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Graphic LESSON 5
Design INTRODUCTION TO TYPOGRAPHY

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The Diploma in Graphic Design Toolkit For further questions visit us online at:
www.shawacademy.com
S Lesson 5

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 S Lesson 5

WE BEGIN WITH THE

“ WHAT IS” OF GR APHIC
1.01 What Is Typography 4
DE SIGN AND HOW
GR APHIC DE SIGN IS ALL
ABOUT VISUALLY COM-
1.02 Typefaces v Fonts 6
MUNIC ATING AN IDE A ,
THOUGHT, ME SSAGE OR
ME ANING BY COMBINING
1.03 Text Type v Display Type 8
SYMBOL S, IM AGE S AND/
OR WORDS. WE AL SO
GIVE AN OVERVIE W OF
1.04 Basic Forms 10
THE “HOLY TRINIT Y ”
OF GR APHIC DE SIGN
APPLIC ATIONS -
1.05 Classifications & Timeline 12
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP,
ILLUS TR ATOR &
INDE SIGN AND HOW
1.06 Anatomy, Size & Measure 13
DE SIGNER S BE S T USE
THE SE TOOL S.
1.07 Kerning, Tracking,
Leading & Measure 14
1.08 Combining Type 16

S What is Typography?

Typography
is, quite
simply,
the art and
technique
of arranging
type.
 S What is Typography?

Typography is an art form that has been around for

hundreds of years.
Words and text are all around us every day in
almost everything we do.
In every piece of type you see, somebody has
considered how the letters, sentences and
Graphic Design is paragraphs will look in order for it to be read by us,
“the art or or make us feel a certain way when we look at it.
profession of visual
communication that Sometimes it is done well, others not.
combines images, Often it is us graphic designers who are the ones
words and ideas to deciding how it will look, in our brochures, our
convey information logos, our websites and so on.
to an audience” The better we are at this, the more effective our
designs will be.

Design must WHY TYPOGRAPHY IS IMPORTANT

be interpreted And as we all know by now Graphic Design is all
the same way about conveying a message.

by everyone With regard to colour and shape, type also plays a

role in the impression of your message.
to function.
It gives the viewer an impression before even
reading it.
It can appear friendly or aggressive, suggest a
traditional or modern approach, can look feminine
or masculine, it can look chaotic or calm. So it’s your
job to choose a type style that best expresses your
message.
Type has a personality and makes an impression. In
the same way as colour and shape it can evoke an
emotional response. Good type makes a difference!
S Typefaces v Fonts

“A font is what
you use, and
typeface is what
you see.”
S Typefaces v Fonts

1.02
Typefaces v Fonts

Typeface

{
Franklin Gothic Book

Franklin Gothic Medium

Franklin Gothic Demi

Franklin Gothic Heavy

Franklin Gothic Medium Condensed

Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed

Font
{ Franklin Gothic Book

A typeface is a family of fonts (such as the Franklin

Gothic Typeface here, Helvetica Regular, Helvetica Italic,
Helvetica Bold, Helvetica Black, etc. would be another.)
But a font is one weight or style within a typeface family
(such as Franklin Gothic Book).
S Text Type v Display Type

Some of the most

popular typefaces
still in use today
have been around
for hundreds of
years, because
they still work.
(Adobe CalsonPro,
Baskerville, Adobe
Garamond Pro)
S Text Type v Display Type

1.03
Text Type v Display Type

Text Type

Text Type, usually between 8 –10 points, is designed to be used

in large quantities at small sizes, for example most of newspaper
and magazine type is Text Type.

It has to be easy to read. Smooth reading is the goal and should

seem as effortless as possible when we are reading. Again good
typography should nearly go unnoticed.

Text Types share some common characteristics to aid the clarity

and smooth readability.

• Open Spaces

• Tall Body Type in comparison to the Capitals

• Rhythmic Repetitive Shapes

• Medium Weight

Display Type

Display Type is usually 14 point or larger and is used in small

quantities for emphasis and effect.Display Type is designed to be
noticed. There is a vast number available for every possible use from
Handwriting to Space Age! Text Type can function as Display Type,
but not the other way around.

Display Type is like the icing on your

cake when it comes to design.
S Basic Forms

There are many

different clas-
sifications and
sub-classification
of typefaces, but
the most common
two types you will
hear of are:
Serif & Sans-serif
 S Basic Forms

1.04
Basic Forms

Serif Sans Serif Slab Serif Script Monospace Blackletter Display

Serif – these typefaces are the Slab Serif - A Sub-Category of Serif are what are called
more traditional ones. They are Slab Serifs, and they are exactly what they sound like. The
distinguished by a short line or difference is their Horizontal strokes are the same width as
finishing stroke on the end of their Vertical strokes.
character strokes and stems.

