Typography can be split into three separate elements:
- The letter - design of the individual characters, glyphs and anatomy.
- The word - how these glyphs fit together.
- The line - combination and arrangement of words in a body or sequence.
Heirarchy
In communication, some messages will be more vital than others. Type size, style, weight, colour and treatment can all add emphasis to any elements that require prominence. A hierarchy of different sizes, styles and weights can be used to denote the degree of importance of each individual line.
Alignment
Left-aligned, right-aligned, centred and justified text. In typography, "rag" refers to the irregular or uneven vertical margin of a block of type, often on the right edge. The rag typically follows a pattern of 'in, out' until the end of the text.
Leading
Leading refers to the distance between the baselines of successive lines of type. The term originates from hand typesetting, in which strips of lead were used to increase vertical distance between lines. Lack of white space impairs reading as the eye struggles to track from one line to another. For body copy, leading should be slightly greater than the font point size and increased or decreased proportionally.
Tracking
Tracking refers to the amount of space between a group of letters to affect density in a line or block of copy. Readability decreases when negative tracking is applied. Wide tracking opens up the type, however also becomes less legible if used in extremes. As a rule, below -40 and above +40 tracking are not advised.
Kerning and Pairs
Kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between individual characters and letterforms in a proportional font to achieve a visually pleasing result.
Hidden Characters
These invisible characters, including spaces, returns, tabs or indents, end of story, line breaks, only appear when you have 'show hidden characters' turned on. They indicate the structure of your body text and show how the type is set, which can be useful for finding unintentional line breaks and double spaces.
Line Length
Efficient reading depends on a comfortable line length, typically between 40 and 75 characters or 7 to 12 words. An overly sort line length causes a more extreme rag in a body of text, whilst an overly long line length can decrease legibility and the eye finds it difficult to track the next line.
Widows and Orphans
Widows and orphans are lines or words left hanging or separated from a complete block of text, which includes single or two short words left at the end of a paragraph. Tracking and line spacing should be altered to remove any of these.
Dashes and Spaces
Hyphenation is the process of breaking words between lines to create more consistency across text. It is important to consider that hyphenation is somewhat a subjective design decision, which can affect the aesthetic appearance of a piece of body text.
Leading
Leading refers to the distance between the baselines of successive lines of type. The term originates from hand typesetting, in which strips of lead were used to increase vertical distance between lines. Lack of white space impairs reading as the eye struggles to track from one line to another. For body copy, leading should be slightly greater than the font point size and increased or decreased proportionally.
Tracking
Tracking refers to the amount of space between a group of letters to affect density in a line or block of copy. Readability decreases when negative tracking is applied. Wide tracking opens up the type, however also becomes less legible if used in extremes. As a rule, below -40 and above +40 tracking are not advised.
Kerning and Pairs
Kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between individual characters and letterforms in a proportional font to achieve a visually pleasing result.
Hidden Characters
These invisible characters, including spaces, returns, tabs or indents, end of story, line breaks, only appear when you have 'show hidden characters' turned on. They indicate the structure of your body text and show how the type is set, which can be useful for finding unintentional line breaks and double spaces.
Line Length
Efficient reading depends on a comfortable line length, typically between 40 and 75 characters or 7 to 12 words. An overly sort line length causes a more extreme rag in a body of text, whilst an overly long line length can decrease legibility and the eye finds it difficult to track the next line.
Widows and Orphans
Widows and orphans are lines or words left hanging or separated from a complete block of text, which includes single or two short words left at the end of a paragraph. Tracking and line spacing should be altered to remove any of these.
Dashes and Spaces
Hyphenation is the process of breaking words between lines to create more consistency across text. It is important to consider that hyphenation is somewhat a subjective design decision, which can affect the aesthetic appearance of a piece of body text.
- Hyphens (-) function as the formation of certain compound terms, those that consist of more than one word, but represent a single item or idea. The hyphen is also used for word division.
- The en dash () is used to indicate range, distance or time. Depending on the context, the en dash is read as 'to' or 'through'.
- The em dash () can take the place of commas, parentheses or colons, in each case producing a slightly different effect.
Rivers
In typography, rivers are gaps in typesetting which appear to run through a paragraph of text due to a coincidental alignment of spaces. The rivers are most noticeable with wide inter-word spaces caused by full text justification or monospaced fonts. Rivers can be tested for by turning a proof sheet upside down, as the eye is less likely to recognise words from this perspective and instead view more easily as patterns.
Baseline Grid
The baseline grid is a technique used in modernist typesetting, which aligns all text to a vertical grid where the bottom of each letter is positioned onto the grid in a similar sense to writing on lined paper. The text must sit on this baseline regardless of size, weight and spacing.
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