Today, typography can be found everywhere: on websites, street posters, food packaging, advertising posters, videos, books…etc. It has become an integral part of branding.
What is typography?
In simple terms, typography is the visual design of text. It is one of the most essential elements of composition, both digitally and in print.
Anyone can learn how to use typography beautifully and effectively. In this guide to the basics of typography, we have collected the main tricks and rules of typography for you. We hope it will help you improve your skills and create visuals to impress your audience.
In this article we will cover:
What is Typography?
The process of converting printed characters into attractive, visible, and readable text is called typography.
The word typography is derived from the following Greek words: (τύπος) (typos) which means “form” or “impression” and (γράφειν) (graphein) which means the verb “to write”.
The origin of the word typography
Typography has been known since the 11th century, but the art itself existed even earlier at a time when books and newspapers were published without any technical means. Every detail was carefully thought out, developed, and displayed on paper.
In the era of the Internet and digitalization, typography has expanded its influence and has become a prominent component not only in publishing but in all areas of life.
Typography today is not so much about creating legible text as it is about designing visually appealing text that can evoke certain feelings in the reader. And in order to be able to do this, you need to learn as much as possible about this art and practice, practice, and again (yes, we repeat) practice.
The Typefaces Classifications
Before moving on to the main classifications of typefaces, you need to define the difference between a typeface and a font. They are often used in the same sense but it is not so, a typeface is a set of fonts and their types, while a font is one of the styles included in a typeface.
Don’t worry, it’s simple, a typeface is a collection of different fonts.
For example, Roboto is a typeface that includes Roboto Light, Roboto Bold Italic, Roboto Light Italic, and other fonts.
There are five basic classifications of typefaces: serif, sans serif, script, monospaced, and display, Let’s analyze them separately.
Serif typeface
This typeface is also known as the humanistic style.
This type of typeface was inspired by traditional calligraphy and is considered one of the most famous and oldest styles. According to some sources, the Antiqua appeared in the 15th century.
Serif typefaces are more formal and can be found in newspapers, books, and magazines.
This typeface can be changed, so it includes different styles: italic, bold, lowercase, and other styles.
Despite the fact that the Serif typefaces feature small serifs at the end of the letters, they have many differences. One of the most famous is Times New Roman.
Sans serif typeface
If you studied French, you will know that “sans” means “without,” so naturally enough, sans serif fonts are those without serifs at the end of the strokes.
The first experiments with printed sans serif typefaces were in the mid-1700s, however, their use in print really didn’t become more commonplace until the early 1800s.
The characters of this type of typeface are clearer, bolder, and more modern. A well-known example of this typeface is Arial, which is often found in headlines and ads.
Script typeface
This look with graceful curves is the most elegant and artistic typeface. It appeared in the middle of the 20th century and usually looks like a handwritten letter.
There are many variations of this typeface, some of them are even difficult to work with, so they should be used with care, despite their beauty. It’s always worth keeping in mind whether users will be able to read it, especially if you are going to use this typeface for your brand logo.
Monospaced typeface
Monospaced typeface date back to the days of the typewriter. Monospaced typefaces have a fixed width or the same amount of horizontal space. These typefaces were invented to comply with the mechanical requirements of typewriters. Since the spacing between each letter is the same, the reader can find it difficult to read text written in this typeface.
Monospaced typefaces were also widely used in the early computer days because they had limited graphic capabilities.
The Bergen Mono is a great example of a monospace typeface that is not difficult to read. This typeface still maintains the one-space digital character and is well suited for both print and digital projects.
Display typeface
Display typefaces are fun, informal, and original. They are usually used in short texts, such as headings.
Many famous brands use this typeface in their logo design. Notable examples of logos designed with Display typefaces are Disney and Fanta.
Typography Elements You Need to Know
Knowing the basic elements of typography can greatly simplify your work. It is the basis on which you can create and format text with great skill.
Let’s talk about the different elements of typography that you need to know before you start working on your project.
Leading
The space between two lines of text is called leading.
This factor is very important in making your text readable. If the leading is too close, it will be difficult for people to distinguish and read the text, which is naturally undesirable.
