Lesson 2.1 Ten Typography Essentials. 1. Tracking/Controlling tracking 2. Kerning 3. Leading 4....
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Transcript of Lesson 2.1 Ten Typography Essentials. 1. Tracking/Controlling tracking 2. Kerning 3. Leading 4....
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