Typeface Basics

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Typeface Basics
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Glossary 1
Ascenders Strokes of letters that rise above the
mean line of type (b, d, f, h, k, l,
t). Descenders Strokes of letters that fall
below the baseline (g, j, p, q, y) x-height The
height of the main body of the lowercase letters.
Most sans serifs have large x-heights.
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Glossary 2
Type families (sometimes referred to as font)
Versatile faces such as Garamond, Franklin
Gothic, Futura, etc. offer several variations of
weight and posture in the same typeface. Display
type Point sizes 14 point and above. Width rule
When copy gets too wide, readability drops off.
The rule is that copy should be no wider than an
alphabet and a half or 39 characters.
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Measuring Type

• Type is measured in points.
• 72 points 1 inch,
• 72-pt. type is 1 inch tall, measured from the
  top of the ascender to the bottom of the
  descender.
• ½-inch 36-pt.
• ¼-inch 18-pt.
• No letter has both an ascender and a descender
  however in any given typeface and size, the
  length of the ascender and descender are the
  same.

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Type Anatomy

• Ascender
• Baseline
• Cap Line
• Counter
• Descender
• Mean Line
• Serif
• x-height

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Tip 1. Pair personality to purpose.

• Getting down, dirty girls rugby gaining
  popularity
• Or
• Getting down, dirty girls rugby gaining popularity

• Keep in mind the message you are trying to
  communicate with your type.
•  
• Sports, even women's sports, do not lend
  themselves to feminine script, for example.

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Tip 2. When working with type, more type
families are not better.

• A family of fonts is composed of different
  styles.

• Limiting type to no more than three font family
  for the entire book is a growing trend. 
• When combining type for headlines, remember twos
  company, threes a crowd. 
• Limit spread designs to one distinct type
  supported by something simple.

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Font 1 Reading pull-down information
Font Family   Myriad Pro

• Styles of font in family
• Light
• Condensed 
• Bold

• Format of font
• TrueType
• Postscript
• Open Type (best)

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Font 2 Classifications of font families

• 6 basic font classes
• Serif
• Old Style
• Transitional
• Modern
• Slab Serif
• Sans Serif
• (sans without)
• Script
• Blackletter
• Display / Decorative
• Monospaced
• Dingbat

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Font 3 Serifs
Serifs are in red

• Serifs are easier to read than sans serifs.
• Use a serif font for body copy (text), as a
  general rule. 

Examples Of Serif Fonts

• Baskerville
• Bernhard Modern
• Courier Standard
• Garamond
• Georgia
• Minion Pro
• Palatino
• Times New Roman

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Font 4 Sans serifs

• Examples of
• Sans Serif Font Families

• These are less legible than serifs.
• Use sans serif fonts for primary headlines or
  captions as a general rule.

Arial Arial Rounded MT Comic Sans
MS Futura Helvetica Letter Gothic Std Lucia
San Myriad Pro News Gothic MT Stone Sans ITC
TT Verdana
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Font 5 Script
Examples Of Script Font Families

• Bickham Script Pro
• Brush Script Std.
• Caflisch Script Pro
• Dickens Script SSK
• Edwardian Script ITC
• Handwriting Dakota
• Lucida Blackletter
• Lucida Handwriting
• Medici Script
• Old English Text
• Learning Curve
• Snell Roundhand

• Script fonts are
• harder to read.
• used as large text only.
• for special cases only.

