Homework

Text Project
 Turn in the digital file - it does not have to be mounted

Use this text:

Print situates words in space more relentlessly than
writing ever did. Writing moves words from the sound
world to a world of visual space, but print locks words
into position in this space. Control of position is
everything in print. Printed texts look machine-made,
as they are. In handwriting, control of space tends to
be ornamental, ornate, as in calligraphy. Typographic
control typically impresses most by its tidiness and
invisibility: the lines perfectly regular, all justified on
the right side, everything coming out even visually,
and without the aid of guidelines or ruled borders that
often occur in manuscripts. This is an insistent world
of cold, non-human, facts.

create a 6 inch by 6 inch square
create a header
format the type within the square
(illustrator - make a 6x6 square and lock it)
garamond

(Make 3 of them)



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(the words PANEL # are not part of the text)
(analyze the text and create html with h1, p, etc)




PANEL 1

Typography Basics

Ever since the first scribes lettered books by hand centuries ago, the first goal of typography was readability. It does not matter how "pretty" a page layout is or how "unique" a font selection is, if it makes the information on the page harder to read. Jan White, a well-respected publication designer states "... we prefer -- logically and visually -- a sense of order and structure. These basic ideas can make a readerÕs life easier, and they can make your job as a designer easier, too." Writing a report may not appear to require much design knowledge, but as soon as one chooses a certain font or adjusts the margins to create more white space, that person becomes a designer. By learning about the differences between typefaces, how typefaces "work" on the computer, and how to use the various computer typeface options, the "designer" can produce a report that not only contains useful information, but is easy to read, and therefore, easy to understand.

© 2002 David Creamer, I.D.E.A.S.

PANEL 2

Type Families

Bold and italic versions are available on the computer for virtually any typeface. While this may work for many typefaces, not all typefaces were designed to be used in bold and italic versions. A common error on the part of the graphic design is to "bold-a-bold," or make a bold version of a font extra bold by the style format or to add an outline to make it bold. The problem is that the computer tries to make the font bolder, but only ends up distorting the original characters.

Type Styles

The only way to be sure that a font has the correct variation, is to use the font weights from the font menu, and not from the style menu or ruler.

Type Families

Type Families refer to the difference in weight from one typeface to another of the same design. Many typefaces only come in one weight -- plain. Most text type comes in plain (Roman), italic (if a Serif font) or oblique (if Sans Serif), bold, bold italic, and bold oblique. A number of type families also have an extended and condensed version, too. Some of the weights, in order from the lightest to heaviest, include:

Extra Light, Ultra Light, or Extra Thin
Thin or Light
Roman or Book
Medium or Regular
Demi-Bold or Semi-Bold
Bold
Heavy, Extra Bold, Black or Super Bold

A font is a specific point size and weight of a specific typeface. In a design, try to keep the selection limited to 2 type families and use only 2-4 weights within the family.

PANEL 3

Typefaces Categories

Serif Typefaces

Serif typefaces are the most common in body copy. They can work nicely for headline fonts, as well. Serifs are the little feet or arms that hang off the letter strokes, and typically add a thick/thin look to the letter. Serif typefaces are considered the easiest to read.

Sans Serif Typefaces

As the name implies, Sans Serif typefaces are "without serifs," and have an overall even stroke weight creating little contrast for the letters. Sans Serif typefaces can evoke a more modern look for a report, but can be harder to read than Serif typefaces. Although generally used for small amounts of copy, subheads, and headlines, Sans Serif can be used for larger amounts of body copy if applied with care.

Display Type

Display and Decorative typefaces are designed to be used as attention getting headline fonts. They should rarely, if ever be used as body copy fonts. Display type is 14 points or more.

Text Type

Based on the hand-drawn letters made by early monks for religious books, text typefaces have an "Old-World" feel to them. Serif typefaces are the most common in text type. As a general rule, text type is less than 14 points. Text type is usually 8-10 points, depending on the typeface.

