typography: industrial theoretical contexts report

What are the Relationships Between Typographic Spacing Decisions and Audience?Sarah Robins Industrial Theoretical Contexts Report

What are the Relationships Between Typographic Spacing Decisions and Audience?

Contents

Introduction

Typography: an Overview 1.1 Historical Overview 1.2 Defining Typography 1.3 Use of Spacing in Typography 1.3.1 Kerning 1.3.2 Leading 1.3.3 Tracking

The Typographer’s Audience and Type Requirements 2.1 Example Deconstruction

Visual Experiments 3.1 Potato Printing 3.2 Hand Rendering 3.3 Mini Rubber Stamps 3.4 Plastic letter stencil 3.5 Illustrator- Spacing experiments 3.6 Letterpress and Mistakes in Letterpress 3.7 Typesetting Block Text in letterpress

Conclusion

Bibliography

9

2530

3538404244464850

53

57

13151718

10 What are the Relationships Between Typographic Spacing Decisions and Audience?

11Introduction

This report aims to investigate the importance of typographic spacing with particular attention paid to exploring the spacing decisions made by the designer in relation to specific audiences. Accepted elements of typographic layout have developed over the centuries and are still being used and acknowledged by current mainstream designers. Such elements involve giving attention to areas such as, alignment, margins and line length. Giving consideration to spacing is also a vital element of typographic layout. For the young typographer to be successful, it is essential that (s)he knows and understands the reasons for these conventions. It is also important that a designer is able to use these elements to produce successful pieces of design. Further, if a student wishes to progress into experimental typography (s)he has to first of all know the conventions in order to be able to manipulate them. It is important for the beginner to understand that simply playing with type will not produce effective design. This report therefore aims to inform the new student to graphic design of how accepted typographic practices have developed and how they can be used to reach different audiences effectively. The report first of all examines different aspects of spacing in typography and considers their role (for example layouts aimed at adults would use spacing differently from layouts aimed at children). It then focuses on the question of audience and how this influences the typographer’s choice of spacing. Analysis of specific layouts is made. The final section analyses the results of a practical visual experiments relating to typographic spacing and layout. The target audience for the report is young designers or students who might be new to typography.

15Typography: an Overview

This section first of all gives a general overview of typography, its history and its function and then focuses on considerations for spacing.

1.1 Historical Overview

The typographic form had evolved massively before the arrival of digital type in the late 20th century and we are all familiar with the written word as a primary method of communication. The characters are the key elements of the modern alphabet. The alphabet was originally made up from symbols reflecting every day objects and they gradually evolved into the letters of the alphabet. The type form and alphabet was developed around 1,000 B.C. The Romans built on the Greek alphabet, refining the art of handwriting, developing several styles of lettering which would be used for different purposes.

Sumarian pictogram for “mountains” Egyptian ideogram for “weeping”

Pictograms evolved into the letters of the alphabet

Early symbol for “ox” Phoenician “aleph” Greek “A” Roman “A”

(An Introduction to Type, web site 27/10/09)


In the fifteenth century access to the written word appeared to be a privilege for the few, as manuscripts rarely appeared outside the monasteries or court of royalty. However, in 1445 in Mainz, Germany, Johann Gutenberg changed the course of the written word. The printing press and metal type had already been produced and cast successfully, although crudely, for several hundred years in Europe and China. However, Johann Gutenberg developed the process in a revolutionary fashion, for his time. He invented a system of moveable type, which involved using an individual mould for each alphabet character. This meant that metal type could be hand-cast in large numbers. These could be assembled into a page of text on paper using a printing press designed by Gutenberg. The next 50 years witnessed an explosion of printing throughout Europe and, by the year 1500, more than 10 million copies of nearly 3500 works had been printed and distributed. This widened access to the printed word, and therefore to education. However, it was not until the mechanization of the printing press in the industrial revolution that printed material became easily accessible to all members of society. (ibid)


1.2 Defining Typography

The Collins dictionary (1999) defines typography as: 1. the art, craft, or process of composing type and printing from it. 2. the planning, selection, and setting of type for a printed work. Baines and Haslam (2002:7) consider that this reflects the traditional craft nature of typography but they comment that it does not adequately reflect the nature of typography today and they give us a definition ‘Typography: The mechanical notation and arrangement of language’. Squire (2006 2nd Ed:10) echoes this definition considering ‘Typography is the mechanical arrangement and organisation of written words in such a way as to facilitate communication of the content’.

