The art of using text to produce professional looking publications.

Typography

Fonts are grouped into families and given a name:

ArialGaramondComicTimes

Font Families

Arial Black Arial Narrow Arial Rounded MT Bold Arial Unicode MS It’s like your own Family. We have the Smith familyDad- Frank SmithMom- Mary SmithSon- Sam SmithEach are part of the Smith family but they are all

individuals (type style) who have the same last name.

Within a Font/Type Family there can be many members including:

Styles are applied to fonts to change the way they look. Examples of the most common type styles include:BoldItalicsBookRoundHeavy

Styles:

A font/type becomes a typeface once a style has been applied to it. For example:

Arial ItalicTimes New Roman narrowRockwell Extra Bold

Typeface

Fonts are used to help create a mood or a feeling in a publication. Fonts can also limit or enhance readability so choose your fonts carefully.

Not good choices for extended amounts of body copyThin lines almost disappear, thick lines are

prominent

Effect on the page is called “dazzling”

Modern

Used in children’s books because of clean, straightforward lookExamples:

Times New RomanCalifornian

Serif

“sans” (without) in FrenchNo thick/thin transition Same thickness all the way aroundGreat for creating eye-catching pages

Sans Serif

Like cheesecake- they should be used sparingly so nobody gets sick

Script

Easy to identify. If the thought of reading an entire book in that font makes you wanna throw up, it falls under decorative.

Fun, distinctivePowerful use is limitedOften used in headlines

Juice Chilly cooldots

Decorative

SerifA typeface with lines on curves extending from

the ends of the letters

Serif or Sans Serif

A B C a b c

Sans SerifA typeface that is straight-edged

Serif or Sans Serif

A B C a b c

x-heightThe height of the body of all lowercase letters

such as the letter x in a typeface. All lower case letters are designed to be no taller then the x-height.

BaselineAn imaginary horizontal line on which the

bottom of the letters rest.

All About Letters

a x c

AscenderThe lowercase letter that extend above the

x-height – b, d, f, h, and l

Parts of Letters

b x h

DescenderThe lowercase letters that fall below the

baseline – g, j, p, and q

Parts of Letters

g x j

A design element in which a letter (usually the first letter of the paragraph) is much larger font and embedded into the surrounding text.

Drop Caps

Tracking A feature that enables you to adjust the relative

space characters for selected textAdjusts the space between a group of characters or

words (applied to the whole word)

Character Spacing

KerningThe process of “fine tuning” spacing by

adjusting the space between charactersAdjusts the space between two characters

Character Spacing

LeadingThe vertical distance between base heights;

adjusts the space between lines.

Character Spacing

The placement of text or graphics relative to the margins.LeftRightCenteredJustified

Alignment

PicaTraditional typographic measurement of 12

points or 1/6 of an inch. These letters are 12 points or 1 pica high.

Spacing is often measured in picas. For instance, in a yearbook spread, all elements should be at least one pica apart.

Units of Measurement

PointsThe basic measurement system used to

measure the size of type. There are 72 points to an inch.

72 point font

Units of Measurement

Reverse TypeWhite or light colored text that appears against

a darker background

Reverse Type

Reverse Type

LeadersDots, dashes, or

characters that proceed text or a tab setting.