TEXT11 MULTIMEDIA

Text

• Has been around for thousands of years• Thanks to the Internet, text has become more important

than ever• Meaning is key for all designs – text can create that

meaning• Plan your words carefully when designing and using text

Fonts & Typefaces

• A typeface is a family of characters that includes many type sizes and styles

• A font is a collection of characters of a single size and style, belonging to a particular typeface family

• Typical font styles are bold and italic.

Songs vs MP3’s?

• Typefaces and Fonts are like comparing Songs to MP3’s

• When you talk about how much you like a tune, you don’t say: “That’s a great MP3”. You say: “That’s a great song”. The MP3 is the delivery mechanism, not the creative work; just as in type a font is the delivery mechanism and a typeface is the creative work.

• Font is what you use, Typeface is what you see.

Huh?

• The way I remember it is that referring to, say, Helvetica as a nice font is like saying that my wife wore a nice wardrobe today. I expect equal punishment should be dished out in response to either statement!

• Typeface is the style, font is the collection of symbols using the same typeface.

• Size is in Points (pt)• 1pt = 0.35mm• Point size measured from top of a capital to bottom of

descenders• Font size doesn’t describe the height or width of all its

characters. The x-height can vary, even though the size is the same.

• Leading (pronounced Ledding) is the space between lines of text

• Kerning is the space between characters pairs (such as AV)

• Tracking the space between all characters• Case = capital letters is UPPER case, small letters is

LOWER case

Serif vs Sans Serif

• Does it have a Serif or not? Sans is French for “without”• Serif is the little decoration at the end of the letter stroke• Traditionally, Serif is used for blocks of text, whereas

Sans Serif is used for headings• Not so relevant in the digital age due to the limitations of

screens (72dpi) which make the Serifs harder to read at smaller sizes

PostScript vs TrueType vs OpenType

• Different standards for how text is displayed on screen and produced when printed.

• A 3 are based on mathematical equations to determine the best possible output.

• The focus of PostScript was to keep text readable and clean when scaling for printing (Adobe and Apple).

• TrueType was introduced as it could scale better on screen with low resolutions (Microsoft and Apple).

• OpenType is a combination of them both and made without any licencing limitations (Microsoft and Adobe).

What does that mean?

• If your intent is digital only, then TrueType (.ttf) is what you want. However, if you go with OpenType (.otf) you can have the best of both worlds.

• Most software now days will simply apply either standard to the finished product when you are in production.

• In a nutshell, it just means that all three will display differently depending on their application so choose wisely!

Text and Design

• Multimedia presentations shouldn’t flood the viewer with text

• Typeface, style, colour and size can have a major impact on readability and getting your message across

• Decorative fonts should never be used for blocks of text• Limit the number of typefaces in a piece of work• Alignment and columns of text are important when

viewing large blocks – don’t make the viewer tired!• Get people to evaluate your choice of text styles and

welcome the criticism

Bibliography

• Vaughan, T. (2010). Multimedia: Making It Work. McGraw-Hill Publishing, USA.