Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable,
and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line
lengths, line-spacing (leading), and letter-spacing (tracking), and adjusting the space between pairs of
letters (kerning). The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the
letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Type design is a closely related craft, sometimes
considered part of typography; most typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do
not consider themselves typographers. Typography also may be used as a decorative device, unrelated to
communication of information.

Fonts and Fonts Families

Typeface, or font family, is an alphabet designed so that all the letters and symbols have similar
features. For instance, Times, Arial, and Minion are all typefaces. In typography, a typeface (also known as
font family) is a set of one or more fonts each composed of glyphs that share common design features.
Each font of a typeface has a specific weight, style, condensation, width, slant, italicization, ornamentation,
and designer or foundry (and formerly size, in metal fonts). For example, "ITC Garamond Bold
Condensed Italic" means the bold, condensed-width, italic version of ITC Garamond. It is a different font
from "ITC Garamond Condensed Italic" and "ITC Garamond Bold Condensed", but all are
fonts within the same typeface, "ITC Garamond". ITC Garamond is a different typeface from "Adobe
Garamond" or "Monotype Garamond". (These are all alternative updates or digitisations of the
typeface Garamond, originally created in the 16th century.) There are thousands of different typefaces in
existence, with new ones being developed constantly.
The term typeface is frequently confused with the term font. Before the advent of digital typography
and desktop publishing, the two terms had more clearly understood meanings. The two basic font styles
are serif and sans serif. Example Calibri is a sans serif font and Cambria is a serif font.

Size and Measurements

Good typography can add tremendous power to your design and your message, whether it is a print-
or screen-based project, a still or motion graphic, a 3D or 2D graphic. This course explains good
typographic practices, so that you can develop an "eye" for type and understand how to effectively use it.
Author Ina Saltz explains type classifications (serif vs. sans serif, display type vs. text type), how type is
measured, sized, and organized, and how spacing and alignment affect your design. She also explains how
to use kerning, tracking, leading, and line length, and covers the history and current trends in typography.
The course teaches the principles of legibility, readability, and compatibility, and how they should be
considered when you're selecting and designing with type.
Simply put, the size of type is measured in points. Points are part of the basic and essential language
designers use to discuss typographic elements. If you are a designer, you're probably already familiar with
points. Let's put it in another context and look at the relationship between inches and how many points add
up to one inch. Here is 1 inch. In every inch, there are six units called Picas. In every pica, there are 12
points. If you do the math, that means there are 72 points in an inch. So points are tiny measurements that
are about the width of a thin line. Like most type terminology, the point system is based on the traditions of
movable or physical type. The point size was the height of the body of the piece of type. The body height
depended on the tallest Ascender and the lowest Descender in the font. Within that height, the X-height of
the font varied, which is mostly wide typefaces that are the same point size, can look quite different.
Another measurement that affects the way type looks is more subtle and depends on the design of
the font. It is called the set-width. For example, if you compare these 5 Es which are the same X-height,
you can see that the widths differ. Similarly, look at these Ms, their X-height is the same, but their set
widths differ. Set width affects how many characters will fit within a line of type. A line of type is also
measured in picas. The width of a line of type is called the Measure of the line or the block of text. For
example, the Measure of this block of text is 30 picas wide. Points are really tiny increments, but they can
define the characteristics of a typeface. These tiny increments create subtle differences between the
height, width, and other proportions of a typeface and they play a vital role in creating its unique
appearance. In the next video we are going to look at how other small increments define the proportions of
letters, as we explore typographic variations of width, weight, and slope.

Leading, Tracking and Baseline

Leading is the spacing between the baselines of type. The term leading is derived from the practice
of placing lead strips between lines type on older hand set printing presses such as a letterpress. Adjusting
the leading is also a very useful way of saving or using space on a page. Leading can also be used to
change the aesthetics when dealing with a typographical design.

Tracking. Another adjustment to type that hasn’t been mentioned is Tracking. Tracking is very
similar to kerning in that it is the spacing between individual characters, but tracking is the space between
groups of letters rather than individual letters. Tracking affects the overall character density of the copy.
Other than the actual effect that it could have on readability of type, tracking would be used to make lines of
type even. Tracking will help to eliminate widows and orphans in paragraphs. Widows are when the final
line of a paragraph begins a new column or page. Orphans are when paragraphs end in single words, part
of words or a short phrase that seems out of place.

Kerning is the spacing in between individual characters. Most fonts will have specific default kerning
for individual character sets so that the spacing in between the letters in words feels more natural. The
image below has a sentence with and without custom kerning applied in 5 different spots to show how
subtle the change is. Most of the time, people will not realize that kerning was included to change the type
of the design.

Baseline. In typography, the baseline is the imaginary line upon which a line of text rests. In most
typefaces, the descenders on characters such as g or p extend down below the baseline while curved
letters such as c or o extend ever-so-slightly below the baseline. The baseline is the point from which other
elements of type are measured including x-height and leading. The baseline is also significant in the
alignment of drop caps and other page elements. In typography and penmanship, the baseline is the line
upon which most letters “sit” and below which descenders extend. In the example to the right, the letter ‘p’
has a descender; the other letters sit on the (red) baseline. Most, though not all, typefaces are similar in the
following ways as regards the baseline: capital letters sit on the baseline. The most common exceptions are
the J and Q. Lining figures (see Arabic numerals) sit on the baseline.The following text figures have
descenders: 3 4 5 7 9. The following lowercase letters have descenders: g j p q y.

Glyphs with rounded lower extents (0 3 5 6 8 c C G J o O Q U) dip very slightly below the baseline
(“overshoot”) to create the optical illusion that they sit on the baseline. Peter Karow’s Digital Typefaces
suggests that typical overshoot is about 1.5%.

Font Usage and Purpose

It is easy to think that type font doesn’t matter. We read text all the time and have become very
accustomed to focusing on the content or message of the words themselves and not what the words look
like visually. In reality, the visual appearance of words themselves can (and should) have just as much
effect on how a document is received as the content itself. Fonts can create mood and atmosphere. Fonts
can give visual clues about the order a document should be read in and which parts are more important
than others. Fonts can even be used to control how long it takes someone to read a document. Every font
has a unique personality and purpose. While working on a project it’s imperative to know which font
matches the intended tone of communication. Serif fonts portray tradition, sophistication and a formal tone.
Sans Serif fonts are modern humanist and neutral. Slab serifs are bold and contemporary. Script fonts are
elegant, classic, stylish, and formal.
While reading the audience used to focus on the content of the paper rather more on the fonts and its
sizes but the fact is that fonts are playing very essential role while writing. The content of the paper is no
doubt very important but the visual appearance of the words is also playing an extraordinary role in the
appropriate presentation of the paper. The fonts are helpful in making soothing reading atmosphere and
mood. In the paper there is so much to read but the reader mostly don’t have much time to read word by
word so these fonts help them to focus on the most important part of the paper. It can control the reading
time of the audience. There are types of fonts available for the students/writers like the times in roman,
Arial, Arial black etc. Mostly in academic circle the students used to use the “Times New Roman” As we
know that the content of the paper is the most important aspect while writing but the importance of the fonts
and other layout tools of the paper could not be avoided.