10 ways to make your type speak more clearly - typography

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Annual, 1994 by Alex White

Make sure your typography is serving the reader, not just "prettifying."

Type is the concrete form of spoken thought. Achieving that visual translation makes your publication a more effective instrument for your readers. Creating typography that "speaks" to readers requires a shift in approach from prettifying to revealing the content's message.

1. Use typographic tone of voice

* Show a reason to read

* All elements must work together

* Place elements in clear columns

2. Have sufficient contrast to reveal hierarchy

* Placement contrasts may emphasize left-handed alignment or horizontal/vertical direction

* Size contrast

* Weight contrast

* Font contrast

* Color contrast

3. Have a dominant typographic element

* Remove headline line spacing to make type darker

* Contrast size and color

* Contrast shape and color

* Contrast weight and alignment

4. Align elements

* Create coherence from disparity

* Extend alignments across page, across a spread, and throughout a story to connect facing pages

5. Retain white space

* White space is the "ground" on which printed elements exist

* Use it to show most important element

6. Pull readers into the story

* Lead reader from headline to deck to text

* Use breakouts and pull quotes

* Put good stuff in upper outer corners of pages

7. Vary line lengths on the page

* Use a 5-column grid and double or triple some column widths

* Or use a 3-column asymmetrical grid that ensures column width contrast

* Use column widths to separate kinds of information

8. "Belongingness"

* Subheads belong to following text

* Captions should look glued to their visuals

9. Use discipline

* Break all display type for sense

* Be consistent

* A limited palette gives visual coherence

* Allow columns to hang or size visuals to fill extra space. Do not open the line spacing to fill columns

10. Use line spacing

* Open it up when setting type across a double-wide column or to express a significant difference in content

Bibliography

Campbell, Alastair. The Mac Designer's Handbook. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1992.

Communication Arts Magazine. Palo Alto: Coyne & Blanchard, Inc.

Dair, Carl Design with Type. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.

Graphis Publication Design 1. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications.

In House Graphics. Bethesda, MD: United Communications Group.

Step-By-Step Electronic Design. Peoria, IL: Dynamic Graphics, Inc. (800 255-8800).

Type Directors Club. Annuals. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications.

White, Jan V. Graphic Design for the Electronic Age. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1988.

Alex White, professor of graphic design at the Hartford Art School of the Univ. of Hartford is a freelance designer providing customized design training for publications.