What Is Typography Design?
Unless you have a background in visual art or graphic design, you may read countless documents, books, packages, web pages and other items without ever thinking about the actual design of the letters on the page. But if you take a close look, it becomes apparent that there are a wide variety of subtle and not-so-subtle differences between one style of lettering and another. Typography is the art and the craft of designing the letters themselves as well as the many other factors that influence the appearance of the letters--or type--on the page.
Typeface Design
Typeface design is the art of designing the actual letters. In this process, close attention is paid to the shapes of the letters for the purposes of end use, clarity, readability, consistency, historical period and cultural influences, fashion and aesthetics.
Typesetting
Typesetting is the arranging and composition of text. In this process, attention is paid to the choice of typeface as well as color, line length, type size (typically called point size), kerning and leading. Kerning is the amount of space between the letters within a word or sentence. Leading is the amount of space between one line of text and the next. Today typesetting is typically carried out by a graphic designer whose job it is to design a whole page, book, product, package or other other item that includes type as just one element among many.
Choosing a Typeface
Today's graphic designers are able to choose among thousands of typefaces, available from a variety of vendors. Typefaces for sale are often called fonts, although technically a font is just one kind of type within a typeface family. So, for example, Times Roman is a typeface. Times Roman regular, Times Roman bold and Times Roman italic are all fonts.
Serif or No Serif
Typefaces can be divided into two main categories: serif and sans serif. Serif typefaces are those with small protrusions or points at the ends of the letter shapes, such as the small "feet" at the bottom of the capital letter A. Classic serif typefaces include Times Roman, Garamond and Galliard. Sans serif typefaces have no such protrusions. Classic sans serif typefaces include Helvetica, Futura and Univers.
Proportional or Monospaced
Most typefaces have been designed so that there are predetermined, but varied, amounts of space between different letters placed next to each other. These are called proportional typefaces. While the type designer has already built this into the typeface, the graphic designer using the typeface can still choose to alter the space between the letters by kerning.
A few typefaces are monospaced. That is, there is a fixed amount of space surrounding every letter, as if all the letters were contained within a same-sized invisible box. These typefaces are reminiscent of letters coming from a typewriter--which is, in fact, the origin of monospaced type.
Using Type
Typography is an art, not a science. That being said, there are some basic principles that can help guide decisions for using type.
1. Too many typefaces in close proximity to each other will usually look jumbled and will be hard to read (although there are exceptions). Keeping it down to two typefaces per page is a good rule of thumb.
2. Fonts that reflect the same cultural or historical influences often work well together.
3. Studies show that serif typefaces are much easier to read on the printed page than sans serif typefaces.
4. Avoid using typefaces together that are too similar. When the differences are very subtle, it is confusing to the eye.
5. Blank space on the page gives the eyes a rest and makes text easier to read.
