& Typography... A Brief History of

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1 A Brief History of Graphic Design & Typography... The Anatomy of Type + Letterforms, its personality and important things to understand about Type and it s Terminology...Elements & Principles of Design and the role of Colour. Environmental, and ethical factors

2 Innovations In Typography: In the 1920s, graphic designers began claiming various fonts, logos, stamps and typography techniques as their own signature styles. Jan Tschichold recorded several of the commonly used fonts in his book New Typography in Many of the typography techniques developed in the 1920s caught on, forming the foundation for general font typography even today. The Rise Of Mass Media: As the 1900s progressed, graphic design gained new popularity as all kinds of advertising, packaging and print became widely available. As demand for advertising, books, movies, magazines and newspapers increased, the position as a graphic designer became more popular in print shops, corporations and the entertainment world. Print shops needed graphic designers for everything from marketing materials to newspapers to books. Film makers needed graphic designers for cinema and later television. Everyday corporations needed graphic designers for brochures, newsletters, advertisements, logos and signs. Graphic Design Schools: Graphic design firms sprang up in response to the increased demand for artistic layout of ads and print materials. The first graphic design school, Bauhaus, was founded in 1919 in Germany, and was quickly followed by graphic design schools around the world. In the 1950s, logos became the big deal, as branding through a logo gained popularity. This is when still-popular logos were established, such as the IBM logo still used today. C omputers: In the 1960s, computers entered the graphic design world, but it wasn't until the 1980s that computers became the standard for graphic designers. Today's graphic designers couldn't imagine working without a computer In traditional typography, text is composed to create a readable, coherent, and visually satisfying whole that works invisibly, without the awareness of the reader. Even distribution of typeset material, with a minimum of distractions and anomalies, is aimed at producing clarity and transparency. Choice of typeface(s) is the primary aspect of text typography prose fiction, non-fiction, editorial, educational, religious, scientific, spiritual and commercial writing all have differing characteristics and requirements of appropriate typefaces and fonts. For historic material established text typefaces are frequently chosen according to a scheme of historical genre acquired by a long process of accretion, with considerable overlap between historical periods. With their more specialized requirements, newspapers and magazines rely on compact, tightly fitted seriffed text fonts specially designed for the task, which offer maximum flexibility, readability and efficient use of page space. Sans serif text fonts are often used for introductory paragraphs, incidental text and whole short articles. A current fashion is to pair sans-serif type for headings with a high-performance seriffed font of matching style for the text of an article. Typography is modulated by orthography and linguistics, word structures, word frequencies, morphology, phonetic constructs and linguistic syntax. In typography, color is the overall density of the ink on the page, determined mainly by the typeface, but also by the word spacing, leading and depth of the margins. Text layout, tone or color of the set text, and the interplay of text with the white space of the page in combination with other graphic elements impart a "feel" or "resonance" to the subject matter.

3 Typeface anatomy describes the graphic elements that make up printed letters iin a typeface. The strokes of a letter are the lines that make it up. Strokes may be straight, as in k l v w x z, or rounded, as in c o s.typographers also speak of an instroke, where one starts writing the letter, as at the top of a c f, and an outstroke, where the pen leaves off, as at the bottom of c e j k t y. A main vertical stroke is called a stem. The central stroke of an s is called the spine. A stroke, usually a stem, which rises above the height of an x (called the x height) is called an ascender; letters with ascenders are b d f h k l. A stroke which drops below the baseline is a descender. Letters with descenders are g j p q y. An arching stroke is called a shoulder or sometimes just an arch, as in h n m. A closed rounded stroke is called a bowl in b d o p q D O P Q R; B has two bowls. A trailing outstroke, as in j k y J K Q R is called a tail. A short horizontal stroke, as in the center of e f t A and the middle stroke of E F, is called a bar. A longer horizontal stroke at the top or bottom, as in E F L T, is called an arm. The bottom of the loop-tailed g is called a loop; the very short stroke at the top is called the ear. i j each have a dot or tittle. Angles of strokes are called apices if at the top and vertices if at the bottom. w has one apex and two vertices; v has one vertex. Letterforms can actually affect the way that someone perceives the work. This is all about how the letter looks and this is what you should be thinking about first. This is all about font choice in the old sense of the word; primarily the size and shape of the letterforms. 1. Typeface Comparing Baskerville to Zapfino you can see that Baskerville is much more subdued and more relatable to old universities that want to convey a sense of stateliness, while Zapfino is much more a decorative typeface for something feminine with it s largish swashes. 2. Type size Can you make the letterforms bigger or smaller to get the most readability out of the characters. Times New Roman looks amazing at smaller font sizes, as it s highly readable from 10pt but blown up it s not pretty. Zapfino looks horrible in smaller sizes but is readable in the larger sizes for headings but not body type.

