Typography Basics
Your goal as a designer is to make the experience of reading as _______ as possible (or to challenge accepted typographic conventions).
comfortable
_______ or _______ refer to the space between letters and words respectively.
Letterspacing, wordspacing
What is it called when lines of text align on both the left and right sides?
Justified Type
What’s the most common way to create emphasis within roman type?
Italics
What do we call the quality of the typeface design that affects how easy individual characters are to recognize?
Legibility
Too much space between words causes ______. Often seen in justified text.
Rivers
This frequently used type setting is set with even wordspacing, causing the type to have an even texture and a ragged edge or "feathered" right.
Flush left, ragged right (unjustified)
What’s the difference between using CAPITALS and Small Caps for emphasis?
Capitals are more assertive; small caps are more refined and subtle.
What type of lettercase (upper, lower, or both) is generally more familiar and comfortable to read for most people?
Upper and lower case (mixed case)
How many characters per line are typically most comfortable to read?
35 to 70
Which alignment—flush right or flush left—is harder for readers and why?
Flush right, because we read from left to right and it breaks the natural reading flow.
What design element consists of horizontal and vertical guidelines to organize layout?
A grid
What term refers to how easily text can be read based on the overall design of the printed page?
Readability
_______ adjusts space between specific letter pairs; ________ affects space between all letters evenly.
Kerning, Letterspacing
What’s a runaround and how does it differ from a contour setting?
A runaround wraps around an image or space; a contour setting follows the shape of a recognizable object.
Name two non-typographic methods that can create emphasis in a body of text.
Using boxes and bullets, or changing position/angle of text.
Why are typefaces that remain true to basic letterforms usually more legible than abstract or embellished fonts?
Because they are easier for the eye to recognize and don’t require extra effort to read.
Short lines at the top of a column are called______; while short lines at the end of a paragraph are called _________. They're distracting because they break the flow and rhythm of reading.
Orphans, widows
What is the most common way (and size) of indicating the start of a new paragraph?
A 1-em indent
What are the challenges of working without a grid in designing a publication?
It’s visually demanding, lacks consistency, and makes layout and reading more difficult.