Typography for [Digital] Humanists

Typography for [Digital] Humanists. Friday, February 12, 2016 10am – 12pm Fordham University Amy Papaelias | @fontnerd Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, SUNY New Paltz

The title for this presentation is inspired by: Typography for Lawyers Matthew Butterick typographyforlawyers.com And check out this very worthy follow-up: Butterick’s Practical Typography practicaltypography

Today, we’ll focus on a few things: Typeface selection in digital projects Very basic type rules Web typography tools and resources

“ Typography is what language looks like.” — Ellen Lupton “ Typography exists to honor content.” — Robert Bringhurst

1. Use good fonts well.

How do I know what is good?

Choose your type like you choose your outfit: What’s the occassion? What’s the feeling I want to portray? What’s the weather like?

[some very basic] Type Classification: Serif Sans-serif Monospace Script Decorative

http://squidspot.com/Periodic_Table_of_Typefaces.html

Source Sans FREEreadability 1/2 designer, 1/2 developer tech & coffee 3,256webstandards Type Designer: Paul D. Hunt (2012) Foundry: Adobe

Google Fonts open source; web / print; range of quality Adobe Edge Fonts free, web only, limited library Typekit access through Creative Cloud; web & print (subscription)

2. Contrast [in size, weight and style] creates hierarchy.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

Something Bigsomething small SOMETHING BOLD something italic.

type in digital projects: levels of hierarchy. <h1>Headlines</h1> <h3>This might be a subhead</h3> <p>Body copy. Here we want to consider a comfortable line length as well as leading (or line height in CSS). Use a font with low stroke contrast (not a lot of thicks and thins) and select sizes for comfortable reading. Note: 12pt ≠ 12px.</p> Button Button Type is everywhere on screen! Don’t forget other elements such as buttons, captions, navigation, etc.

3. breathe in, breathe out: Negative space gives visual pause.

Thereactuallyisalotofnegativespaceonthisslide,butit’s not being used very effectively. If you squint your eyes— go ahead—you can see the space between lines of text. There’s not a lot of breathing room because the space between lines and words is too monotonous. Negative space creates dynamic visual interest and makes a text more readable.

There actually is a lot of negative space on this slide, but it’s not being used very effectively. If you squint your eyes—go ahead— you can see the space between lines of text. There’s not a lot of breathing room because the space between lines and words is too monotonous. Negative space creates dynamic visual interest and makes a text more readable.

4. the details: Dashes and Ligatures and Punctuation, oh my!

Dashes: [Em] —, [En] –, [Hyphen] - Ligatures: ffluffy Punctuation: “smart quotes ” ≠ ˝(inches) apostrophe’s ≠ '(foot)

5. nerd out. Typographic resources abound.

ON WEB TYPOGRAPHY BY JASON SANTA MARIA FONTSTAND PRACTICE.TYPEKIT.COM SMARTQUOTESFORSMARTPEOPLE.COM

type.method.ac

typeconnection.com

Examples for discussion QUESTIONS TO ASK OURSELVES: How is hierarchy created? What feeling is the type conveying? How is negative space used?

audubon.org

warholinitiative.org

gov.uk

pilot.boston.gov

A Brief Typography Exercise with Typecast.com

Some NYC type resources: Type Directors Club of NY: tdc.org Type@Cooper: coopertype.org Typographics Conference: typographics.org Type as Language SVA: typography.sva.edu Grolier Club: grolierclub.org Some beyond NYC type resources: Typographica: typographica.org I Love Typography: ilovetypography.com Letterform Archive: letterformarchive.org Alphabettes: alphabettes.org