Serifs are evident in both capital Script - Based on handwritten letters. Mostly or partly
and lowercase letters. The angles attached. Can be formal or informal ( handwritten,
of the Serifs can vary. Their brush). Can be tricky to use because of large swashes.
thickness and width can also vary.
These may be small details but this
Monospace - The letters each measure equidistant hori-
all matters when it is set in a size
zontally. They were first created for typewriters, where each
suitable for reading.
letter’s spacing had to be identical.

Sans Serif – as the name Blackletter / Fraktur - Look fractured or broken

suggests, these are distinguished
because each letter is made up of individual strokes. Tend
by their lack of any Serifs.
to be heavy in appearance, hence the name! Often called
They only became popular in Old English. Small spaces within and between letters, and
the nineteenth century and are tight spacing between the lines. Overall colour on the page is
considered modern as a result. heavy or black.

They have no Feet. By their

meaning “Sans” means without in Display - Display fonts have a huge variety, these are the
French. fonts you should use when you want to make an impact.
Good for capturing user’s attention. These should not be
used for body copy as the generally need to be a large size
for readability.
 Classifications & Timeline

SERIF
OLDSTYLE (15th – 18th Century) – Calson, Sabon, Bembo, Garamond
Low contrast between thick and thin strokes. Thick Bracketed Serifs. Long
senders and descenders, the parts of the letters that extend above and
below the body height.

TRANSITIONAL (bridge between Old-style and Modern, occurred mid-18th

century due to advances in printing and font making technology)
– Baskerville, Bell, Georgia
Sharper flatter Serifs. Tighter Bracketed Curve. Stress in curved letters
is more vertical (an example would be the letter O, the stress axis is an
imaginary line connecting the thinnest parts). Higher contrast between thick
Serif – these typefaces and thin strokes
are the more traditional
ones. They are distin-
MODERN (late 18th century) – Didot, Modern No. 20, New Caledonia
guished by a short line
or finishing stroke on Extreme contrast betwe en thick and thin strokes. Ultra-thin, un-bracketed
serifs.
the end of character
strokes and stems.
Serifs are evident SLAB SERIF – Rockwell, Memphis, Serifa
in both capital and Used for advertising and signage because of their weight and strong
lowercase letters. The presence. Serifs are generally un-bracketed or square. Main characteristic is
lack of contrast between strokes. (Thicks and Thins are almost, if not equal
angles of the Serifs can weight.)
vary. Their thickness
and width can also
vary. These may be Bracketed | Unbracketed
small details but this Two more categories of Serifs are Bracketed and Un-bracketed.
all matters when it is Bracketed have a curved angle. Un-bracketed have a sharp 90O angle.
set in a size suitable for
reading.

SANS SERIF
Grotesque/Gothic – News Gothic, Helvetica, Univers, Verdana
SANS SERIF (late 18th
Slight variations in stroke width. Letters are wide. Rounded letters can be
century) squared off. They are based off actual scripture from the Gothic period in
history.
Evolved to meet the
needs of advertising. Humanist – Gill Sans, Myriad, Optima, Frutiger
3 types – Grotesque/ Humanist sans come from the root and attitude of humanist serif fonts.
Gothic, Humanist, These typefaces are calligraphic in structure, often with higher stroke
contrast than other sans serifs. They have open forms that lead the eye hori-
Geometric zontally, making them the best sans serifs for long reading and small text.

Geometric – Futura, Avant-Garde, Kabel, Century Gothic

Based on geometric forms of circle, square and triangle. Reflect the
modernist movement of the 20th century.
 Anatomy, Size & Measurement

The different letterforms

within a typeface share a
few common characteris-
tics. These characteristics can
be important in determining
whether two (or more)
typefaces work well together,
or clash. The baseline is the invisible line that all the characters sit on. Rounded
letters sometimes sit just a tiny bit under the baseline, and descenders
Here are the most basic parts
always drop below this line. A given typeface will have a consistent
of a typeface:
baseline.
The image shows the different
The median is the height of most of the lowercase characters within
guidelines that are generally
a typeface, and is generally based on the lowercase “x” if there are
present in a typeface.
varying heights among the lowercase characters. This is also where the
term “x-height” comes from.

The cap height is the distance between the baseline and the top of
uppercase letters like “T”.

Type is measured in Points.

In every Inch there are 6 units
called Picas.

In every Pica there are 12 Points.

