By Raul Lara, Graphic Designer
At Marketing Plus, we take every phase of our job very seriously, from concept development to completion. Whether it’s a large trade show booth, logo design, nationally published ad or even the smallest project, in the area of design there are key elements that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to branding a product. Typography is an element that is overlooked by many people but is one of the most important aspects of design.
I don’t remember when and how I got hooked on the world of typography when I was younger; I’m sure something caught my eye and made an impact on me. I remember I would walk into fancy stores, and look at all the beautiful displays. It was just so impressive to me how they were combining fonts with some really modern photography.
A simplified description of typography is that it’s the art and technique of arranging type. It allows you to fit your product within a certain style or evoke different emotions. Most people don’t think about the psychological effect that typography has when it comes to conveying a message, but it can strongly affect how you perceive something, such as an ad, a poster, marketing material or just a sign in a window.
Here’s an overview of some of the basic elements and terms used in typography, compiled from some of our favorite design bloggers:
• A font is a group of typefaces that have similar characteristics.
• A typeface refers to an individual member from that font.
Example:
Avenir has many typeface variations but falls within the same family.
Now let’s talk about the two main categories of fonts:
Serif is the slight projection at the end of a stroke, more commonly seen at the bottom of letters.
It may seem like if they had little feet on them. This is the main characteristic of a Serif font, allowing the eye to flow through sentences.
Sans Serif fonts have no feet or serif. They have a more modern look. Example:
Making the right selection of fonts and typefaces can have a great impact and define a certain style for a product.
A font can define a style or personality for your product, in such a unique way that it will clearly send its message and help your consumers remember your brand. Here are a few important typographic considerations designers need to know:
1. Size
All typefaces are not created the same size, some are fat and wide and some thin and narrow. Words set in different typefaces can take up a very different amount of space in the design you’re working on. The height of each character is known as its ‘x-height’.
When pairing typefaces, it’s wise to use those that share a similar x-height. The width of each character is known as the ‘set width’ – which spans the body of the letter plus a space that acts as a buffer with neighboring letters.
The most common method used to measure type is the point system, which dates back to the eighteenth century. One point is 1/72 inch. 12 points make one pica, a unit used to measure column widths. Type sizes can also be measured in inches, millimeters, or pixels.
2. Leading
Leading describes the vertical space between each line of type. It’s called this because strips of lead were originally used to separate lines of type in the days of metal typesetting. For legible body text that’s comfortable to read, a general rule is that your leading value should be greater than the font size; anywhere from 1.25 to 1.5 times.
3. Tracking and Kerning
Kerning describes the act of adjusting the space between individual characters to create a harmonious pairing. For example, where an uppercase ‘A’ meets an uppercase ‘V’, their diagonal strokes are usually kerned so that the top left of the ‘V’ sits above the bottom right of the ‘A’. Kerning is similar to, but not the same as, ‘tracking’; this relates to the spacing of all characters and is applied evenly.
4. Measure
The term ‘measure’ describes the width of a text block or paragraph. It’s an important consideration when seeking to achieve the optimum reading experience.
5. Hierarchy and scale
If all type was the same size, then it would be difficult to know which was the most important information on the page. In order to guide the reader, headings are usually large, sub-headings are smaller, and body type is smaller still. Size is not the only way to define hierarchy – it can also be achieved with color, spacing and weight.
Thank you for taking the time to visit the Marketing Plus blog. Hopefully this will help get your creativity going or at least give you a couple ideas about what to do on your next project. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or if you want to share something creative, and click here to see one of my favorite examples of my work in typography.
