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Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Typography
• We have looked at signs, colour, shape, images and texture to represent meaning
• Today we will look at the content its self.• Text and how we read it
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Use of Text
• We use text to list, write reports, give directions
• But text is not simply a way of representing the spoken word
• We need to consider its readability and legibility as well
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Use of Text
• Most should be familiar with word processing, hopefully!!!
• Probably the main use up until now has been that ability to create, check and export a document at speed and with a degree of accuracy over and above pen and paper
• We tend to take this for granted nowadays• Writing documents on screen forces us to consider
typeface as much as the text as hand writing is important on paper
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
History of Type
• Capital letters• Derived from Roman letter forms 2000 years old
• Lowercase letters• Mutations of the Roman forms and tended to appear on
parchments/scrolls ‘illuminated’ letter forms
• Numbers• Originate from Hindu-Arabic marks only reaching Europe
approximately 700 years ago
• Punctuation• Earliest Roman times as pieces of information became
indistinguishable from one another
• During the past 500 years this has not changed a great deal apart from typography
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Type Anatomy
• We apply unique understanding to letter types and forms that can distinguish one typeface from another
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Readability/Legibility
• Legibility • The ability to successfully
find, identify and absorb content
• Readability• The ease of interpretation
and the text’s aestheticism
• Other elements of character anatomy
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Typography
• It affects the way the text appears• It controls shape, space and size• Multimedia provides and extra challenge as screen
type tends to be fuzzy
• We need to classify different type styles
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Types of Type
• Ornamentation at the ends of letters or holdovers give a very distinguishable quality
• They derive from pen strokes and chip marks of old text styles
• Generally best suited to display larger text as they merge as they get smaller
• Smaller on printed as representation is better in print and letters are easily identified
• Quite old fashioned and used predominantly in business situations
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Types of Type
• These are fonts without a serif
• Characters are less distinctive
• They work better on screen in both large and small sizes however
• Tend to be used for more up-beat companies and web based design because of their portability, especially Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica and Veranda etc
• Lowercase is also popular here to provide consistency and reduce emphasis until needed
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Types of Type
• Mono spaced – courier• They can have serifs or can be without
• The difference is the fact that each letter occupies the same amount of space
• M and I in other fonts have different letter spacing but mono spaced means that there is uniformity in design
• Used heavily in technical documentation as the need for accuracy of programming for instance in critical, other letters in other font choices are not so easily recognisable
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Types of Type
• Cursive – • Mimic hand writing
• Highly stylised
• Reserved for illuminated documentation
• Not great at a distance
• Limited use provides good juxtaposition against san-serif types
• Not good on screen in large chunks of text
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Types of Type
• Fantasy – • Decorative fonts that do not fit into any of the previously
described
• Ornamental use only or graphical – logos, icons
• They can add to the general look and feel of a screen based interface
• Provide simple and easily scaleable navigational system identifiers
• Semiotically useful
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Type on screen
• We could use any font on screen but we have to be aware of strengths and weaknesses in this
• Html text is limited• Consider different platforms
• Audience
• Size
• Graphic text• We can use any font and it is represented perfectly but
pixilation
• Not correctable on screen / selectable
• Increased file size
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Browser safe
• To design for the web particularly we need to consider browser safe
• Certain text and fonts work better at different sizes and styles in different browsers, platforms and screens
• Audience!
Copyright © 200Copyright © 2003/43/4 Bolton Institute Bolton Institute
Logo’s