Typography is arguably one of the biggest foundations of design. Type says a lot (sometimes literally) and the way you choose to execute your type, whether a heading or some body copy says even more.
For a thorough rundown of all things typography and font-related, be sure to check out this cheat-sheet full of tips, tricks and links to help you master the written word!
Let’s look at an example of display typography. For those of you not familiar, display type basically refers to the fancier, more stylistic typographical designs. Think of movie poster titles, magazine headings, etc.
Check out these magazine spread designs by Benjamin Bours, each which have had their titles custom designed intricately and effectively. This showy and detailed typography is display type at work.
Next, we have body copy. Now, there’s an ongoing debate amongst the world of body copy between those who favour serif and those who favour sans-serif in terms of readability and legibility.
So what is the answer? Well, it’s down to preference and each situation, but generally speaking, serif is best for print, and sans-serif is best for web. Let me hand it over to this fantastic infographic by UrbanFonts to explain.
Once you’ve decided between serif or sans-serif, then comes the detailed and sometimes time-consuming step of setting your type.
For a much more thorough rundown of the basics of mastering type, be sure to check out this article of 20 Typographical Mistakes Every Beginner Makes!
However, for the mean time, let me impart these few basic pieces of wisdom to you:
- Kern your titles
- Make sure your body copy isn’t too big or too small for the medium you are printing onto
- Try to avoid using too many typefaces at once
- Left-alignment is easiest to read for large bodies of type
- If in doubt, print it out (you can often pick up on awkward typesetting much easier when it’s on page)
When it comes to typography, another hurdle to leap over is the art of combining typefaces. While it sounds easy, and sometimes it is, it can also be challenging at times. Let’s look at an example that combines typefaces well.
This magazine design for 99U Magazine uses only a few different typefaces but manages to combine them in a whole array of different ways. Effective and stylish! Check it out.
For more advice on combining your typefaces, check out these helpful tips.