the really awesome student guide to type.
Mar 31, 2016
the really awesome student guide to
type.
‘ave a flick through.
love at first type.size does matter.align them lines!
urgh. maths. really?care for the lonely.
keep on track!rock that baseline.
‘ang on a minute!
‘ang on a minute!
what the f*ck is typography?
?
Typography ain’t that complicated!It’s just the way you use type.
one last thing( and an important thing so you don’t
sound like a nob in the design world
.
a font is the bit you use to create the type. like a typewriter, digital file or a metal block.
got it?
a typeface is the bit that is designed by the typographer. The bit you look at.
)
love
<3
at
firs
t ty
pe.
it ain’t all about looks ya know.
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Typefaces are like people. You gotta like them for who they are as well as what they look like. Find out Where they
are from and who they are
friends with.
You also gotta do a bit of digging find out who they have
been with. b’cos that can say a lot about who they
really are!
Typefaces are like people. You gotta like them for who they are as well as what they look like. Find out Where they
are from and who they are
friends with.
You also gotta do a bit of digging find out who they have
been with. b’cos that can say a lot about who they
really are!
{ {
{ :
::
Mr Comic Sans is cast out by most cos he’s funny lookin’. i mean you wouldn’t want to meet him down a dark alley! but he has his place so use him wisely.
Mr “Perfect” I mean Mr Helvetica of course. The obvious choice for most, but is that really what you’re after? Do you want to be another helvetica lemming?
Mr Times! Good sir, one of the rather more distinguished folk. Utmost respect from you m’boy or you’ll get yourself a jolly good hiding. Tally ho!
size
mat
ters
.si
zem
atte
rs.
whats the pt?
A
point sizes are the height of the block of space that the character is placed on.
That’s why typefaces like helvetica and courier look like they ‘ave different heights when they are actually same point size.
a Aathis is the baseline what the letters sit on.
Axthe caps height is the height of all the capital letters.
the x height is the height of all the lowercase letters.
eM!the em — is the width of the capital m. this measurementis equal to the point size.
the caps and x heights are.percentages of the em.
alig
n th
em
line
s so
ldie
r!
left.left.left.
left.right.
left alignment’s when its lined up on the left.
right alignment’s. when its lined up.
on the right.
(it’s not rocket surgery!)
left is more commonly usedjust so ya know.
attention!yeah i get it.centre in the
centre.
attention!
justified is the oth-er one that is used for stuff like news-papers. it makes all the spacing weird and hyphen-ates things unless you turn it off .it usually looks a bit shite so only use it when n e c e s s a r y !
*these are called rivers. they start flowin’ when there’s too many gaps. so sort ya spacing!
*
urgh
. mat
hsre
ally
?
line lengthperfectionby numbers.
a-z x 1.5
simple as.
choose ya typeface and point size. type out the alphabet in lower case.
the length of that plus another half of it is your
line length.
6+6
406 words with 6 characters in a line.
just 40 characters!
(they’re guidelines alright!)
it all adds up!
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
666666 666666 666666 666666 666666 666666
4040404040404040404040404040404040404040
ish.(they’re guidelines alright!)
care
for
the
lone
ly.(:
orphansare those fellas that get left by ‘em selves at the start of their little lives. poor thing!
widows are the lonely old words that are left behind but get a bit clingy at the end of theirlives.
they make the place look untidy so either welcome ‘em into the family or send ‘em on their way. cos they ain’t stayin’ here!
keep
on t
rack
!
t r a c k i n g i s t h e o v e r a l l s p a c e b e t w e e n a l l t h e c h a r a c t e r s .
you need to get it right so you are able toread
what it sayseasily.
t r a c k i n g i s t h e o v e r a l l s p a c e b e t w e e n a l l t h e c h a r a c t e r s .
you need to get it right so you are able toread
what it sayseasily.
my pen isout!its properly important to watch the space between individual characters too.
kerning is adjusting the space between 2 characters. it is easiest to do this by turning it upside down so you look at the shapes rather than reading the words.
don’t be afraid to look a bit mental with ya book upside down!
rock
tha
tba
seli
ne.
Leading Is the space between the baseline and the top of the next line. In the olden days it was actually a bit o’ lead. now its just digital spaceage.
120%
if there is no leading it is called set solid.
computer programmes auto set the leading to
but it’s down to you as designer. to adjust these kinda things to.
what is right for the design.
all this stuff’s been about how to make your work
which ya need to know.
legible.(easy to read)
but that can get kinda boring right?
so...
now that you know the rules...‘ a v e a l o v e l y t i m e
breaking
now that you know the rules...‘ a v e a l o v e l y t i m e
breaking‘ e m a l l !
this
boo
k is
for
stu
dent
des
igne
rs
who
wan
t to
kno
w a
bit
abo
ut t
ype
but
don’
t w
ant
to t
raw
l thr
ough
lo
ads
of lo
ng b
orin
g bo
oks
i hav
e do
ne it
all
for
you
(ain
’t t
hat
nice
) and
lovi
ngly
put
it a
ll i
n th
is
hand
y li
ttle
boo
k ju
st f
or y
ou
so, ‘
av a
love
ly t
ime
gett
ing
type
rig
ht
. !.