Typography

Traditionally, typography referred to the artful, and physical, arrangement of type. This used to be a specialized profession but today's digital environment makes it easy for graphic designers to have all the tools necessary to create visually stunning, highly effective titles and graphics. In order to help you with this, we'll show you how to use concepts like contrast, spacing, and composition to create text that both engages your audience and moves them to action. The ultimate goal of well executed typography is effective communication. However, just splashing words on a page isn’t nearly enough. Effective communication depends upon your message being both legible and readable. In this sense, highly decorative typefaces should be used sparingly and only at larger sizes such as in headings. These typefaces are meant to be glanced at, not read. Those intended for use in newspapers and books, on the other hand, are designed with a high degree of legibility so that anyone can easily read them without getting fatigued. Maintaining consistent, appropriate, aesthetics is an important part of communication. Every typeface has a particular feel or personality that must match the personality of the product, service or event you’re designing for. The ultra relaxed Comic Sans would be a poor choice for an investment firm, while Georgia, with its more serious, ready-for-business feel, would be much more appropriate. Also, choice of typeface can affirmor confuse your audience’s expectations. For example, an old west typeface such as Giddyup would be out of place on the front of a classy Greek restaurant. It's also a good idea to choose a typeface based on the particular mood or emotion you wish to elicit from your audience. Flowing, curvy characters convey a softer feeling than those with sharp angles and hard edges. Whimsical typefaces such as Comic Sans and Huxtable convey lightheartedness while strong, powerful typefaces like Impact set the opposite tone. Contrast refers to the degree to which certain elements in a design stand out more than others. This is one of the most critical principles of good design. It's one of the few ways that you can direct the reader’s eye to that which is most important. The first way to create contrast is by using different font sizes. A larger size indicates material of greater importance while lesser material is typically de-emphasized using smaller text. Contrast may be intensified further by varying the brightness of various design elements. Brighter colors demand attention more than subdued colors and deeper, darker, blacks will be noticed more readily than levels of grey. Color certainly plays a role in creating contrast. A single word in bright red among an otherwise black text will all but leap right off the page. Altering the weight of a font is another sure way of increasing the contrast between textual elements. A heavy bold italic will receive much more attention than a font of normal weight. Spacing tells the audience where to start, when to pause and where to go next. Between letters and lines, it can improve readability or create tension. Kerning reduces the space between characters, allowing them to overlap, while tracking increases the space between them. Leading may be adjusted to increase or decrease the space between lines of text. Too little space will make it difficult to read and too much will cause isolation and loss of context. The use of positive and negative space is another important design principle. The objects represent positive space, while their environment represents negative space. The idea is to balance the positive with the negative to create a pleasing composition that is neither boring nor busy. Good composition may be achieved by paying careful attention to a design’s Visual Center and the Rule of Thirds. Place important elements at the visual center of the piece. Elements placed here will fall into the reader’s natural line of focus. The Rule of Thirds takes into account that compositions are much more interesting when the primary element is off center. Divide the design area into thirds both horizontally and vertically then place the elements at one or more of the four points where those lines intersect. Typography is an extremely important element in communicating effectively with your audience. Using these tips you will soon be creating visually appealing, audience grabbing titles and graphics that are sure to make your work stand out.