fonts Some famous (and infamous) fonts

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1 fonts It s easy to forget that fonts have been around for hundreds of years, and the writing styles of ancient cultures have influenced their creation for thousands of years. The people who design fonts (type designers) are technically industrial designers. The thing they design is manufactured, and has a function (to be read). Some famous (and infamous) fonts Baskerville (designed in 1757 in England) Helvetica (designed in 1957 in Switzerland) Comic Sans MS (unleashed upon the world in 1994 in the US) Fonts are both works of art and works of science. They are often carefully constructed so that they have a certain look, but often are also carefully researched for a particular purpose. For example, Johnston Sans was designed in 1913 specifically for use in the London Underground. In this setting the font had to be easily read by passengers at merely a glance, but also needed to be visually pleasing as both the face of the London Passenger Transport Board, and also an icon of London itself. Above: Johnston Sans was designed for the London Underground by Edward Johnston in Johnston Sans is easily recognised by just a few defining features (the signature lowercase q, the diamond shaped dot above the lowercase i and j. Fonts are typically copyrighted material, some designers spend a great deal of time producing fonts or fontfamilies (groups of fonts with similar characteristics).

2 some key terms size The size of a font is expressed in points (pt.). For example, the point size used here is 10 (in Avenir). The font size denotes the width and height. fixed or variable A font is also categorised as fixed or variable. In a fixed font each character occupies exactly the same amount of space (Courier New is an example of a fixed font). In a variable font such this (Avenir) each of the characters takes up a different amount of space. pitch Pitch refers to the number of characters printed per inch (measured horizontally). In other words, pitch defines the amount of space (kerning) between each character. For example, a document printed at 9- pitch, will have more spaces between its characters than a document printer at 10-pitch. The concept of pitch applies to fixed fonts. Spacing-out a variable font will take away from its presentation. Consider these words spread out equally - in this format the font is not quite as readable. weight We also refer to fonts as being heavy or light. This is to do with how bold they are. A font such as Europe Underground would be considered to be very light, whereas Arial Black would be considered to be very heavy. width The width of fonts is also considered carefully. We refer to fonts such as Century and Perpetua titling mt as being quite narrow, and fonts such as Bauhaus 93 and Century Gothic as being quite wide. families A particular font may have a whole family of slightly different designs. For example, Arial, Arial Black, Arial Narrow, Arial Rounded MT Bold, and Arial Unicode MS all belong together because they are all slight variations of the same design. bold & italics Although the weight and style of a font is set by the designer, sometimes you have the ability to alter a font using bold (a heavier weight) or italics (a slanted version).

3 serifs Fonts can be categorised as either a serif font or a sans-serif font. Serifs are the small lines attached to the end of the stokes in some fonts. Sanserifs (meaning without serifs) fonts do not include these extra lines. Baskerville is an example of a serif font. Helvetica is an example of a sans-serif font Generally, sans-serif fonts are thought of as looking more modern than serif fonts.

4 kerning Kerning refers to the spacing between letters. Normally kerning is something that should be dealt with by the Type Designer when creating the font, but sometimes we may have to alter it in our work. Tea In the word above, whilst the spacing between each of the letters is uniform it appears bigger between the T and the e because of the shape of the letters. Tea In the above example, the kerning between the T and the e has been edited to ensure that the spacing seems even.

5 leading Kerning refers to the spacing between lines in a piece of text. Leading is something that we must always consider when designing. Normally, word processing programmes (such as Pages and Word) allow quite a generous spacing between lines, especially at smaller font sizes. This is an example. in the text above, there is quite a large space between the lines of text. Whilst this look can be acceptable and even effective, it is not always desired. This is an example. In this example, the leading (space between the lines) has been reduced. This gives the text a more unified look which is more desirable for some pieces of text (e.g. a title).

