I've always thought typography sounded kind of fun, so I was excited to learn more about it. Lots of typography exists in the world, and I don't think that will ever change. Businesses often have typography in their logo, advertisements, and websites. All books include typography, and someone had to choose which typeface to use for the words. In textbooks, magazines, brochures, movies, packaging, and more, a person had to decide which typeface he or she wanted to use. It amazes me how so many things had a typeface selected for it, and I hadn't really paid much attention.
There is so much to consider when choosing a typeface. There are so many different ways that type varies: by arm, ascender, axis, bar, baseline, bowl, cap height, character, counter, descender, ear, foot, hairline, head, italics, leg, ligature, link, loop, oblique, serif, shoulder, spine, spur, stem, stress, stroke, swash, tail, terminal, text type, thin/thick contrast, vertex, weight, x-height. A person must also decide on a font size. I learned that there are eight different classifications of type: old style, transitional, modern, slab serif, sans serif, blackletter, script, and display. So much variety exists.
I learned that a person must consider how well typefaces go together when using multiple. It is also wise to use less fonts when designing something. Using a type family can help the different type styles go together more smoothly. Unless a person wants to create a more chaotic look, it is important to use less variety and stick to similar typefaces with the same x-height. It is also important to consider the type's readability.
Typefaces can express feelings and actions through design, and I think it is fun to experiment to see how a word can show its meaning through the typeface. A person can showcase a word's meaning through how narrow the letters are, how they are stylized, how large they are, and how they are placed. Spacing is also important to consider and can help or deter readability.
When thinking about typography in text, it is also important to consider spacing and checking for words that are separated on a line away from the rest of the paragraph. Readability can be hindered with too long or narrow of spaces between words and letters. It is important to consider the font when deciding the appropriate spacing amount. It is also important to have chunking through paragraphs so that the content is more appealing. Having no paragraphs, subheadings, or color makes the reading less desirable because people often like to scan through the text for certain information. Margins are also important because they allow people to focus on the content. It is also important to consider text, images, and captions and what relationship you want to create between them: text heavy, equal text and images, image heavy, or caption heavy.
This information was not necessarily surprising, but it was interesting to see what I hadn't noticed before. I didn't realize the thought that went into creating typography designs, and that they had to decide on so many important factors. These factors are thought of on a daily basis for designers, and I never realized how much was considered when designing with type. The variation in type makes it interesting to read, and I'm glad there are so many different typefaces because the world would be a very dull place if all of the font on packaging, books, and business designs was the same way. Type creates lots of visual interest, and it is amazing how having different colors, subtitles, and chunks of text can make something more appealing to read.
This information was not necessarily surprising, but it was interesting to see what I hadn't noticed before. I didn't realize the thought that went into creating typography designs, and that they had to decide on so many important factors. These factors are thought of on a daily basis for designers, and I never realized how much was considered when designing with type. The variation in type makes it interesting to read, and I'm glad there are so many different typefaces because the world would be a very dull place if all of the font on packaging, books, and business designs was the same way. Type creates lots of visual interest, and it is amazing how having different colors, subtitles, and chunks of text can make something more appealing to read. I can't imagine a world of reading without paragraphs, headings, subtitles, margins, colors, or different typefaces.