Typography is at the heart of graphic design. It serves as both a vehicle of information and a visual element, and has the power to make or break a design. While there is no perfect set of typographic rules, there are some general guidelines that should be observed to better foster successful typography.
The Anatomy of a Character
The smallest element of typography is the letter, but what makes up a letter? Letters in different font-faces look different, but there are a number of structural elements that unify the form of one letter in a typeface to the same letter in a different typeface.
Image source: fonts.com
There are generally two classes of fonts: serif and sans serif. These classes can be broken down into a number of sub classes, some of which we will explore.
As you can see in the image above, serifs are the small details on the end of the strokes of a character. It is unclear how serifs originated, but some have posited that Roman stone carvers were simply mimicking the flaring strokes of a brush. Serif fonts are broken down into four classifications: Old Style, Transitional, Modern, and Slab Serif.
Wikipedia entry on serif fonts
Sans-serif fonts are quite simply fonts without serifs (‘sans’ is French for ‘without’). Sans-serif typefaces are generally thought to be newer than serif fonts, but in reality sans-serif typefaces can be found on Grecian texts dating back to the 5th century B.C. Sans-serif fonts can be broken down into the following classifications: Grotesque, Neo-grotesque, Humanist and Geometric.
Wikipedia entry on sans-serif fonts
A common practice is to employ sans-serif fonts for headings and serif fonts for the body, as serifs are thought by some to increase readability. Things differ slightly on-screen as serif fonts can become pixilated at small sizes. We explore common techniques of combining typefaces in a later section.
Spacing
In order to put letters together to form words, lines, and paragraphs, we need to understand the concept of spacing. When dealing with the typography, there are two types of spacing that are of concern.
Kerning is the spacing between two letters. Designers often overlook kerning as it can be painstakingly time consuming and does not seem terribly important. Those who have mastered it can attest to the dramatic beauty that is well-kerned typography. (Kerning should not be confused with tracking, which is adjusting the spacing between ALL characters in a body of text.)
Leading is another term for line spacing. It is an incredibly useful tool that is used by knowledgeable designers to greatly increase readability. A general rule of thumb is that leading should be increased for large bodies of text, text set in a bold font face, and text that is small.
Combining Typefaces
As I have mentioned earlier, the general rule for print design is to use sans-serif typefaces for headings and serif fonts for body text. In recent years this standard has become less prevalent, as on screen reading becomes more common. Also, sans-serif typefaces are becoming a more popular choice for body text in printed material in Europe. This rule of thumb has broadened into a more general specification that if two font types are being used, (regardless of heading or body) one should be a serif and the other a sans-serif.
Perhaps the most important rule of combining typefaces is to make the differences clearly noticeable. This can be achieved through varying the weight and size and through the use of italics. A reader should easily be able to differentiate between a heading, an excerpt, a sub-heading, and body copy. This helps to set up a hierarchy of information that is necessary for clearly conveying a message.
Of course nothing in design is set in stone and there are times when the breaking of conventions is appropriate and even required.