4 Communicators should carefully choose typefaces because the typefaces substantially contribute to the visual, as opposed to the verbal, language of documents. Typefaces do this through the different personalities, or tones, that they convey. Typefaces can evoke strength, elegance, agitation, silliness, freindliness, scariness and other moods. It is important that professionals and students working in technical communication consider the extent to which typefaces contribute to and reinforce the tone that they intend for they documents.the reading process melds a typeface personality with the personality of the document that contains it. The task of choosing a typeface that contributes to the intented tone of a document rather than conflicting with it is not an easy one.the challenge is to assess a typeface carefully in order to take advantage of the message(s) that a typeface s regarding the communication of the message. As communication objectives change, so might the typeface Below are some basic definitions to help you understand how type is described and measured. Typeface A typeface refers to a group of characters, such as letters, numbers, and punctuation. IncludeTimes New Roman, Arial, Helvetica and Courier are all typefaces Font Fonts refer to the means by which typefaces are displayed or presented. Helvetica in movable type is a font, as is a TrueType font file. Type Families The different options available within a font make up a type family. Many fonts are at a minimum available in roman, bold and italic. Other families are much larger, such as Helvetica Neue, which is available in options such Condensed Bold, Condensed Black, UltraLight, UltraLight Italic, Light, Light Italic, Regular, etc. Serif Fonts Serif fonts are recognizable by the small lines at the ends of the various strokes of a character. Serif fonts are often used for large blocks of text, such as in a book. Times New Roman is an example of a common serif font Sans Serif Fonts Serifs are small lines at the ends of character strokes. Sans serif, or without serif, refers to typefaces without these lines. Sans serif fonts are often used when a large typeface is necessary, such as in a magazine headline. Helvetica is a popular sans serif typeface. Sans serif fonts are also common for website text, as they can be easier to read on screen. Arial is a sans serif typeface that was designed specifically for on-screen use. Point The point is used to measure the size of a font. One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch. When a character is referred to as 12pt, the full height of the text block (such as a block of movable type), and not just the character itself, is being described. Because of this, two typefaces at the same point size may appear as different sizes, based on the position of the character in the block and how much of the block the character fills. Pica The pica is generally used to measure lines of text. One pica is equal to 12 points, and six picas are equal to one inch Baseline The baseline is the invisible line on which characters sit. While the baseline may differ from typeface to typeface, it is consistent within a typeface. Rounded letters such as e will extend slightly below the baseline X-height The x-height is the distance between the meanline and the baseline. It is referred to as the x-height because it is the height of a lowercase x. This height can vary greatly between typefaces. Tracking, Kerning and Letterspacing The distance between characters is controlled by tracking, kerning and letterspacing. Tracking is adjusted to change the space between characters consistently across a block of text. This may be used to increase legibility for an entire magazine article. Kerning is the reduction of space between characters, and letterspacing is the addition of space between characters. These smaller, precise adjustments may be used to tweak a specific word, such as in a logo design, or a large headline of a story in a newspaper. All of the settings may be experimented with to create artistic text effects. Leading Leading refers to the distance between lines of text. This distance, measured in points, is measured from one baseline to the next. A block of text may be referred to as being 12pt with 6pts of extra leading, also known as 12/18. This means there is 12pt type on 18pts of total height (12 plus the 6pts of extra leading).

