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DESIGN.C6
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** E-Mail Desktop Publishing Design Course **
***** LESSON 3A *****
Welcome to Lesson 3. Our topic this week is on Type.
First a few definitions.
Typography - The design of the characters that make up text and
display type, and the way they are configured on the page.
Typeface - Refers to the actual design of the letters, numbers, and
other characters in a piece of type.
Type Style - refers to the modifications that lend contrast or
emphasis to each typeface. ( E.g. Bold, Italic, Bold Italic, etc.)
Type Weight - refers to letter widths and stroke thickness.
(E.g. Black, Light, Heavy, Condensed, Expanded, etc.)
Stress - refers to variations in the thickness of the strokes that
make up a letter. Serif type tends to have more stress than
sans-serif; that is, it usually contains vertical and horizontal
strokes of varying thickness.
Type Size - measured in points. (appx 72 to the inch).
X-Height - refers to the height of the lowercase letters that don't
have ascenders or descenders. (E.g. a, e, o, x). X-height plays a
major role in the density (colour), or "greyness", of pages containing
a lot of text. Alphabets with a low x-height increase word density
while preserving lightness, this is due to the extra white space
between the top of the ascender and the main body of the letter.
(Please note, this is different than actually measuring the x-height
of a particular face. The actual measurement of an x-height is defined
as the square of the em-dash for a particular type size)
Font - refers to one typeface, in one size, weight, and style.
(E.g. Times Roman 12 pt. bold, book (or normal) weight)
The style of a typeface can greatly affect the appearance of a
document. Each different face can evoke a different emotional response
to your document. There are literally thousands of typefaces available
and this can make your choices seem complicated. You must choose your
faces carefully to get the emotional response you want and to ensure
that your document is legible.
Many of the typefaces available may seem superficially similar but
there are some basic distinctions which clearly differentiate one
group from another. For many years printers and typographers have been
trying to come up with a system of classifying faces, with not much
success. The problem is that very few typefaces fit comfortably in any
one category without having some characteristics which give them a
partial place in another.
Very broadly there are four basic features which are fundamental to
the character of a typeface:
1. Whether or not it has finishing strokes (serifs) at the end of the
stems, arms, and tails of the letterforms. (serified or sanserif)
2. The form of the serifs if it has them. (Full bracket, fine bracket,
slab, hairline, or wedge)
3. The amount of change from thick to thin in the strokes of the
letter and how abrupt this change is.
4. The stress of the heavy part of the letter from vertical to
oblique.
One may also classify type, VERY BROADLY, into three distinct styles;
1. Serif
2. Sanserif
3. Ornamental (That type of face used primarily for headlines or
ornamental use in that it is not important to convey a message. These
faces should never be used for body text except in a very short
message such as a script face for invitations.)
Apart from their technical differences typefaces have aesthetic
qualities which can make them more or less congenial to your reader,
and also make them more or less legible. Some typefaces are more
suited to one text rather than another. For instance a long legal
document does not lend itself to a sans or slab-serif typeface.
One reason a serified typeface is better for long lengths of text is
that the serifs actually lead your eye from one letter to the next
making reading easier.
My own view is that layout and the use of space is just as important
to clarity and readability as the use of a particular typeface.
***** Continued in Lesson 3B *****