Baines and Haslam (2005 2nd Ed) comment that typographic terms have meant slightly different things in different periods of the development of the discipline. They highlight the impact that the digital age has had on the terminology. For example the terms ‘font’ and ‘typeface’ can be interchanged. However, in the days when metal type was used, they had quite separate meanings.

When discussing typography the main terms used are ‘type’, ‘font’ and ‘typeface’. Type is a physical object and traditionally refers to metal type used in letterpress with a reversed image of a character raised out of one end, where the letterforms are hand set and printed. However, the possibilities of typography have grown as a result of the development of digital technology and indeed the digital age, with computers and Internet being available in most homes, has meant type is readily accessible to a great number of people. A set of characters of a given typeface is called a ‘font’ and they are all one particular size and style. A typeface is a set of fonts that are related in design. Since the end of the nineteenth century the term typeface has referred to a set of related styles such as italic, bold, bold italic. Typography is affected by both the creation of typefaces and their arrangement to convey a message. (Baines & Haslam 2002: 134, 206, 207)


Typography is used on many things and is all around us, in signage on timetables, in books, on packaging, within advertising. The variations are endless. To make it possible to evaluate typography accurately we use one decisive factor : the purpose determines the design, which means it is important to consider how the appearance of a typeface influences the job the type does. Fawcett-Tang (2007: 14) points out that, ‘The form that type is given and the form in which it is arranged determines and defines its function’.

1.3 Use of Spacing in Typography

There are two main facets of typography: the concept behind the arrangement and the design of the layout as a whole, and the finer tuning of type looking at the spacing between the letters, words and lines, which are the details of type setting. This is also known as micro typography. The micro typography terms relating to spacing are ‘kerning’, ‘leading’ and ‘tracking’:


1.3.1 Kerning

Kerning or to kern is the adjustment of the space between individual characters to keep the appearance of the type consistent at the same time as improving the letter fit. It is used most commonly in heading text. Sometimes, when some characters are positioned next to one another it becomes clear that not all of them use the same spacing compared to adjacent letterforms, such as ‘Yo’ in ‘York’ or ‘AV’ in ‘AVERAGE’. This is due to the angled slopes in the letterforms. Kerning is therefore used to reduce or increase the space between the characters to ensure that the spacing remains visually constant, improving the letter fit, (Squire, 2006 2ndEd:62) and it is illustrated in the examples below.

thedesigncubicle 10 Common Typographic Mistakes


1.3.2 Leading

The term leading originally comes from traditional letterpress and it refers to the physical strips of lead placed between the lines of type. In digital type the term refers to the spacing applied between the lines of type. When too little leading is used it can cause problems with letter parts overlapping onto either the previous or next line, which can cause problems for the reader as it causes the eye to make unnecessary movement when reading. A lot of leading creates too much space for the eye to travel between lines which causes fatigue when reading lengthy text, meaning that the reader is unlikely to want to continue reading (Squire, 2006 2ndEd:78).

Steven Hoober, Mobile Typography


1.3.3 Tracking

Tracking or word spacing is the alteration of the space between the characters applied to the entire line or passage of text. Tracking is the overall colour of the text and its readability. Words that are set too closely together may cause the viewer problems in reading the words as it can become difficult to distinguish one word from another. On the contrary, words that are set too far apart cause ‘rivers’ in the text, which disturb the left to right eye movement, (Squire, 2006 2ndEd:76). Leading and tracking affect the readability of the multi-line text and it is important for them to complement each other.

A consequence of letters having such complex and delicate shapes is that designers have to consider and respect their space. Every character needs enough room on both sides to avoid clashes with its neighbour. The smaller the type is, the more space that is needed on the sides. Lettering such as big headlines can support the occasional very closely spaced letters.


thedesigncubicle 10 Common Typographic Mistakes


The analogy of type spacing being compared to motorway lanes in Spiekermann & Ginger’s book, ‘Stop Stealing Sheep’ (2003) is a really useful and simple way of explaining the general rules of spacing: the faster roads have wider lanes in comparison to the narrower, slower city streets. This is because when a car travels at high speeds, any minor movement of the steering wheel can cause a major deviation from the lane you are supposed to be driving in, causing a threat to the other road users. In typographic terms this refers to the space between the lines of text ‘…or lanes that the words drive in’. So the tighter the lines (or lanes) are arranged, the slower the viewer will have to read to prevent any mistakes or missing any parts and on the other hand the wider the lines or space the easer it will be to read faster, eliminating the risk of mistakes making the text easier to read.