If the leading is too large, the text content will be difficult to read. So, always try to keep a balance between the lines, and if you’re not sure how to handle this factor, leave it at the default option.
Very tight or very open leading can often yield beautiful typographic treatments but should be reserved for small amounts of text, not large blocks of copy, such as headlines.
Tracking
Tracking or, letter spacing is the space we see between the characters of the text
When working with most software and online tools, you can usually apply both positive and negative tracking.
The positive is (making more space between characters) and the negative is (making words appear tight). Make sure you don’t apply more tracking than needed, so your composition looks professional and yet artistic.
Kerning
Many designers confuse tracking with kerning, simple kerning is adjusting the space between two single characters while tracking is the space between all the characters in the text.
If you’ve applied Tracking to a word and you’re still noticing a gap between the letters A and W, you’ll have to use the kerning option to correct it.
You can also use kerning when designing logos, to adjust the space between letters to make them more visible by distancing them from each other slightly.
Alignment
We use the Alignment element in the design to unify the text to give it the same size and spacing between the design elements. You can choose one of the following text alignment options: Align left, right, center, or justified.
Left-aligned text for languages that write from left to right such as English is the best option for you because it is easier and nicer for the eyes to read. For languages that write from right to left, such as Arabic, the right-aligned text option is the correct option.
Meanwhile, the more complex alignment option to work with may be Justified, Justified type is aligned on both the left and right sides, and most of the time it negatively affects characters and word spacing. So, you need more experience to deal with it but as a beginner, it is better to avoid it.
When choosing any of the alignment options, make sure there aren’t any lone words (“widows”) or punctuation left out in a single line. To make your text visually more appealing, keep your text clean, and organized, and don’t forget to use tracking if needed.
Hierarchy
The hierarchy helps readers’ eyes focus on the most important part of your design. It allows them to navigate easily, knowing where to start and where to go next, according to the text hierarchy within your design.
To design a clear and purposeful hierarchy, first identify the important elements within the design that you want the viewer to notice, focus on, and make them stand out. You can do this with a bolder style, varying fonts, accent colors, or using a larger text size.
Important Rules and Tips for Beginners
Prioritize readability
The most important rule of typography is to make the text readable. Small, cluttered font with a dark background with dark text will make the text unintelligible.
Don’t choose colors or Typefaces because they are your favorites, but you must take into account the purpose of the design, for each type of typeface is used for a specific purpose, and the same is true for colors.
Here are some tips for making the text expressive:
- Instead of font stretching and distortion, choose longer or wider fonts.
- Use color psychology. Each color has its uses and properties, and look for a positive match for shades.
- Limiting the typefaces used within a single design, and choosing more than two (or a maximum of three) typefaces will make the text composition appear too heavy and complex to read.
Grids will help you
To make all the small details of your text composition completely professional, use design grids. It will help you create a visually coherent piece and easily align text composition elements.
If you are a beginner, you can start with simple grids to understand how they work first and deal with them.
And later you can change to more complex ones, however, remember leaving generous amounts of white space is always a good idea.
You don’t have to fill your whole page with elements and texts, It will let your text breathe and help the reader catch the important information.
Avoid trends
Trends often don’t last long, and the same goes for typography. Choosing a popular font, for now, will create complications for your brand later on. You can choose classic typefaces because they last a very long time.
The same goes for every element of the typography: color, size, and style. Don’t choose what’s trendy. Choose what suits your brand or the message you want to convey.
Practice makes perfect
Whether you are a beginner or a skilled expert, you never stop learning, and practicing your skills is a must.
Mastering typography tricks and rules will give you all the base you need to start using them on various projects, practice these rules to find your approach, style, and signature, and later you’ll have every right to think outside the box and break the rules.
Summing Up
Simply put, typography is the process of giving the text a visual appearance. They are in every aspect of our lives, in many styles and shapes.
There are four main typefaces that text fonts fall serif, sans serif, script, and display.
By learning the key terms and rules of typography, you will be able to improve your typography skills, look at each design with a more open mind and come up with creative solutions.
