Tuesday 13 November 2012

OUGD404 - Type is Speech made visible


Type & Character

"Type is Speech made visible"

Different written languages portray different sounds through accents and emphasis.

Vocabulary:

Font, Typeface, Font family, Weight, Stroke, Uppercase, Lowercase, Tracking, Kerning, Serif, Sans serif, Script, Blackletter, Display, Monotype, Symbol, Glyph.

  • Typeface: A collection of characters, letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation etc that have the same design. 
  • Font: the physical means used to create a typeface, be it lithographic film, metal or woodcut.
  • Typeface : (font family)

  • Gothic font: stripped down, sans-serif fonts.
  • Roman font: serif fonts.
  • Script font: sweep of a brush/ stroke of a quill-like fonts.
  • Block font: woodblock printed style fonts.
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Legibility & Readability: 
  • Serifs can sometimes help to determine counters and negative space.
  • Increasing size can sometimes effect legibility.

Legibility ...

Is the degree to which glyphs (individual characters) in text are understandable or recognisable based on appearance. 

Readability ...

Is the ease in which text can be read and understood. It's influenced by line length, primary and secondary leading, tracking, kerning & point size.

T R A C K I N G is pulling the letters apart,

kerning is bringing the letters together.

**NEVER EVER KERN ON BODY COPY - IT EFFECTS READABILITY**

Minimal amount of typefaces usually increases readability:
No more than 3 fonts, even better if they're from the same typefaces.


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