Fonts
- tags :: {Language}, {Web Design}
Notes on fonts and font design.
Defines a 'font family' (serif vs sans serif).
This occurs in letters like o, d and b.
These characters may look awkward when next to one another if they
aren't fused.
created to save space and money when printing books and long form
texts.paved road for old style, transitional style and modern styles of typing.
created 'old style' or 'Antiqua' of type : old style
typefaces have thick serifs, low contrast. these are typically created from 1470
to 1600.
thin serifs with high contrasts between these types. Baskerville is one
such font (which was created as an improvement to the caslon typeface!
very thin serifs with extreme contrast between strokes. created to reject
traditional styles, annoyed with typefaces based on handwriting! Modern style
initiated by Firmin Didot and Giambatista Bodoni ; Firmin Didot created modern
style classification type, Didot, followed by the Bodoni typefaces
sans serif typefaces -- no projecting featues at the end of strokes!
Helvetica : known as the favorite typeface, one of the most populat. variations
on this include slab serifs and gemoetric sans. slab : magazines, newspaper
headers; geometric : based on simple geometric shapes.
She did Chicago, a neat pixel sans-serif typeface -- this could be cool
to use, as well as Monaco - (kind of boring). Geneva is the third typeface;
it's inspired by helvetica and is a neo-grotesque typeface, a realist
typeface including basic ligatures, long s and r rotunda as optionals. bitmap
fonts are very cool and I should look into using them! realist ~=grotesquemore
reading (TODO)::
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif#GrotesqueCreative]
indents: indenting
the first line of every paragraph has always been a convention -- to
create a visual separation between paragraphsCreative ieaas : extreme indent,
outdent. with room and for a cleaner, more open look, separate paragraph s with
an extra line rather than using tab indentation at all!arabesques :; graphic
ordaments and embellishments -- from simple geometric designs to ornate
configurations. many are often digital recreations of historic designs. they
have many uses - have fun with them
Traditional typefaces with feet or arms hanging off of the end of letter
strokes, adding a thick or thin look to the letter. These are considered the
easiest fonts to read. Serif fonts are 'fancy' fonts -- they all have
embellishments. Times New Roman, a serif font, is the most used font as the most
common font found in newspapers.
Fonts without serifs and having an overall more even stroke weight.
clean, modern, minima list
- Examples :: arial, futura, impact, myriad, tahoma
Fonts typically used only for attention-grabbing headlines. Only one
decorative font should be used, and not as the body font!
Script fonts are intended to mimic handwriting, so the letters often
touch one another. These fonts should never be used with all-caps.
These fonts contain characters that are small pieces of art, used to
enhance the design of the page. Dingbats are usually packaged with a specific
font and mimic its style.
On computers, 72 pt. font corresponds to one inch on paper. Two different
font sizes at the same point can correspond to different physical sizes, and
correct size does depend on use.
tracking, -- adjustment of word spacing, similar to kerning but refers to
space between words rather than characters
line spacing, leading -- amount of space between lines of type -- larger
the type, the more leading needed!
, paragraph spacing, alignment, -- alignment : text flowing on a page.
center, left, right etc. justified : straight edge on boht sides!
line breaks and rag, hyphens, -- don't have more than two
hyphenations in a row, don't have too many hyphenated lines in a single
paragraph, ensure the rag checks out, make sure that justified text looks
natural
widows and orphans -- paragraph spacing -- at end: widow; at top of
following;
orphan! do not leave these distracting shapes! edit the copy to remove
them.
never use bold serif type, apparently? john cane is very against it.
Cool Fonts
Prose
Monospace
Vocabulary
Design
Type
History
Italics
Caslon
Transitional typefaces
Modern style
William Caslon IV
Susan Kare - great apple designer!
Embellishments
Classifying Type
Serif
Sans-Serif
Decorative
Script
Dingbats
Best Practices
Font Size
Spacing