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Typography 101: The Continuing Issue Of Design In Print & On The Web Today

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The computer must be the tool and not the designer.  Most people have not studied design or how to work with type. In my opinion, more people that ‘fancy themselves designers’ should take the time to at least read about how type is supposed to work on a page.  Typography sets the mood of the piece or site. When a trained typographer or designer works with a piece, they know the mechanics of how to make type fit within margins properly (beginning with how margins are to be set up); makes sure that type flows so it is easy to read and does not allow blocks of type to sit improperly on the page and the most glaring error of all – combining too many typefaces that do not work in a copy style.  There are fonts that work wonderfully for copy and headlines and fonts that should hardly ever be used at all and most sparingly for headlines only.  Example: Using script type for a headline in all caps or using script type in a copy block. The only place a script font is appropriate as copy is in an announcement, invitation or certificate and in that case only in certain circumstances.

Type makes the layout work.  If you can’t read the copy or the headlines, then this is just a waste of time.  Unfortunately, most people are interested in getting their message out there, but do not take the time nor care to present it in a professional manner.  Most people would never notice this—but that is the point: To make the piece read so that it is pleasing and the design leads the eye through the page properly makes a designer appreciate that there are those out there who value good typography design.