A really short introduction to the basis elements of a typography. 29 pages with minimal text and a lots of examples.

1. how to
design
TYPOGRAPHY
like a pro
a Very Short Introduction (10-minutes max.) IDFCTRY.COM

2. I am
Occupation : CREATIVE AT IDFCTRY.COM
Education : The Dutch Academy of Art and Design
Rietveld Academie Amsterdam.
Philosophy : Everything is a chance.
Thinks : Reality is chaos.
Naïeve belief : Everybody is creative.
Motivation : Let’s make better mistakes tomorrow.

3. “Write here..right now” by Gemma O’Brien. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz3lXu3VxVg
8 hours of writing, 5 markers, 3 baths and 2 showers to get clean.

4. WHAT IS TYPOGRAPHY
Typography (from the Greek words (typos) = form
and (graphy) = writing) is the art and technique of
arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs.
Type glyphs are created and modified using a variety of illustration
techniques. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces,
point size, line length, leading (line spacing), adjusting the spaces
between groups of letters (tracking) and adjusting the space between
pairs of letters (kerning).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography
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6. ONE RULE TO RULE THEM ALL
Break any rule if nessary.
All of the following rules are kind of a beginners
guide to typography. Stick to them and you can’t
go far wrong.
Remember however, to break all of them at least
once. There’s no excuse for making boring designs
over and over again, just some rules dictate
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7. TERMINOLOGY BASICS
font 8-point 10-point weight
roman / antique italic
serif sans serif / grotesque scripts
proportionalspaced monospaced
baseline UPPER CASE lower case
Dingbats / ✁f,h∑✈d©
descender = t,f,h,k and l ascender =q,y,p,g and j
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface
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8. 3 FONTS
Don’t use too many typefaces
A good rule to follow is to not use more than
3 different typefaces in one document.
It makes it clean and tidy. Be consistend in this.
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9. “Less is a bore”
. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada

10. A HIERARCHY OF 4 FONT SIZES
Use no more than 4 font sizes in a document.
Again this is a case of consistency.
Too many copy sizes make a document disjointed.
4 also allows enough variation to emphasise
certain text and categorise text together.
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11. USE 8 - 10 PT FOR BODY COPY
Do not go over 11 pt.
12 pt is only allowed making childerens book.
Grown up’s can read smaller fontsizes.
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12. KEEP ARTISTIC TYPEFACES
ONLY FOR HEADING OR LOGO’S
There is a place for all kinds of
artistic typefaces, but not all of them
(most infact) make good body copy.
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13. This is a typefase based on the bestkown logo of the world. Completely unreadable in body text.

14. LEADING, DON’T OVERLAP
The vertical space between lines of type as
measured from baseline to baseline.
NEVER stick to auto settings and always align to
a fixed baseline grid. In general keep the baseline
around a 120% or 130% above your font size.
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15. Baseline mayhem. Creating a stylisch image by breaking leading rules.

16. K E R NIN
G
The spacing between letters.
It is prefered to keep body text a little mote
manually tightened. But in general the kerning of
most typefaces if proportional spaced are oke.
Only for larger variants like headings or large
text on for example billboards, shout be manually
tightened by eye.
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17. ACCENT OR EMPHASISE
Large chunks of copy tend to be quite scary,
and ideally people like to skim.
So a subtle emphasis can bring out key words
or sentence. Use bold, italic or underlined
Special note: Do not over emphasise!
Emphasis in a body of text should be kept simple and elegant.
NOBODY LIKES A LOUDMOUTH.
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18. By playfully using accents and emphasise text, you can create a dynamic look and feels

