The document discusses various typography concepts including: 1) Font style can communicate a message and evoke different moods, while selecting the wrong font can negatively impact a design. 2) Typography enhances design when combining images and letters, and can be used to create patterns as the main design feature. 3) Changing font direction, size, and style (e.g. bold, italic) improves legibility and ensures the message is communicated visually.

1. Typography

2. Font styles evoke different moods
• Select a font
that continues
the theme of
your design e.g
Retro or Gothic,
traditional or
modern etc

3. Type continues the message
• Font style can
communicate
a message
• Selecting the
wrong font
can spoil a
good design

4. Type and layout
• Typography can
enhance a design
• Combine images
and letters to create
a successful,
and eye catching
example of graphic
design

5. Legibility
• Change direction,
size, style e.g. bold,
italic, light etc to
improve legibility -
your design is a
form of visual
communication,
ensure the onlooker
gets the message!

6. Use font as a design feature
• Typography
can be used
to create
patterns
becoming the
main design
feature

7. Picture font
• Create an image
with words and
letters of varying
sizes

8. Exercise
Write your first name in a typeface aimed at the
following age groups:
 17-25 years
 4-7 years
 50-70 years
Use only black and white (no colour)
Consider the layout / composition of your typeface

9. Exercise
 Work in pairs
 Write your partner’s name using a typeface that you
feel best represents their character
 Use only text (no images)
 Add colour if you think it helps communicate the
message
 Consider composition I.e. where the name is placed
within the space of an A4 page

10. Typeface
 Serif and Sans Serif

11. Typeface
 A typeface may be named after its original designer:
Baskerville, Bodoni, Garamond, Goudy
 For its use:
Times roman was designed for the London Times
Avant Garde was designed for magazines
 For its characteristics:
Excelsior, Paragon were designed for high legibility
 Or for its designer’s fancy:
Perpetua, Centaur
 Typeface are also given brand names:
Geneva, English

12. Parts of the letter: Type Anatomy
• Bowl: main curved part
• Counter: enclosed
circular section
• Ligature: where two or
more letters are joined
• Stem: main vertical
stroke
 Spine: The main left to right curving stroke
 Serif: The thin projection at the end of main strokes
 Descender: The part of the lowercase letter below the baseline
 Ascender: The part of the lowercase letter above the mean line

13. How to recognize typefaces
1
5
4
3
2
1. The point of letter strokes rising above the lowercase characters
2. The point of letter strokes descending below the characters
3. The point on which all characters and symbols rest
4. The point that determines the height of lower case characters
5. The point that determines the height of capital letters

14. Family
 A typeface can have a number of variants within the family:
Bold, Italic, Roman, Normal
The popular type Helvetica
has a family of over 50 variants
whereas other more decorative fonts
may have only one variant
e.g. Algerian

15. Exercise
 Split into groups of 4
 Research two sans serif and two serif fonts (What did
you use in the earlier exercises?)
 Compare their anatomy (see handout)
 Give an example of where the font may be used e.g.
newspaper, children’s book, poster, magazine - find
examples of these categories and look at the font
used for headlines, titles etc
 Consider target audience
 Present your findings in a Power point

16. Exercise
Select a suitable typeface for the following words:
Crazy Shade
Space Summer
Boy Winter
Girl Smoke