals

Set of large letters that are used in the initial position

Old Style Figures

Set of numbers that are compatible with lowercase letters; 1, 2, and 0 align with the x-height; 6 and 8 have ascenders; and 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 have descenders.

Serifs (anatomy)

Short strokes that extend from and at an angle to the upper and lower ends of the major strokes of a letterform.

Recommendations for kerning, leading, and tracking

Should be based on the spatial character of the typeface in use. This applies to both text and display settings. Don't kern for no reason.

Inferior figures

Sits on the baseline

Superior and inferior figures

Small numbers, usually slightly smaller than the x-height, used for footnotes and fractions. Superior figures hang from the capline, and inferior figures sit on the baseline.

Lowercase

Smaller set of letters, so named because in metal typesetting these were stored in the lower part of the type case

Anti-Aliasing

Technique used to replace the jagged edge created by pixels with an illusion of the smooth curves found in well-designed typeface.

Stress

The _______ of letters, which is a prominent visual axis resulting from the relationships between thick and thin strokes, may be left-angled, vertical, or right angled in appearance.

Loop

The bottom form of the lowercase roman g.

Fillet (or bracket)

The contoured edge that connects the serif and stem in bracketed serifs. (Bracketed serifs are connected to the main stroke by this curved edge: unbracketed serifs connect to the main stroke with an abrupt angle without this contoured transition.)

Transitional

The contrast between thick and thin strokes are greater than in Old Style faces. Lowercase serifs are more horizontal, and the stress within the rounded forms shifts to a less diagonal axis. They are usually wider than Old Style characters.

X-height

The distance from the baseline to the meanline. Typically, this is the height of lowercase letters and is most easily measured by on the lowercase x.

Eye

The enclosed part of the lowercase e.

Terminal

The end of any stroke that does not terminate with a serif.

Sans Serif (history)

The first kind of this typestyle appeared in an 1816 book by Willian Caslon IV. The most obvious characteristic is the absence of serifs.

Leading in legibility

The higher the _______, the more white space will appear between lines of text. Increased white space can help with legibility, especially when using colored text. Increased ______ also makes the text appear lighter in color.

Crossbar

The horizontal stroke connecting two sides of the letterform (as in e, A, and H) or bisecting the main stroke (as in f and t).

Leg

The lower diagonal stroke on the letter k.

Sans Serif

The most obvious characteristic is the absence of serifs. In many of these typefaces, strokes are uniform, with little or no contrast between thick and thin strokes. Stress is almost always vertical. Many of these typefaces are geometric in their construction; others combine both organic and geometric qualities.

Counter

The negative space that is fully or partially enclosed by a letterform.

Legibility

The perception of a letter is based upon the form/counterform relationship (or figure/ground). Counterforms are as significant to legibility as the shapes of the letter themselves.

Hinting

The reshaping of outlines of characters to create the best possible image at various point sizes. This alters the actual outlines of letters by selectively activating pixels.

Link

The stroke that connects the bowl and the loop of a lowercase roman g.

Hairline

The thinnest strokes within a typeface which has strokes of varying weights.

Leading

The vertical distance between two lines of type (also called line spacing). Default setting in most layout and imaging software is 120% of the type size. Thus 10-point type is set with 12 points of ___________.

Egyptian (or slab-serif)

These typestyles have heavy square or rectangular serifs that are usually unbracketed. The stress or curved strokes are often minimal. In some of these typefaces, all strokes are the same weight.

Verdana and Georgia information

They were designed by Matthew Carter and hinted by Thomas Rickner. Most digital typefaces are designed as outline fonts that are used to generate bitmapped screen fonts. These two were first designed typefaces as bitmaps of pixels, then they were translated into outline fonts.

Weight

This is a feature defined by the ratio between the relative width of the strokes of letterforms and their height. On the average, a letter of normal ________ possesses a stroke width of approximately 15% of its height, whereas bold is 20% of its height, and light is 10%. _________ include, ultra light, extra light, light, normal, bold, extra bold, and ultra bold.

Italic history

Today, we use this primarily for emphasis and differentiation. When this style first appeared, printed by Aldus Manutius in 1501, it was used as an independent typestyle. The first _______ characters were close-set and condensed; therefore, Manutius was able to get more words on each line.

Ligatures

Two or more characters linked together as one unit, such as ff. The ampersand is a ligature originating as a letter combination for the French word et ("and") in medieval manuscripts.

Alignments and Typographic Form

Typographic form becomes lively and harmonious through these alignments, which enhance individual lines of type and activate the surrounding space. The placement of punctuation marks is of special significance to these alignments.

Two widely used on-screen typefaces specifically created for on-screen use

Verdana and Georgia

Old Style

Weight stress of rounded forms at an angle, as in handwriting. The serifs are bracketed (unified with the stroke by tapered, curved line). The top serifs on the lowercase letters are at an angle.

River

When a series of interword spaces accidentally align vertically or diagonally, creating an objectionable flow of white space within the column

Single column grids

When text appears as a simple, linear narrative, as in the traditional novel or exhibition panel, it is often best to set it as a single block. The text block can be sized and adjusted within the page to attain a variety of proportional relationships.

Width

_________ is an expression of the ratio between the black vertical strokes of the letterforms and the interval of white between them. When white intervals appear larger, letters appear wider. A letter whose ______ is approximately 80% of its height is considered normal. A condensed letter is 60%, and an expanded letter is 100% of its height.