In conclusion this section has shown how typographic form has had a long and evolutionary history with the digital era having had a major impact on its recent development. Spacing is a vital consideration for the designer whether layouts are being produced manually using letterpress or digitally as it has a major impact on the readability and the appeal of a piece of text. Kerning, Leading and Tracking are therefore essential considerations for the typographer in producing effective layouts.

27The Typographer’s Audience and Type Requirments

Section one established the technicalities of spacing in respect of typography and their relevance to good design. This section considers type space requirements for different audiences. Examples of type layout geared towards adults and children are deconstructed to illustrate these.

The printed letters on the page can be made to evaporate as the reader forms images in his or her mind from the author’s words, soaking in the information from the page. The reader can control his or her reading environment such as, extraneous noise but the typographer cannot. Therefore, careful arrangement of type is essential to ensure the printed word evaporates leaving the reader with just their images from the author’s words. When type is not arranged successfully enough to achieve this, it is referred to as ‘noise’. Avoiding ‘noise’ for the audience is therefore a very important consideration for the typographer (Fawcett-Tang, 2007).

“It is often said that to enable this vanishing trick to be accomplished, typography and typeface must be so ‘normal’ that the reader is never caused to look at the words or their arrangement. Nothing unusual, nothing to attract unwarranted attention to its individual form or to the way it arranged. The result is that the reader can read with out faltering.”


As soon as you get a group of letters gathered together, they fight for space on the page and affect readability, causing some letters or words to struggle to be seen. If the typographer is setting out text that is going to be fairly long and that will take some time to read, the text should be adjusted accordingly. The lines need to be long enough to fit a complete thought, with enough space between each line to allow the readers to finish reading it before their eye gets distracted by the next line.

However for ‘fast’ reading, for example the reader who thumbs quickly through a magazine, tracking can be tighter, word and line spaces smaller. Spiekermann and Ginger (2003) draw comparisons between the marathon runner and sprinter ; the former they relate to ‘long distance’ text and the latter ‘short distance’ text. They consider short distance text to be typography at its most intense. It is challenging for a typographer to make an impression in an advert - you don’t have time to wait for the reader to get settled in and there is no space to spread out the message in front of the reader’s eyes. In short distance text, the lines must be short and compact to stop the reader’s eye being drawn to the next line before reaching the end of the current line. When considering long distance reading, the layouts need to allow for a relaxed approach. The words should keep a regular, safe distance from each other, so that the reader can rely on the next word to appear when (s)he is ready for it.

29The Typographer’s Audience and Type Requirments

The designer therefore, in considering audience, has to consider the function of the written material. For example, Fawcett-Tang (pg) points out dictionaries and directories are designed to be used differently from newspapers, which in turn are different from novels. Age is clearly an important consideration. For example an audience of twelve and under will require larger font with greater spacing to make it easer for them to read. Also an older audience of 60 plus would again require larger font with wider spacing to make the lettering clear to see. When considering type layouts for the middle age group, the spacing options are a lot wider and can therefore be made relevant to the subject of the layout. When typefaces are used, considering the spaces between the words and the lines is equally important as other considerations such as typeface and colour. Sue Walker, a tutor at The University of Reading and author of ‘The Songs the Letters Sing: Typography and Children’s Reading’, part of the Typographic Design for Children project, did a series of studies with children looking at different degrees of space between letters, words and lines. As a result of these studies Walker found that seventeen out of twenty-four children thought that the very tight letter spacing was the most difficult to read and the tight word spacing was described as having ‘small space’. The children thought that the very wide type setting was the easiest to read. Some of the children, thought that text with narrow word spacing was bigger, darker, thicker and blacker than text set with wider spacing. She also found that children considered that text seemed more difficult to read with letter, word or line spacing that was very narrow (Walker, 2005). In order to access the validity of these findings the next section analysis a double page spread aimed at young children and compares this with a layout aimed at an older audience.