6 font categories Technically it would be impossible to create a foolproof method of categorisation for fonts. But, generally, we are able to categorise fonts in the following ways: Fonts are either serifs or san-serifs fonts. Sometimes, if the font is simple, this is the only categorisation we give it. Fonts may also fit into one of the following categories: Script Edwardian Script ITC Blackletter Lucidia Design Ingrained Blackletter Occasionally we can also label fonts as being from a particular period as seen above in Breamcatcher (reminiscent of the Art Deco period of design).

7 contrast When choosing fonts for your work, it is really important that you consider contrast. A good rule of thumb is to stick to only three fonts in your article. HEADING SUBHEADING Body text. The fonts above do not work well together at all. All three fonts have a handwritten quality to them, making them quite similar. The heading font (Bradley Hand) and the subheading font (Lucidia Handwriting) are both in capitals. And whilst the body font (Mistral) contrasts with the others in the way that it is more script-like, it shares enough of the handwritten qualities that it still clashes. Heading SUBHEADING Body text. The fonts above work quite well together because of their contrast. The heading font (Bauhaus 93) is heavy and very round, without serifs, and in mainly lowercase. The subheading font (Europe Underground), on the other hand, is light, airy, in uppercase, and is more square looking. However, the subheading still has no serifs. The body font (Cochin), with its serifs, looks much more traditional. It is neither as heavy as the title font, nor as light as the subheading font. It seems to share, equally, some of the round and square characteristics of the other two fonts.

8 Impact 106pt. Default leading. ARE This title, whist it seems acceptable upon first inspection, could have a lot added to it to make it really effective. The font, aptly named Impact, has just that, but the spacing between the lines causes the title to seem disjointed and to look a lot more like a document than a magazine article.

9 Impact 106pt. Reduced Leading. ARE Changing the leading has made a big difference to this title. Not only does the new spacing allow for more room on the page for other design elements, it also helps to make the text seem more unified. Also, having a similar kerning and leading size helps to make the font seem more uniform. This text is quite hard on the eye due to the fact that it is all in capitals and that the letters all appear to be the same size. This does also mean that none of the words stand out or will be read with emphasis over the other words.

10 Impact 106pt./181pt. Reduced leading. ARE Here I have explored one way of making the word are stand out. A more simple way would have been to use an italicised version of the font for that word, but, unfortunately, such a thing does not exist. One thing that is quite effective here is that, whilst they are in different sizes, the words titles and are are the same width. This does help the title to seem more modern crisply designed. This title does have a very imperative feel about it. Now, not only are the words all in capitals, but the are being larger, and still in the same font does have a certain authority about it.

11 Impact 106pt. Baskerville semi-bold italic 145pt. Reduced leading. are In this development, the word are has been placed in a contrasting font. Where the other words are heavy and square this seems rounder, softer and lighter. Though they don t stand out much here, there are serifs in the new font and also it is italicised. This example is softer, and seems less commanding than the previous example, which could be perceived as bossy by the viewer.

12 Impact 106pt. Reduced leading. ARE Returning to the original, single-font, idea, this option uses colour to emphasise the word are. The red and black forms a strong contrast, and, though this colour scheme can be a little overused it has certainly stood the test of time. This colour scheme, paired with the font choice would lead to a very strong title. Of course, many other colour schemes could be considered, including the more contemporary one in a smaller size below: ARE

13 Impact 106pt. Reduced leading. ARE In an attempt to soften the previous example, this idea experiments with, rather than making are stronger, making the other words lighter. This monochromatic (one-colour) development would look striking if paired with black and white photos in a monochromatic themed article. Another variation of this could be to invert the colour scheme entirely (as is shown below in a smaller example). ARE

14 Impact 106pt. Baskerville semi-bold italic 145pt. Reduced leading. are Of course to create an even softer effect we could change the font of the word are. In this case, the title looks a little more sophisticated.