5 The elements and principles of design are the building blocks. The elements of design are the things that make up a design. The Principles of design are what we do to those elements. How we apply the principles of design determines how successful the design is. The elements of design LINE - The linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet. SHAPE - A shape is a the defined area of geometric (squares and circles), (free formed shapes). DIRECTION - All lines have direction - Horizontal, Vertical or Oblique. SIZE - Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another. TEXTURE - Texture is the surface quality of a shape - rough, smooth, soft hard glossy etc. COLOUR - Colour is light reflected off objects. Color has three main characteristics: hue or its name (red, green, blue, etc.), value (how light or dark it is), and intensity (how bright or dull it is). The principles of design 1.BALANCE - Balance in design is similar to balance in physics. Balance provides stability and structure to a design. It s the weight distributed in the design by the placement of your elements. 2.PROXIMITY - Proximity creates relationship between elements. It provides a focal point. Proximity doesn t mean that elements have to be placed together, it means they should be visually connected in someway. 3.ALIGNMENT - Allows us to create order and organisation. Aligning elements allows them to connect with each other. 4.REPETITION - Repetition strengthens a design by tying together individual elements. It helps to create association and consistency. Repetition can create rhythm (a feeling of organized movement). 5.CONTRAST - Contrast is the juxtaposition of opposing elements (opposite colours on the colour wheel, or value light / dark, or direction - horizontal / vertical). Contrast allows us to emphasize or highlight key elements in your design. 6.SPACE - Space in art refers to the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within elements. Both positive and negative space are important factors to be considered in every design Primary Colors (Red, Yellow, and Blue) are those that are not formed by the mixing of any other colors and can be said to be pure colors. Secondary Colors (Orange, Green, and Violet) are those formed by the mixing of two or more primary colors. Tertiary Colors (Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Violet, and Red-Violet) are those produced by the mixing of two or more secondary colors. All of the colors we can perceive are produced by the mixing of certain basic colors. There are three categories of colors: The color wheel also visually illustrates color temperature --warm vs. cool--as vital psychological components in delivering a specific color s message: Warm Colors (Red, Orange and Yellow) are associated with the warmth of fire and sun. Cool Colors (Blue, Green, and Violet) connect in the mind s eye with the coolness of sea, sky, and foliage. Colors are further broken down in terms of their properties: Hue, Saturation, and Value : Hue and Color are synonymous terms and can be used interchangeably. Hue is color in its purest form. The colors of the color wheel are hues. Saturation and Chroma are synonymous terms and refer to the intensity of a color. Saturation is determined by how much or how little gray a color contains. Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Lightened values are called Tints, darkened values are called Shades, and medium values are called Midtones. According to color theory, harmonious color combinations use any two colors opposite each other on the color wheel, any three colors equally spaced around the color wheel forming a triangle, or any four colors forming a rectangle (actually, two pairs of colors opposite each other). The harmonious color combinations are called color schemes sometimes the term color harmonies is also used.

6 Sustainable practices for graphic designers include a wide range of issues. When creating traditional print materials the toxicity of ink and paper and the sheer quantity of paper produced need to be considered. In addition to these factors there are other phases of the life cycle of products that need to be examined. To really determine the sustainability or carbon footprint of a product, one needs to follow it through its entire life cycle. Questions need to be raised about how much fuel is being used for shipping, what the final end product is, how long the life cycle is, and how long before the product ends up as waste. The Designer s Responsibility to Audience Members and Users 1. Designers must recognize the need to include audience members and users whenever possible in the process of developing effective communications and to act as an advocate for their concerns to the client. 2. The Designer s main concern must be to create communications that are helpful to audiences and users and that meet their needs with dignity and respect. Any communication created by a designer that intentionally misleads or confuses must be viewed as a negative reflection on the profession as a whole. 3. Designers must not knowingly use information obtained from audience members or users in an unethical manner so as to produce communications that are unduly manipulative or harmful in their effect. 4. Designers must advocate and thoughtfully consider the needs of all potential audiences and users, particularly those with limited abilities such as the elderly and physically challenged. 5. Designers must recognize that their work contributes to the wellbeing of the general public, particularly in regard to health and safety and must not consciously act in a manner contradictory to this wellbeing. 6. Designers uphold the credibility and dignity of their profession by practicing honest, candid and timely communication and by fostering the free flow of essential information in accord with the public interest.