Childs book example: (Bennett. L, (2005)

2.1 Example Deconstruction

The type used is clear and simple.

There is a very small amount of text used and this will ensure that the reader is not overwhelmed and put off. The text has also been edited down and kept to the point with key information, making it simple for the reader to digest the information.

The title on the page is large and has generous kerning, again to allow the young reader to read the words more slowly therefore making it easier for them to read.

A lot of leading and tracking has been used in the body text of this spread. This will allow the reader space to digest the information and differentiate the different characters and words as they would still be learning about these.

This spread uses large images with a slightly smaller caption, still with a lot of leading in keeping with the well spaced out style. The large images and coloured blocks alongside the larger well-spaced text, give this spread a picture book feel.

The amount of text and the position of the text is kept in the same place, above the images, to keep the layout as simple as possible allowing space for the young reader to process the information.

Adult book example: Payne. L, (2001)

The images used are different sizes and the text flows around the smaller of the two images.

The leading and tracking is a lot closer than in the first example. The use of narrow tracking and leading allows the reader to read the text more quickly and follow the words across the page and on to the next line, helping to eliminate any noise on the page.

This spread uses captions for the images with similar spacing to the rest of the body text. Confusion between the two areas is avoided through the use of bold and italic.

In this spread the text is kept to one page, the space on the opposite page is used for a large image, which fits in with the adult text book/ art book style, in which the two elements are kept fairly separate from one another.

These examples show the importance of considering the needs of the audience when designing layouts and confirm the findings of the Reading University study.

37Visual Experiment

As an adjunct to the theoretical research carried out for this report, experimentation with typography was carried out in order to allow for practical experience in handling type and to gain a fuller understanding of the technicalities and considerations outlined in sections one and two. Actual ‘hands on’ practice with manipulating and playing with type is really useful in helping one to get a ‘feel’ for the medium and to understand type in a deeper fashion than simply considering theory.

From the top: the making of the potato stamps, the metal type set ready for printing in letter press and print from letterpress from using large letters.


Potato Printing This experiment was conducted with a letterpress workshop in mind using fixed stamps to produce a type arrangement. Stamps were made out of potato with letters cut out of the potato. It was important to remember to cut out the letters in reverse while ensuring they all stayed in proportion to one another. When the stamps had been made it was possible to experiment with different with different layouts. After using the stamps to produce prints, the prints were then scanned in, cleaned up and edited changing the colours around.

39Visual Experiment

This way of working with type form was ideal to do at home, as it is possible to make your own stamps. These potato stamps make it possible to experiment with different layouts and spacing while gaining a ‘hands on’ experience. Examples of the resulting prints are given below:

The results of this experiment were pleasing as after the prints had been cleaned up, as they provided a good example on what can be done with the potato stamp. Although the experiments were not focused on spacing they gave valuable experience of manually working with letterforms. To develop this technique further, the scans could be worked up by editing the colours or even producing an entire hand made typeface originating from the potato stamps.

These images document the experiment and the outcomes.


Hand Rendering

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate using bold and fine lettering to see how the weight of the type affects spacing requirements. This was done by using wide and narrow paintbrushes and painting the letters free hand. The results of this experiment show clearly, as shown in the example that, the heavy weight type makes the word appear crowded and finer lettering is easier to read as there is more space around the letters to allow the eye to process the information. This is a clear example of where the designer needs to consider the type form and its job when arranging type, as the bolder out of the two may become clearer if more space allowed around the letters.

To develop this it would be useful to, experiment further with different combinations of spacing and letter weight, gaining experience in which combinations work better than others and what feel they give, so when it comes to producing layouts digitally there will be a background knowledge of what will and will not work for the required job.

These images document the experiment outcome.

41Visual Experiment


Mini Rubber Stamps This experiment revolved around small individual rubber letter stamps that can be found in most large local supermarkets in the card making section. Prints were produced in a playful way, experimenting with different spacing and colour combinations. The prints were then scanned in, cleaned up and manipulated in Photoshop.

