This week we had a refresher on Typography as using and arranging the correct typeface or typefaces not only make your content legible, readable for the user but also visually appealing and reflect the topic/ theme you are trying to convey in your work. Many people think it is as easy as just picking a typeface however it involves selecting fonts, adjusting spacing and considering other design elements to create an effective and aesthetically pleasing communication of written information. When using typography on the web, we can make the content more web friendly by highlighting keywords, using meaningful Sub-Headings, embracing lists and using blockquotes. By doing this we can help ease the reader into our content, making it more enjoyable.
<aside> 💭 I tend to find it hard to pick typography due to their being so many different typefaces and fonts as well as finding one that reflects my content best. Kyle gave us some tips for this such as focusing on the body copy, its point size, considering using leading, maintaining a good measure of around 45 characters and then picking a legible typeface that helps reflect this. I also learned that the best way to find a good match when picking typefaces is to have more playful typefaces as my headings and titles and more subdued type for my body copy. I was also supplied with some great tools which could help me with this such as Type kit Practice ! All these tips and resources will hopefully guide me into picking the perfect font and typographic match.
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“ Scale – setting type at different, contrasting sizes – can be used to articulate a typographic tempo, guiding the reader across a page. At its simplest level, playing with scale both large and small can introduce hierarchy, helping the reader navigate content.” — Chris Murphy
Typographic scale and hierarchy allows us to prioritise and structure content using a visual hierarchy that helps communicate the message effectively. It helps enhance both the form and function of design by ensuring that information is presented in a way that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also easily digestible for the audience.
There is many different typographic scale options to organise and structure our content such as the Fibonacci sequence that we had previously looked at which is created by adding the 2 numbers previous together. For example, The number 2 is found by adding 1 plus 1, 3 is found by adding 2 plus 1 and so on. Giving you the following sequence: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233….
Line measure and leading is a crucial part of typography as you must consider the type of content, the medium (print or digital) and the preferences of the target audience so you can create a good line measure which allows the following:
Readability
If lines are too long, it is difficult tracking from one line to the beginning of the next, leading to fatigue and a potential decrease in comprehension. Where as a good line length enhances the reader's ability to comprehend the content as they can follow the structure of sentences and paragraphs easier.
Eye Movement
A balanced line measure helps guide the reader's eye smoothly across the text. Lines that are too short or too long can disrupt the natural flow of reading.
Engagement
Good line measures contribute to a more engaging reading experience. Readers are more likely to stay focused and absorbed in the content when the text is presented in a visually comfortable manner.
<aside> 💭 Taking into consideration the typographic scale and hierarchy of text alongside the measure and leading of paragraphs is so important when producing work. These design elements are so important when it comes to how people interact with our content as while having a good typeface can improve the experience, we want to create a structured visual language that effectively communicates content while enhancing the overall user experience and measure, leading and typographic scale helps us do that.
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“ The details are not the details; they make the product.” —Charles and Ray Eames
By focusing on these little imperfections we are able to enhance and improve our work better. This is little things such as using a quotation mark instead of a prime for measurements, using quotation marks incorrectly, hanging punctuation not being aligned with the paragraph or no lining numerals. It is these little small things can can turn our content delivery from good into excellent.