PANEL 4

Type Sizes

Fonts come in many different sizes, and use a system of measurement called points. Computers use 72 points to one inch. Two different font designs at the same point size may actually have different physical sizes. Some fonts are easily read at smaller sizes, while others need to be larger. The longer the column width, the larger the body type size. A column of type usually is about 50 characters across, and no more than 65 characters. Type that is too small will "cram" too many letters per line and make the copy hard to read. Remember, type that is hard to read may not be read at all.

Deciding what size to use can be easier with an understanding of the things that affect readability. The most crucial factor is the x-height of the lower case letters. The relationship between the uppercase letters, which cannot vary greatly, and the x-height depends solely on the design of the font. Typefaces with a large x-height or "tall" lower case characters, are easier to read than typefaces with small x-height characters.

Line Spacing or Leading

Line spacing refers to the amount of space between lines of type. Line spacing is also referred to as leading, pronounced "led-ing" (as in the metal). As with type size, there are no set rules for how much line spacing to use; however, there are some major factors to consider. The font used may require more line spacing to keep the ascenders and descenders from touching. A longer line length requires more line spacing for easier reading. The larger the type size the more line spacing is required.

Because type size and line spacing are both measured in points and are inseparable, their sizes are normally written together. They are commonly written in this manner: 10/12, pronounced "ten over twelve." This indicates that the type size is ten points and the line spacing is 12 points, or has two extra points of space over the type size.

PANEL 5

Paragraph Alignment

Alignment refers to the side of the page or column with which the text is even. For example, text that is even with the left side of the page margin or column is said to be "flush left," "aligned left," or sometimes "rag right" since it is uneven (or ragged) on the right side. Other options are: flush right (also called rag left), centered, justified (flush on both left and right sides, except for the last line, which is usually flush left), and forced justified (which justifies even the last line). Most body text is either flush left or justified. Headlines and subheads are normally flush left or centered; however, centered text should be used with care.

Character and Word Spacing

Many times, simply typing in the text and formatting the font, size, and line spacing is enough. However, depending on the program used, extra attention is needed. Larger type sizes need adjustments to the space between characters and paragraphs need to be adjusted to eliminate "widows" and "orphans."

Kerning

Inter-character spacing, known as kerning, creates a more pleasing look to the text. Most word processors do not allow kerning adjustments and most page-layout programs apply kerning automatically; however, certain letter combinations may require manual adjustments. Some of these letter combinations include most lowercase letters, and uppercase letters.

Tracking
The adjustment of word spacing is called Tracking. It is similar to kerning but refers to the adjustment of an entire selection of characters, words, or spaces. Its main purpose is to make type fit a required space without altering the type size or line spacing. Tracking can be either negative, making the words closer together; or positive, making the words farther apart.

Widows and Orphans

Different typography books use different definitions for widows and orphans; the actual definitions are not as important as avoiding the problems. A widow is a single word on a line by itself at the end of a paragraph. An orphan is a single line of text, separated from its paragraph and placed at the beginning of a new column. These problems can be eliminated through tracking, leading, and kerning.

PANEL 6

Special Formatting

Hyphens

Hyphens are usually used to divide words or numbers, but they are also used to break words from one line to the next. Most programs have settings to automatically hyphenate words, but occasionally, the user may need to manually hyphenate a word. Headlines and subheads should never be hyphenated. A hyphen should never be typed directly into a word if the program allows the use of discretionary hyphens. A paragraph of type should not have two hyphens in a row.

Line Breaks

Often, lines need to be broken for readability. However, just typing a return to break the line can alter formatting when paragraph spacing, rules, and indents are used. To avoid this problem, most programs allow line breaks; these are usually inserted by typing a shift-return, rather than a normal return. Using a shift-return also maintains the integrity of the paragraph. For example, if a subhead was set to keep all lines together and keep with the next paragraph, the entire subhead will retain the settings. If standard returns are used, just the last line of the subhead will retain the correct settings.

Typographer Quotes

One sure sign of an experiences typographer is the use of "desktop" quotes. These are straight slashes or inch marks. Most programs have automatic settings to convert these slashes to quotes; if not, most computers allow the quotes to be typed manually. Quotes come in two varieties, and each has an open and closed version. Except for newspapers, double quotes are used for actual quotations.
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FONT presentation
the 2 fonts
on the poster