PHOTOSHOPDOWN & DIRTY TRICKS TOUR

Lesson 2.1Ten Typography Essentials

Ten Typography Essentials

1. Tracking/Controlling tracking2. Kerning3. Leading4. Choosing the proper justification5. Using the right dashes6. Hanging punctuation7. The single space rule8. Use ligatures9. Superscript when appropriate10.Use proper inch and feet marks

Tracking

Tracking refers to the space between all of the letters in a line

Adjusting tracking produces letters that are spaced further apart Usually you do not want to reduce

tracking unless you’ve already increased it

If you reduce tracking too much, text appears too dark to many readers

Tracking is measured in 1/1000 em Em is relative to the current type size

In a 12-point font, 1 em = 12 points In a 10-point font, 1 em = 10 points

To give characters dramatic spacing, you need to enter fairly high numbers in the Tracking box—at least 300 Positive tracking increases the space between

letters Negative tracking reduces the space between

letters

CONTROLLING TRACKING

Step 1: Tightening Space Tightening the space between letters in a word,

or a group of words, or adding more space between letters in a word, or a group of words

Most of the time, you’ll be tightening space to make your type look better when you create type at larger point sizes You generally don’t apply any tracking when your

point size is < 12 because the fonts are designed where the spacing for type at < 12 pt. looks correct

As a general rule, tighten the tracking for all type > 18 pts. (except script fonts, which are designed so they don’t need tracking at all)

How much tracking do you apply? Tighten a small amount (like around -10 for 18

or 24 pt. type, & a little more for 36 or 48 pt. (app. -25) & when you get to 72 pt., 100 pt -50 or -60

The goal is to leave a small gap bet. letters at large sizes, w/o the letters actually touching

In print advertising and TV, it’s not uncommon to have very tight tracking where the letters actually touch just a little bit (AKA “kiss” tracking) because you tighten the letters up enough until they just about kiss

Most Photoshop users leave the tracking set at zero (0) all the time, but a pro would never set 60 point text with (0) tracking

Step 2: Adding Space Add space bet. letters (increasing the

amount of tracking) when you want to add an air of elegance to your type as an effect—adding space tends to make your type look open & airy

NORMAL TEXTP O S I T I V E

T R A C K I N G ( + 1 0 )NEGATIVE TRACKING (-2)

KERNING

Adjusting the space between 2 letters w/in a word In the past, computer-generated text left

gaps between letter pairs that naturally create spacing

Necessary when type sizes get really large or where pairs of letters end up next to each other—these letter pairs include Pa, Ta, We, and Yo

The gap between these letters is larger than the gap between other letter pairs, such as na

Modern software corrects kerning for you Metrics kerning automatically adjusts

the space between a set of letter pairs defined for each font

Optical kerning automatically adjusts the space between letters based on their shapes

By default, InDesign applies metrics kerning to your text

Metrics kerning automatically adjusts the spacing between letters so letter pairs that produce gaps have spacing consistent with letter pairs that do not produce gaps

Type designers have created special spacing allowances (called “Kerning Pairs”) to help overcome this—they are included with most fonts

Even with this, it’s still almost always necessary to apply kerning to large-sized type

Good kerning is an art & takes practice to develop your eye!

For fonts that do not include such pairs (which is rare), you can use optical kerning

Optical kerning is also useful when you use 2 different typefaces or sizes in 1+ words on a line

You might also want to adjust kerning manually

Usually, audiences will only notice kerning-related gaps in larger font sizes

Some designers also use kerning to achieve the effect of tightly spaced letters Tight kerning was especially popular in the

immediate post-war period, from 1950-1980 If you’ve seen advertisements from that era,

you may recall headings with letters that were tightly spaced

TypographyTypographyTypography[kerning applied]

LEADING

The amount of vertical space bet. lines of text

It’s pronounced “led-ing” after the strips of lead used to separate lines of text)

Photoshop uses “auto leading” Applies 120% space against the size of

your type (meaning if you set your type at 10 point, then Photoshop applies 12 points of leading (20% more)

When & Why? Using Auto Leading isn’t bad or good – it’s the default so

it won’t look bad – but it won’t look great (like a pro) either!

Too little leading can make a block of text appear too dark & difficult to read

Too much leading can make text appear too light & is also difficult to read

Add more space when legibility is a concern, or if you want to make your type more elegant Ex: wedding invitations

For body copy, many designers use a leading of at least the font size + 2 points A great combination for books & magazines is a 10 pt. font

with 14 pt. leading

Warning: Don’t let the descenders of the letters on the top line touch any on the line beneath it Descenders are part of letters that

extend below the invisible baseline that your type sits on EX: j, g, p, q, y

You can make it snug, but don’t let them touch!

