Good Typography
Typography is one of the most essential elements of graphic design for print, web and film; it is also one of the most over looked elements when designers try to focus on the visual style more than the functionality of the design itself.
Many students and young designers would ask me different questions about type faces, i will list a few of them here and try to answer them for you.
Q. What is a good type?
A. There is no one simple answer for that question, it is the same as asking what is a good eye color? there are certain type faces that are more used than others and not only because they are expensive or popular but because these type faces function better, and by functioning i mean they do look clean and clear, crisp and strong. When you think about a type face think about its essential function: Readability! once a type face achieves that condition then it certainly serves its function.
Q. Type and font?
A. A type to a font is a song to an MP3. There are different terminologies about fonts, typically, a font is a computer method to render a type on a screen, think about this: in the past people did not have computers so they had only Type faces and their families, and now with the technological advancement a new method had to be applied to distinguish between the traditional typefaces (Arial, Helevetica, Times) and their Fonts (Regular, Bold, Italic, Black). Many designers use the term Font instead of Type which is sad but tolerable, but out of great respect to the type industry; it should be called Type. (you won't always like to be called "You!" or "Hey dude!", would you?)
Q. Is there a rule to know what type to use for certain media?
A. There really is not, but consider the fact that type faces come in three main shapes: Serif, Sans Serif and Script. The Type that i am using for writing this blog is called SERIF, it is distinguishable with its feet and curves, think about Times New Roman and Adobe Caslon. It is formal, classic, confident and calm. On the other hand, you might want to use a more modern type, it does not look curvy or have feet, it is clean and clear and looks very structured with its straight lines or slightly curved ones but no serifs, this is the SANS SERIF family (no serifs, literally), think of Arial, Helevetica and Century Gothic. and Script, is a designed type that has funky or sometimes horrible shapes (there are also Dingbats, fonts with shapes instead of letters). Now, what to use when? Think about your message: what do i want to say? which tone? how strong? Typeface is your spoken language but with a visual communication. Simply, regard your design environment. For instance; what do you think a good type would be for an insurance company? ask again, which one for a Fast Food Restaurant? You might want to convery more confidence and genuinty using Serif types when designing for Insurance companies, on the other hand, using Sans Serif for a fast food joint will make it look more appealing to younger people who relate more to this type of type faces. But it is not a certain rule, the design industry showed us many times that we can make the rules but it is sometimes good to break them as well. When you are designing a book or long articles in a magazine you might want to use Serif type faces because they look better in Smaller Sizes but fix a nice big title (chapter, headline, cover lines) with Serif fonts because they are very crisp thus you get more value of them when sized big.
Q. So which type faces do you recommend?
A. It is a personal choice, and sometimes it is about trends in the industry, for me; i would always go back to certain type families. In Serif i find Times, Caslon, Jensen and Garamond are essential, they do look familiar and they are flexible when it comes to putting them in paragraphs (leading and tracking also works well for them), on the Sans Serif side i love Helevetica (most of my students would shout now "Enough with Helevetica already!!!"), Gill Sans, Century, Univers, Futura and Eurostile, besides others, these are great to design titles or web banners, they are very clear and easy to read on screen (notice that most of the websites would prefer to look more Sans Serif). I avoid Script as i can for the fact that it is not only gimmicky looking but also terribly designed that you would be stuck with it for it would mix up with your graphical elements and secondly they do not kern well! but for everyone who is trying to find their type identity, experiment a lot with types, try different styles, different sizes, different fonts (Helvetica alone has a huge font family than any other font). Mix and Match! We pick type faces that look like us, try to look different at times.
Q. Type design?
A. Typography is a major stream of the graphic design industry because it is one of the oldest streams yet modernly maintained to achieve a functional balance for our new technologies, New Computer monitors, HD TVs, LCD Mobile screens and Portable Gaming systems use new technologies to enhance the quality of readability of the type faces (think of CRT in windows OS). Typography does not only have an artistic factor but also a very social and societal one! it is in our daily lives weather you like it or not, the newspaper, the website, your phone, the TV ..etc You can never avoid it! so there is a growing need for a better communication through Typefaces hence the Type designers. Designers who consider all the surrounding factors of the type to design from all different angles. Most big design schools in the world offer degrees in Type Design, you might want to consider looking at their websites. Here is a portal that is showing a few, http://www.emagister.net/typography+programs/ek-3060.htm , you can ask your friends if they have done any similar programs or get more information from your local community or school.
Links:
Here i am including few links to help you further more in your type design.
A tutorial for good Typography in InDesign
Five Simple Steps for Better Typography
Interesting Typography Design in Advertisements
If you have suggestions, links, questions or if you would simply like to share your thoughts with others about this post please leave your comment below.
Thanks.
Ahmad Qatato