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Font 6 Display / Decorative Fonts

• harder to read
• used as large text only
• for special cases only

Display fonts are
Examples Of Display Families

• 1942 Report
• AbecedarianZo
• Attic
• Bauhaus 93
• Big Apple
• BonezDisplayCap
• Copacabana
• Cracked
• Deco Card
• Ecentric StdG
• Fashion Victim
• Flower Child Caps
• Flower Child SSK
• Giddyup Std
• Hobo Std

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Font 6 Display / Decorative Fonts
Examples Of Display Families

• Kidz Only Too SSK
• Jellyka Castles Queen
• My Stuff Caps
• Toy Train
• Quetzalcoatl
• Racpmteir NF
• Rain Dance SSK
• Raindrop SSK Bold
• Salsa
• Sand
• Stencil Std
• SNOWFLAKEk
• Vintage Typewriter SSK
• Voco Script SSK
• Zapato SSK
• Zapito SSK
• Zorba

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Font 7 Monospace Fonts

• Monospace fonts
• Are also called "fixed pitch" fonts
• Have characters that all have the same character
  width
• Originally were designed for typewriters
• Used with computer source code

Examples Of Monospace Families

• Andale Mono
• Courier New
• Letter Gothic Std
• Lucinda Console
• Lucinda Sans Typewriter
• Monaco
• ORC A
• Prestige Elite Std

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Font 8 Dingbat Fonts

• Also known as a "printer's ornament" or
  "printer's character.
• Describe fonts with symbols and shapes in the
  positions designated for alphabetical or numeric
  characters.

Dingbat fonts are
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Font 9 Dingbat Fonts

• An ornament, a character or spacer used in
  typesetting.

Glyphs are
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Font 10 Dingbat Fonts
Typical Examples Of Display Families

• MT Extra abcdefg
• MS Reference Specialty ABCDE
• Webdings abcdefg
• Wingdings abcdefg
• Wingdings3 abcdefg
• Zapf Dingbats abcdefg

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Font 11 Dingbat Fonts
Fun Examples Of Display Families

• AmphibiPrint abcdefg
• Carta abcdefg
• Face it! Abcdefg
• Face Off! Abcdefg
• Mickey Mousebats ABCDEFGH
• RoadSign abcdefg
• RoadWarningSign abcdefg
• WWFlakes abcdefghijklm

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Font 12 Remember

• The more unusual the type, the lower the
  readability.
• Pick your fonts carefully.

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Tip 3. Avoid using all capitals.

•  That doesnt mean you can never use all caps. 
•  
•  Just realize all capital letters reduces
  readability. 
•  
•  Use all caps only when you have a specific
  design purpose in mind.
•  
•  Especially avoid using all capitals in a script
  face. 
•  
•  Your readability drops to about zero.

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Tip 4. Pay attention to relationships when
combining type.

• Examples
•  
• Verdana bold for heads 
• Georgia for text 
•  
• good contrast 
•  
• Verdana bold for heads Trebuchet for text
•  
• not enough contrast

• If elements are not the same, they should be very
  different.
• Remember, like the perfect marriage, types need
  to either be very similar or fairly opposite. 
• Contrast type in size, weight, form and
  structure.
• The combinations you form should communicate, not
  confuse the reader. 

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Tip 5. Some types just dont mix.

• Don't use two scripts or a script and an italic
  together. 
• They usually have the same form and so they
  conflict with each other rather than contrast.
• Never use two types from the same category (for
  example Script, Decorative) together.

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Tip 6. Dont abuse type through manipulation

• Purpose is to communicate type helps do that. 
•  
• Dont manipulate type to fit your design by
  adjusting leading and width.  
•  
• Instead, edit the copy or find a word that fits
  the headline space.
•  
• Once established within a section, type size,
  leading and width should remain consistent.

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Tip 7. Complement your knowledge of fonts with
your knowledge of design.

•  

• Use of effectively planned white space and color
  can enhance your use of type. 
• Place type on the page to create entry points for
  your reader.

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Tip 8. Learn more from the experts.

• Magazines like Before After and Dynamic
  Graphics have information and advice. 
• Check out books like The Non-Designers Design
  Book by design experts like Robin Williams. 
• Many of these tips come from her. 
• For more technical information, check out her
  Non-Designers Type Book.
• Browse the bookstores and stock up on magazines
  that use type effectively so you can build a
  library of ideas.