The results were interesting as the combination of different spacing, colours and the random element of using the stamps started to produce interesting patterns, where some letter parts faded and other parts became more intense. This technique however, is not so appropriate to use for looking at spacing, as when using the stamp it is hard to see exactly where the letter is being placed in regards to the previous letter. This means that the random nature of this technique eliminates the ability to be accurate which means it is difficult to have the spacing constant throughout the layout.

To develop this further the random element of the stamps could be explored solving the problem of achieving the accuracy needed when considering letter spacing.

43Visual Experiment



Plastic Letter Stencil This experiment is a fun quick way of playing with type, quite simply using a plastic letter stencil to produce the write words. It was possible to play around with different solid type and outlined type.

The results were a bit uninspiring as after a couple of experiments it became clear that the technique is limited to one type style which is very rigid. Using these stencils doesn’t really give as much of a hands on experience as I was hoping for, as it is similar to working with digital type, as it is just placing the letters with a fixed form. However, on reflection this would be an effective way to play with spacing and produce layout drafts by hand quickly.

To develop this, the stencils could be used as a way of producing type layouts very quickly as roughs. This is beneficial as when a designer works quickly they produce lots of outcomes and options to develop, whilst losing their inhibitions.

45Visual Experiment



Illustrator Spacing Experiments

The next experiments are inspired by some found images, considering positive and negative space in an interesting and effective way by using Illustrator. The first experiment looks at larger type experimenting with colour and the space on the page to define the shapes on the characters. This technique would be more suitable for heading text as if it was used for body text some parts may become illegible or would need to be large to keep it legible.

The next experiment is thinking about large amounts of text most likely to be body text. I then looked at body text (using place holder text) and what happens when almost all of the leading is taken out and the background space used to make the letters legible. This only really works when the text is on a large scale or point size as otherwise the page becomes very busy and difficult to read.

Barcelona Photographed by Yessica Diez

Ud ming exer alis et incilla autpat, corp riurer adigna faccum quiscinim alissi. Xer secte dolobor iureet veiquis dolore tem el dipit ipsum dolore do odo do dolbor etummodio dignisit nim dunt ulamet, quat. Rud er sum quis adiat. Per sum acilis augait dlorer incipisi. Dio ea conse-quisi ero et, sit non essed tat autat. Ut do commy nulluptat lan utet eliqui




47Visual Experiment

West Dean Gardens Winchester Photographed by Yessica Diez




The results of these experiments produced some interesting layouts. They addressed the limits of spacing by using the positive negative space. However they only really work at a larger size as if they were reduced to something like 12pt legibility would become an issue.

To develop this further, the weight of the font could be adjusted and experimented with. It would also be interesting to experiment with a large amount of spacing rather then reduced spacing to find which is the most effective balance between all the elements.


Letterpress and Mistakes in Letterpress For the last set of experiments, I went into the letterpress workshop and started experimenting, with the techniques available in there. To start with some rough layouts were produced in Illustrator, so that there was a starting point. Before addressing leading and kerning I started with the larger letters to gain confidence with the media, arranging the letters in various ways while still being aware of the space around them, then placed the plate in the manual printing bed, which inks the blocks, then after adding the paper, rolls out an even print.


49Visual Experiment

The result of this experiment was a series of prints that look more like images than words on a page with a conceptual feel about them. Although it would be possible to produce these images digitally the process in producing them manually is a lot more creative and the element of not being perfect adds something to them, for example not being able to find enough letters of the same size and font forces you to improvise creating interesting outcomes. The fact that it is not being printed digitally also means that no two prints will be exactly the same and that there will be mistakes while printing. This was an important experiment; as when handling the letter blocks manually I had to physically think about the spaces and fill them on the plate into prevent the blocks from moving when being put through the print roller. This means I had to constantly be aware of where there is and is not space.

To develop this further you could try to recreate the same style of prints digitally, as this would be an interesting contrast to see what tasks would be easier and harder by doing it this way. It would also be interesting see the difference in the print outcomes if you printed the letters manually one by one, as it may be less accurate but you could reduce or eliminate all spacing by overlapping some letters.


Typesetting Block Text in letterpress

This experiment as with the last took place in the letterpress workshop. However, this time I was looking at body text type setting, with metal type. When laying out the text it has to be done upside-down and backwards, personally I struggled with getting the correct spelling, as you can see in ‘Legible’. When setting the text you do a line at a time and you start with the longest line first as the other lines will need metal blocks on the end to fill out the rest of the line. You also set the text upside-down as when you have finished each line you will need to place a thin piece of lead on line before you move on to the next line. After printing in the same way as the previous experiment different thicknesses of lead were placed between the lines to see what effects were produced.