15 Impact 50pt./106pt. Edwardian Script ITC 201pt. Reduced leading. Are titles? In this example, the font contrast has been taken to an extreme. Whilst this idea looks okay, and there are certainly good points about the design (such as the contrast between the lowercase titles and uppercase important, overall this idea isn t as effective as the previous one.

16 Impact 106pt. Baskerville semi-bold italic 145pt. Reduced leading. Reduced kerning (ar_e). are This idea mixes what is the preferred layout with the preferred colour scheme (based on the colours that will be used in the article). The kerning between the r and the e has also been altered (as a refinement to the overall design).

17 FONTS are After I ve written the introduction, the next step is to move on to the body of the article. In this case I m using Avenir 9pt because I think it contrasts nicely with the other fonts that I chose: Baskerville (which is more traditional and has serifs), and Impact which is heavier. That said, there are links between all these fonts too. Both Avenir and Baskerville (especially when bold) have a sort of roundness to them. And, both Impact and Avenir have no serifs. The contrast and links alongside each other help to unify, as well as add distinction to, different parts of the article s text. 1 You may have noticed the contrast in fonts, but you probably didn t notice that I ve changed the leading in this body section of the text as well. That s because if it wasn t altered two things would go wrong. First, I wouldn t be able to fit all of my words on the first two pages in just three columns (as I intend to do), secondly the text wouldn t look as neat and tidy as it does now. Did you notice that at the the start of the last paragraph I said, you may have By George Arthur My introduction will begin with a hook for the reader. And, I m going to use the letter Q because it looks great in this font (Baskerville semi-bold 15pt). This font is red to soften it a little, as it looked to harsh when it was black. You d be amazed how many students forget to close the quotation marks noticed the contrast in fonts, but you probably didn t notice that. There s one special reason why I began that paragraph in that way. It s to create a link. Without that sentence at the start the paragraph would have just begun with, I ve changed the leading. Whilst that s actually not a bad way to start a new paragraph, it s important to try to create links for the reader. Ironically, this paragraph did not begin with a link. It did include a rhetorical question at the start though. In the same way that I pointed out the linking paragraphs to you (notice that little link too?), I d like to point out that I correctly used quotation marks in the last paragraph. When using these, don t forget to separate the quotation from the rest of your writing with commas, and to open and close the quotations. You d be amazed how many students forget to close the quotation marks after they ve opened them. This is a really simple thing to check, but it comes down to students not leaving enough time to proofread their work. Don t forget, the proofreading is equally as important as 1: notice the apostrophe in article s, which is there because the text belongs to the article. This is a footnote by the way.

18 the writing itself. In terms of the design of this article there are quite a few important things that I ve tried to do. You ll notice that there is a c l e a r c o l o u r s c h e m e throughout the two-page article. I ve tried to link the colour scheme (of black, white, grey and reds) to the image that I chose. On the topic of the image, notice the way that I ve carried it over two pages. This is a really great way to ensure that your article flows. It helps the readers eyes to move from one page to the next, and ensures that they re aware that the next page is still the same article. The image that I ve chosen is also of high enough quality that it hasn t become pixelated at this large size. I ve tried really hard to make sure that spaces and margins are even and that they line up with each other. If I had to define the style of this article in one sentence I d say that it has a clean, minimalist feel, through its use of crisp lines and white spaces, which been paired with some traditional elements, such as the choice of Baskerville for one of the fonts and the centred pull quote on the first page. So, as this is already over 600 words long (note the use of digits for numbers over nine), I d better move on to my conclusion about here. As you can see, these articles really don t require that much writing. In the last step, the conclusion, it is important to link back to an idea from the beginning of your article. Remember, this is not an essay; so you don t have to recap each of the points you ve made. Your conclusion also doesn t have to have a cleverly placed quote at the end (although if you can find one that s actually clever and relevant you can use it). The last thing that I m going to do is to insert a l i t t l e d o t u s i n g t h e lowercase L from Windings 9pt. This is called an end mark and symbolises to the reader that the article has finished. l