Share this Post
Type, or the art of the letterform, is beautiful. It’s also easy to abuse in the hands of the unskilled. As an artist who began his career in silkscreen in the late ‘70s, I gained an intimate appreciation for typography because silkscreen design was hand-drawn, including text. And to truly understand typography, you must draw it by hand and actually experience the visual rhythms of serif and sans-serif.
Speaking of serifs, several basic design do’s and don’ts evolved on the fly under duress of deadlines. Visually, it’s acceptable to mix serif and sans-serif, and most sans-serif with other sans-serif. But, never mix serif with serif. Elegant type design is usually best achieved by mixing weights and styles within a font family, such as bold with light, along with that old standby for emphasis, italic.
Along the way, I’ve learned to love some fonts (Garamond) and despise others (anything Times). Some fonts are always utilitarian and useful (Helvetica) and some are atrocities (Curlz MT and that tool of the devil, Comic Sans).
And there’s a fine line to observe between optical and metric letterspacing. Headlines read much better with optical, but body copy reads better with metric. And regarding body copy, book and magazine experience has shown me that left-justified, right-ragged is easiest on the eye. Left justification gives the eye a logical starting point, while right-ragged creates an organic stop that naturally sends the eye back to the start of the next line.
Finally, a few more things I’ve learned about readability:
• Never use script in all-uppercase, it’s impossible to read;
• Use of upper and lowercase in headlines aids in readability and eye flow;
• Old English is obsolete and should never be used (unless, of course, you’re designing a death metal album cover);
• Drop shadows and bevels are so 1990s;
And, the number-one rule for working with type:
• If you can’t read it, it’s wrong!