For headings, especially headings in all capital letters, you can apply leading more liberally

Adjusting leading produces different design effects For headings, you should adjust leading

manually With all-caps, you can decrease leading

down to almost nothing with little loss in legibility

HEADINGWITHWIDELEADING

HEADINGWITHNARROWHEADING

CHOOSING THE PROPER JUSTIFICATION

Left Justified Text all the type lines up on the left side, &

the right side doesn’t line up perfectly Is considered a very casual style Used in many conversational style

magazines like People, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly

Justified Text Is much more formal Used in many legal documents & articles

in more formal magazines, like National Geographic or Smithsonian

It’s a signal to the reader that you are a serious journalist writing an important article

Center Justification Is used for wedding invitations, flyers,

business cards, etc., that use short lines of texts, rather than long paragraphs

Right Justified Text Is used often in restaurant menus for

pricing, where all the pricing needs to line up, or on website navigation bars, or when you want to create a design statement Probably the least used form of

justification

USING THE RIGHT DASHES

Hyphen Only use to hyphenate words like step-

by-step or when Photoshop automatically hyphenates a word because it was too long to fit on 1 line

EN Dash A longer dash (- vs –) [press Alt-Dash] Use primarily to indicate a length of time

EX: “12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.” or “for 7 – 10 year olds”

Technically it doesn’t have a space on either side of it, but it is commonly used that way

Use is subtle – but it is the little things that add up to change the page and make you a pro!

EM Dash Used primarily within a sentence to

separate a thought or indicate a change in thought w/o using a comma, colon, or a period EX: “The new backpacks are now in stock

—they’re gorgeous!” Technically shouldn’t have spaces on

either side although is often used that way EX: January—February EX: January — February

Hanging Punctuation (Roman Hanging Punctuation) The punctuation of a callout or pull quote should

be “outside” of the first letters of each line – i.e., hanging punctuation that hangs off the paragraph EX:“Good typography has a lot to do with the timelessness of the piece”

- DESIGN FIRM “RED LABOR”

EX:“Good typography has a lot to do with the timelessness of the piece”

- DESIGN FIRM “RED LABOR”

THE SINGLE SPACE RULE

On a typewriter, it is proper to put 2 spaces bet. sentences because typewriter fonts are monospaced (meaning each letter takes up exactly the same space)

When using fonts in typography, a “W” takes up a lot more space than an “i” because it uses proportional spacing which is 1 of the reasons real type looks so much better than typewriter type

USE LIGATURES

When 2 letters collide (like the top of a small “f” and the dot on a lowercase “i”

Built into nearly all typefaces are special characters called ligatures which are essentially a separate character that is a perfect combination of 2 characters that touch, to create 1 character

SUPERSCRIPT WHEN APPROPRIATE To shrink the point size (app. 50%) &

move upward to align the top of the letters EX: 1st

EX: $24.00 $2400

USE PROPER INCH AND FEET MARKS Photoshop makes “curly marks” for

you automatically AKA smart quotes Not professional use for inch & feet

marks EX: 5’ 3”

THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGNING WITH TYPE

Contrast – 1 of the key design concepts used for the basic building blocks of page layout & design Weight Scale Letter Spacing Contrasting Form

Weight Varying the weight of fonts is an easy

way to create instant contrast EX: Use a very thick typeface with a very

thin one It’s almost a guarantee that a combination

will work if you use 2 fonts, with vastly different weights, from the same type family EX: Match Futura Light with Futura Extra

Bold

When it comes to type, the heavier the weight the more important the message EX: Website – what is important is

where you are on the site EX: Print – the headline is the most

important thing on the page, so it would get the heaviest weight of the typeface, i.e., use Helvetica Black for the headline, Helvetica Bold for the subheading, and Helvetica Regular for the rest of the page

Scale Mix the scale where 1 word is huge &

the other word is much smaller Very effective & very popular

Letter Spacing Visually separates 2 blocks of text Extra space is a trick used to add

elegance The more space between letters, the more

luxurious the logo appears Combine a tightly tracked name, with a

loosely tracked subhead or tagline & it creates great contrast & gives added elegance

Contrasting Form Mixing 1 word with all uppercase letters

with another word (or phrase) in all lowercase – or vice versa

TYPE DESIGN TECHNIQUES

Using Ascenders & Descenders as Design Helpers Ascenders – parts of lowercase letters that extend

above the lowercase letter’s x-height (or centerline) Can also make artificial ascenders by using larger capital

letters to start a word Descenders – parts of lowercase letters that descend

below the invisible baseline that type sits upon Use the ‘holders’ (d, y, j, g, p, b) for secondary

lines of text Can also use a ‘stacking’ technique where each

word is expanded in size to match the word below it

Unlock the design power of open type fonts Open-type fonts have the word “Pro”

at the end of them

PHOTOSHOP TYPE EFFECTS

Custom Distress A weathering effect – can still read the

text Creating Your Own Custom Type