51Visual Experiment

The result of this was a series of prints that look at letterpress with small type and various leading. This technique made me appreciate how much software does just by a click of a button, as when doing the same adjustment in typesetting can be rather time consuming. These experiments were a useful and a steep learning curve, as there is a lot to consider when setting lines of text.

To develop this further the tracking of the text could be explored and experimented with to experience the technicalities that are involved in this kind of adjustment. Also experiments in reducing the leading right down, looking at splitting the text onto two plates to enable this to happen would be useful.


55Conclusion

In conclusion, this report has looked at the importance of spacing in type layout and how the audience influences the spacing choices.

Typography has developed through the centuries, and it is important to have a strong background knowledge of typography to be able to apply the spacing techniques. It is also important to understand the basics of how to handle type manually, including the considerations and terminology, before you can consider handling digital type. This is important for a designer, as a lot of the techniques and terminology have originated from manual handling of metal type setting and historical evolution of type. Having a greater understanding of this makes the transition to digital type easier as most of the terminology is the same and the digital tools would have the same effect as they would manually but are just a lot easier to apply and undo if incorrect.

Type that has been casually laid out, without consideration for the audience or the required job of the type can be easily overlooked or misunderstood. Before you start to consider the layout you have to be clear on what the specific job of the type is, as the role of typography is to convey a message displaying information. Successful type layout has to consider both relevance to the chosen audience and how that spacing of the type can complement this. In fact all the elements involved in type layout complement one another; audience, required job of the typography, spacing, leading, kerning and tracking.

It is hoped that this report will help young designers, and teach them to become more aware of the considerations involved in type layout and how important it is to have a strong background and contextual knowledge of whatever they happen to work on. In doing this it is crucial to constantly bear in mind the needs of the target audience.

59Bibliography

Books Baines. P and Haslam. H (2002), Type & Typography, Laurence King, London

Bennett. L, (2005) The Life and Work Of Pablo Picasso, Heinemann Library, Oxford

Bergstrom. B, (2008) Essentials of Visual Communications. Laurence King, London

Birdsall. D, (2004) Notes on design, Yale

Fawcett-Tang. R (2007) New Typographic design. Laurence King, London

Hollis. R (2006), Swiss Graphic Design The Origins and growth of an International Style 1920-1965, Laurence King, London

Mitchell & Wightman, (2005) Book Typography: A Designers Manual, Libanus Press Limited

Payne. L, (2001) Essential Picasso, Parragon, Bath

Spiekermann. E & Ginger’s. E.M, (2003), Stop Stealing Sheep, Peachpit Press, California

Squire. V, (2006) Getting it Right with Type, Laurence King, London

ArticlesStrizver.I (July 2004) Spacing and Kerning. fy(t)icon’thttp://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/spacing-and-kerning06/07/09


Websites/ Blogshttp://www.thedesigncubicle.com/2008/12/10-common-typography-mistakes/ 06/07/09

http://ideas.veer.com/features/kerninspace09/07/09

Alice Savoie, June 12 09http://ilovetypography.com/2009/06/12/an-interview-with-alice-savoie/I love typography07/07/09

An Introduction to Typehttp://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/type_basics/history.htm26/10/09

Paul Boutinhttp://www.wired.com/underwire/2007/04/the_math_behind/Law of Optical Volumes: The Math Behind Wired’s New Logo 30/10/09

Steven Hoober http://patterns.littlespringsdesign.com/index.php/Mobile_TypographyMobile Typography30/10/09 (Page last modified 16:59, 2 June 2008)

61Bibliography

Ellen Luptonhttp://www.papress.com/thinkingwithtype/index.htmThinking with Type 30/10/09

Sue Walkerhttp://www.booksforkeeps.co.uk/issues/154/104Typography in Children’s books, Issue No 154, Sept 2005 30/11/09

typography: industrial theoretical contexts report

Documents

typographic spacing

typographers choice

typographers audience

accepted typographic

target audience

question of audience

experimental typography

general overview of