So doing the math, there a 72

points in an Inch.

1 Inch

x Type
Ascender line
The Point size is the height of the Body of the piece of type.
X height Font Size
The Body Height depends on the tallest Ascender and the lowest
Descender line
Descender in the font.

Within that the X-height can vary, which is why some typefaces that
are the same point size, can look quite different.
S Kerning, Tracking, Leading & Measure

“The task
before us
is simple,
to make
beautiful
letters and
to arrange
them well.”
- Edward Johnston
 S Kerning, Tracking, Leading & Measure

Kerning - is the adjustment of the spaces between two specific letters.

It is different from Tracking which is the adjustment of the spaces between a group of letters.
The goal of Kerning is to create a consistent rhythm of space between characters which helps readability.
At text sizes the Kerning has already been set by the type designer, but at larger sizes the space between the letters
may need manual Kerning.
By kerning our letters, we want the eye to see them as evenly spaced in a way that is optically correct. It’s
about creating what looks right, not necessarily, what’s mechanically correct.
Imagine that the spaces between letters are containers of water. You want every space between two letters to look
as if it holds the same amount of water.

Tracking - is the spacing of a group of characters.

Tracking relates to the spacing of all characters and is applied evenly.

Leading - describes the vertical space between each line of type.

It’s called this because strips of lead were originally used to separate lines of type in the days of metal typesetting.
For legible body text that’s comfortable to read, a general rule is that your leading value should be greater than the
font size; anywhere from 1.25 to 1.5 times.
You can measure leading by obtaining the distance between two baselines.

Measure - refers to the length of lines of text in a paragraph or column.

Measure is an important thing to get right in typography as it can be crucial to the readability of the text.
If the measure is too wide the text may be difficult to read as the eye has to move a lot more after each line is read.
If it is too narrow it can also be tiring on the eye to read, as the eye is constantly moving back and forth.
A narrow measure will also lead to a lot of hyphenation.
The most use­ful way to mea­sure line length is by av­er­age char­ac­ters per line. Mea­sur­ing in inches or centimetres is
less use­ful be­cause the point size of the font af­fects the num­ber of char­ac­ters per inch. Av­er­age char­ac­ters per line
works in­de­pen­dently of point size.
Aim for an av­er­age line length of 45–90 char­ac­ters, in­clud­ing spaces.
S Combining Type

Contrast is one of
the most important
concepts to understand
when it comes to
combining typefaces.
Without proper
contrast, typefaces
tend to clash, creating a
random, scattered look
to your designs.
 S Combining Type

Factors for Combining Type

Contrast or differentiation (body text plus headline text). If Body Text is Serif, then for contrast look for something
like a Sans Serif for headlines.

Most projects don’t need more than two Typefaces.

When combining Typefaces consider their basic characteristics:
• Similar Historical Period with different features may work well
• Typefaces from the same designer.
• Maybe choose very opposite Typefaces, one traditional and sober, the other, friendly and warm.
• Typefaces with similar Body Height can work well as long as their styles are contrasting.

A common mistake is combining Typefaces that are too individual, they have strong stylistic details so they conflict.
If you find it necessary to add a third typeface, Slab Serifs can work well. Can be good to separate content and make
it stand out from the other text elements.
Think of choosing types as getting dressed or putting an outfit together. Too many complex patterns will clash, they
should complement each other, so one simple piece and one complex piece will work a lot better.

There are no hard rules but let good taste be your guide.

WEIGHT
The weight of a typeface plays a huge role in its appearance. We often think of weight in terms of “light”, “regular”,
“medium”, “bold”, etc. But different typefaces have varying weights to begin with. Combining typefaces based
largely on weight is a fairly straight-forward way of creating typographic contrast.

STYLE
The style of a typeface has a huge impact on how it’s received. Generally, when working with styles, you’re going
to be either using regular or italic styles. Other decorations include things like outlines or drop shadows, both of
which can be used to unify varying typefaces.
Style and decoration can also be used to create contrast within a type family or typeface. Combine regular and
italic fonts, varying weights, and things like shadows or outlines to create variation within a font family and
sufficient typographic contrast.

CLASSIFICATION
In general, when combining typefaces, you’ll want to choose ones that aren’t from the same classification.
Combine a serif and a sans-serif, or a serif and a script, etc., and you’ll have a much easier time coming up with a
combination that has proper contrast and doesn’t clash.
One trick is to choose typefaces that are in the same general classification, but fall under different sub-classes
(such as a slab serif and a modern serif, or a geometric sans serif with a grotesk). This provides more contrast right
from the start.
S