One of the areas I found most hard to understand when studying Graphic Design was type, and the many rules that govern it. Often a lecturer or creative director would make a comment about my typography and I would be left completely confused as to what they meant. Later I would discover that many of them did not understand what they meant either.
The rules of typography are clouded in much secrecy and mystery. Why? Another question that no one really knows the answer to. Maybe it’s one of the trades that’s been earmarked as the next to be forgotten, or maybe it simply requires too much effort to actually find out – I mean lets face it, they are not the most exciting set of laws are they. Or at least that’s what I was always led to believe by type teachers that would expel the age old proverb of “learn the rules before you start breaking them!” Which implied firstly; that there were rules to learn, and secondly, that they must be dull if we were encouraged to break them as soon as we learnt them.
It was with this in mind that I set out to learn what the rules might actually be. I started with asking other designers, talking with typographers and reading old tomes. It took some time but slowly I started to find a list of rules that could be applied in the way I’d been lead to believe. Here they are, enjoy breaking them.
___________________________________________________________
WIDOWS AND ORPHANS
In typesetting, widow refers to the final line of a paragraph that falls at the top the following page of text, separated from the remainder of the paragraph on the previous page. The term can also be used to refer simply to an uncomfortably short (e.g. a single word or two very short words) final line of a paragraph.
A related term, orphan, refers to the first line of a paragraph appearing on its own at the bottom of a page with the remaining portion of the paragraph appearing on the following page; in other words the first line of the paragraph has been "left behind" by the remaining portion of text.
One easy way to remember the difference between and an orphan and a widow is to remember that orphans "have no past, but a future", while widows "have a past but no future." Widows and orphans are considered sloppy typography and should be avoided.
___________________________________________________________
AMOUNT AND FONT CHOICE
Only use 2 or 3 typefaces per document. And even then make sure those faces have jobs (headline, subhead, body copy etc.) Having too many typefaces just makes things confusing for the reader. Remember the job of the designer is to communicate a message. If the reader is being confused by your amazing use of a 100 different fonts then they aren’t concentrating on the message are they?
Also bear in mind that using vastly different weights within the same family will make it look like you've used completely different fonts. For example if you put Helvetica Neue Ultra Light next to Helvetica Neue Black Condensed you would have to say it feels like a different font and therefore should be included separately in your 2 or 3 selections.
Use legible fonts. Using illegible fonts makes things illegible and, dare I say it again, the designers job is to communicate a message.
___________________________________________________________
SIZE OF TYPE
Body copy should be no larger than 10pt and no smaller than 7pt. Computers for some unknown reason always default to 12pt type. This is too big, unless of course you’re setting type for the large print books your Grandparents like to read.
Anything smaller than 7pt gets a bit hard to read quickly.
___________________________________________________________
KERNING
Adjust kerning so the white space between letters is consistent. This helps people read at a more coherent rate. It lets each letter lead right onto the next without any jarring gaps or unneeded pauses.
___________________________________________________________
CAPITALS AND STRESSES
Do not overuse capitals. Setting a whole paragraph in capitals may look visually appealing but it’s near impossible to read and the job of the designer is to communicate a message.
Do not overuse body copy emphasis and stress options. Body copy options are used to bring emphasis to or to stress certain words or phrases, these include italics, underlines, bolds, contrasting colours amongst others. If you have a whole paragraph set in italics then the emphasis power that italics had is lost.
___________________________________________________________
LINE LENGTHS
No more than 70 characters and no less than 40 characters per line (roughly 10 – 15 words.) A line that is too long means that the reader reads each line at a slower rate and takes longer to trace their way back to the start of the next line, slowing intake of information down and stagnating it.
If it is too short then the reader reads too fast and can jump lines causing confusion and lower long-term absorption of information. It has been proven that between 70 and 40 characters per line is optimum for understanding and speed.
___________________________________________________________
TRACKING BETWEEN LINES
Do not line track any more than 30 thousandth of an ‘em’ between lines. If you track at -10 on the top line then you can only go a maximum of +20 on the line below it…and so on. Anymore than that and the viewer can start to tell there is something awkward with the spacing…if they are noticing something awkward with the spacing then they are not taking in the communication.
___________________________________________________________
HYPHENS
Try not to use hyphens.
Word-breaks split words (it’s in the name.) Some words when split become words in their own right and therefore have a different meaning. This is not desirable behavior, especially when it could lead to ambiguity (such as in the example, where ‘recreation’ and ‘re-creation’ would be indistinguishable).
If you do need to use hyphens, and I mean if it’s a life and death situation, make sure you never have two hyphens on consecutive lines and never more than 4 in a paragraph.
___________________________________________________________
RIVERS AND LAKES
Rivers, or rivers of white, are visually unattractive gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text. They often result from full text justification, although they can occur in any text justification. They are more noticeable in monospaced fonts, such as that of a typewriter.
Lakes are similar but create a large white space spot/hole in the text. These give the reader reason to pause and therefore hinders the communication. The best way to find if your document has these in it is to close your eyes so your eye lashes cloud you vision. The text will then become shapes and any white spaces will jump right out at you. Adjust through use of kerning.
___________________________________________________________
JUSTIFICATION
Justification sometimes leads to typographic anomalies (especially when the computer does it.) When the spaces between words line up approximately above one another in several loose lines, a distracting river or lake of white space may appear. It also is likely to cause widows. Rivers appear in right-aligned, left-aligned and centered settings too, but are more likely to flow in justified text due to extra word spacing.
Another problem occurs when using justification in narrow columns, when exceptionally large spaces appear between only two or three words (called a loose line). Both of these problems are reduced by the addition of hyphenation, but then hyphenation has it’s own problems.
People with dyslexia (even if they just have mildly) find that justification interferes with cognitive understanding. When the lines all finish on exactly the same point it is also makes it more difficult for the eye to find the next line. The best way to do it is to start with left aligned right ragged and adjust your tracking to give a more uniformed right.
___________________________________________________________
LEADING
Leading should be set at 2 or 3pts higher than the size of your type. Anymore or less and the eyes have trouble distinguishing or finding the next line. Again if you had your leading set at 4pt above your type size it would still be readable but the optimum space is at 2/3pts.
___________________________________________________________
CLASSIC FONTS
Utilize the classics. Classic fonts do not become ‘classics’ because they don’t work, they become classics because they can be relied on, and they’ve been used countless times before and consistently perform well. Use them.
___________________________________________________________
BASELINE
Letters and words should sit aligned upon the baseline. Making letters sit straight next to each other and not jumbled on varying heights should be obvious but just in case…if the letters are not sitting next to each other on a baseline it makes the reader stutter in their reading causing their eyes to move up and down as well as from left to right – kinda like patting your head while rubbing your belly, you can do it but it requires extra thought, and if you’re spending extra thought on doing that then chances are you’re probably missing some of the information.
Remember you may have to manually adjust some letters or symbols (the @ is an obvious example, it is always slightly above the baseline.)
