OUGD505 - Graham's Second Type Session - In The Mac Suite

What is Type?
-Language

                                                                                                                                                                  

Kerning
- The space between each letter
- Correct kerning - equal space between letters. 
- Never negatively kern. 
- THE CORRECT WAY TO KERN - 

- You choose the biggest space, and make the rest fit that. Negative space in shapes should be seen as curves. The largest space in my name is between the L and the E. The smallest is between D and B. 

How do you speak the below sentence? The option on the right is correct. 

Exercise - Close your eyes and open them, what stands out most? 

                                                                                                                                                                  

Heirachy

Heirachy is really important in terms of showing information - Remember the business card task. 

- It is important to give the right mood, atmosphere, etc...

The way in which we read heirachy is about the amount of negative space around each word. "three" is seen first, since it has the most space around it. 

The below one works slightly better:

And so it can be read in reverse: 

Our eyes are lazy, and read what's easiest first.  We will do anything to not read a word upside down. The viewing experience is confused by rotation, and our eyes are used to read left to right and up to down. When words have to be read down from down to up it has a lower heirachy. 

                                                                                                                                                                  

Bodycopy

Choosing a typeface with a smaller x height will give us more smooth. They also give the appearance of more leading, eg.

If you need to fill a page, use a font with a bigger x height: eg, Garamond or Gill Sans. 

- Using one long column, your eye has to follow the leading back to the next line (in the leading). By increasing the leading, this SHOULD help. 

Cultural Values: 

4 column - Newspapers - Fast, quick info. 

3 column - Magazines 

2 column - Novel / Book - Worked on for a few years

We can convince ourselves that different columns involve different levels of intelligence, when they're all the same. 

How to make bodycopy more readable:

- Leading - Gives your eyes space to go back to the next line. 

- Point size - Increasing the point size could be seen as patronising. 

- Paragraphs - Indents and line space. Using indents make the page seem more serious. 

Justifying text works well with a 2 column (8 to 10 word grid), but not on a 3 or more column grid (unless the gutter is increased. 

- Minimum number of words on a line - 6. 

- Minimum point size 8 / 9 pt. The legal size for small print is 6pt. 

The ImP0rtANT thiNg wiTh tYpe iS saY iT OuT LOUD