19. NO CAPS IN BODY TEXT
Simple enough. Never use capitals in body copy,
it is just not as legible.
WHAT IS LOREM IPSUM?
LOREM IPSUM IS SIMPLY DUMMY TEXT OF THE PRINTING AND TYPESETTING INDUSTRY. LOREM IPSUM HAS BEEN
THE INDUSTRY’S STANDARD DUMMY TEXT EVER SINCE THE 1500S, WHEN AN UNKNOWN PRINTER TOOK A GALLEY
OF TYPE AND SCRAMBLED IT TO MAKE A TYPE SPECIMEN BOOK. IT HAS SURVIVED NOT ONLY FIVE CENTURIES,
BUT ALSO THE LEAP INTO ELECTRONIC TYPESETTING, REMAINING ESSENTIALLY UNCHANGED. IT WAS POPULA-
RISED IN THE 1960S WITH THE RELEASE OF LETRASET SHEETS CONTAINING LOREM IPSUM PASSAGES, AND MORE
RECENTLY WITH DESKTOP PUBLISHING SOFTWARE LIKE ALDUS PAGEMAKER INCLUDING VERSIONS OF LOREM
IPSUM.
WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, LOREM IPSUM IS NOT SIMPLY RANDOM TEXT. IT HAS ROOTS IN A PIECE OF CLAS-
SICAL LATIN LITERATURE FROM 45 BC, MAKING IT OVER 2000 YEARS OLD. RICHARD MCCLINTOCK, A LATIN PRO-
FESSOR AT HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE IN VIRGINIA, LOOKED UP ONE OF THE MORE OBSCURE LATIN WORDS,
CONSECTETUR, FROM A LOREM IPSUM PASSAGE, AND GOING THROUGH THE CITES OF THE WORD IN CLASSICAL
LITERATURE, DISCOVERED THE UNDOUBTABLE SOURCE. LOREM IPSUM COMES FROM SECTIONS 1.10.32 AND 1.10.33
OF “DE FINIBUS BONORUM ET MALORUM” (THE EXTREMES OF GOOD AND EVIL) BY CICERO, WRITTEN IN 45 BC.
THIS BOOK IS A TREATISE ON THE THEORY OF ETHICS, VERY POPULAR DURING THE RENAISSANCE. THE FIRST LINE
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20. ALWAYS ALIGN TO
A BASELINE
Keep text in simple horizontal lines. Again pretty
obvious. Ideally you use one a baseline grid
throughout.
What is Lorem Ipsum?
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of
the printing and typesetting industry.
Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s
standard dummy text ever since the
1500s, when an unknown printer took a
galley of type and scrambled it to make
a type specimen book. It has survived
not only five centuries, but also the leap
into electronic typesetting, remaining es-
sentially unchanged. It was popularised
in the 1960s with the release of Letraset
sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passa-
ges, and more recently with desktop pu-
blishing software like Aldus PageMaker
including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Where does it come from?
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem
Ipsum is not simply random text. It has
roots in a piece of classical Latin litera-
ture from 45 BC, making it over 2000
years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin
professor at Hampden-Sydney College
in Virginia, looked up one of the more
obscure Latin words, consectetur, from
a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going
through the cites of the word in classical
literature, discovered the undoubtable
source. Lorem Ipsum comes from secti-
ons 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of “de Finibus
Bonorum et Malorum” (The Extremes
of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written
in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the
theory of ethics, very popular during
the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem
Ipsum, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..”,
comes from a line in section 1.10.32.
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21. FLUSH LEFT RAGGED
RIGHT
Always keep the text
left aligned.
This is legible and
does not
look messy.
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22. ONLY JUSTIFY ACROSS
LARGER COLUMS
Justifying text across a
smaller column creates
massive gaps or ‘rivers’
in the type.
Don’t do it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo
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23. LINES NOT TOO LONG
OR NOT TOO SHORT
Line length is important. It helps legibility and
prevents your eye from slipping up or down a line
in a large body of text.
Use columns in a page to make this structured
and easy.
Rule is: do not have less than 6 words.
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24. Complet chaos of colums sizes.
“
...
”

25. PUNCTUATION AND
BULLET POINTS
Bullet points and punctuation marks
should ideally be in the page margin.
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26. THE FIBONNACI FONTSIZE
SEQUENCE
Use the ‘golden ratio’ to structure your chosen
point sizes. It will give your whole document a
natural elegance.
0 1 1 2 3 5* 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 etc.
8 13 21 34 55 89 144
* to small for normal use
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27. BONUS RULE:
NEVER USE COMICS SANS
Breaking all the rules? No this one.
This is the unbreakable rule.
There is no justifaction for the use of comic sans.
It’s just pure evil and intented to distroy any esthic
ambition for mankind.
Only lesser gods will think it’s a good idea
to give your design a boost with that funny
looking typeface.
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28. Users of COMIC SANS can be reported at http://www.comicsanscriminal.com/

29. Disclaimer
The information in this document is intended for informational and educational
purposes only, to provide readers better understanding about Graphic design
and corporate design.
all Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
please respect them.