Typography is everywhere. Around us in the kitchen, street, and whatnot! So much so that if you pick a cereal box, you will find typography with different styles.
But…
What is a Typography in Graphic Design?
Typography is an art to attract an audience through a combination of different fonts, sizes, and spaces between each letter. Since it leaves a deep impact, designers incorporate it in websites, brochures, book covers, and designs, and all that needs some hype. However, when we talk about “impact” it is majorly on the skill set of the designer. A beginner might not be able to play much around the combos. On the other hand, a rookie or an expert would be able to add more flavor to the text.
Typography creates content with the hope of meeting purpose. As mentioned above, it is to entice people with aesthetics. In other words, it is an execution of planned typefaces that are strategically used in a text. So that the content or text is much more understandable. What happens when a designer creates most meaningful typography? First thing first, the brand gets recognition based on the typography. Besides that, communication gets easy and the audience gets more comfortable with the particular style.
Graphic designers tend to portray most crucial and trivial details through typography. Since everything is based on the visuals, color combinations and size of the font, different types of shapes and fonts; everything sets an influence.
Elements of Typography
Typography has come to an advanced level. Mostly, graphic artists and designs look for trending typographies. They don’t look, incorporate, or reuse old-fashioned means of enticing people. Naturally, when others follow new trends and the clients’ or brands’ needs become fixated, one has to opt for new and better typography patterns and ideas. Here, in this section, we will discuss elements of typography that set a separate impact on the audience.
Note: these are the terms with which you must get familiar to know the impact and rules on text/content.
Alignment
Alignment unifies the space, size, and space of a design. It also ensures precision in maintaining distances among different elements of a design.
Color
Colors in a text add-in value because it highlights letters amazingly. The brand’s message is also put across in a meaningful manner (by setting a tone). It is the designer’s job to balance out three sections of colors (saturation, value, and hue).
Leading and Leading Value
Between lines there is always some kind of space, right? That vertical gap is called the leading value which is mostly a bit more than the size of the font.
Contrast
It is another element to bring out the best of a message or an idea in a design. Just like other elements, this too adds meaning and attention to the audience.
Fonts and Typefaces
Typeface and fonts are not the same but yes, they are used interchangeably. A typeface is basically an embodiment of different characters with many sizes and weights. Also, typeface allows creativity to style texts (for example Helvetica and Arial).
The font is all about widths, weights, and styles. It is also a visual exhibition of characters in a text. Height and width determine typeface which then later refers to the style. Typefaces have various types of font sizes. That is the reason why designers know the height of every character (i.e. x-height).
Times when graphic designers tend to play with pairs, they select typefaces with the same or similar x-height. Letters have spaces in their bodies which is called “width”. Typefaces are measured with the help of a point system. each point is equivalent to 1/72” and when 12 points are together they equal 1 pica.
Kerning
Spaces that are not filled between the letters and characters are called kerning.
Tracking
Letter spacing is also given another term “tracking”. This is the space between characters of a text.
Hierarchy
It is how the viewer or reader is guided to see subheadings, headings, and the text in the body. Most importantly, hierarchy is giving emphasis to the text as per their importance.
Line Length
The standard length of texts is called line length.
Size
Hierarchy’s value is determined with size and it is measured with the help of dimensions, spacing, and color.
Rules of Typography
There is always a purpose behind everything that we do, right? Likewise, through typography graphic designers get to convey brand awareness and message. To do that, graphic designers are required to use different styles of typefaces in such a way that it shows creativity. However, it is important to know that some typographies contain only texts. In order to make sense of the typography, some rules are followed. Enlisted below are some of those rules.
Selection of Appropriate Color (of Typefaces)
Just like web design, hierarchy is more about guiding what to see first. In other words, it is about setting what to see first and what should be seen later. In doing so, designers make use of different fonts and sizes. That allows the viewer to set their eyes on the boldest and biggest font. We don’t have to play much around it if the hierarchy is set with the right meaning. Generally, there are three levels of any typography – the most important text, the text that delivers the information, and then the heavy-text.
Contemplate on the Text
A professional designer always contemplates the text and then incorporates it into the design. Many designers just copy and paste the text which is not a good practice. They forget about the typeface and leave the entire goal behind designing typography. Contemplation and pondering over different types are a must. You need to grab the attention of an audience and that doesn’t happen if you only copy or paste. The incorporation of design should always be meaningful. It is much important to choose typeface, font, and size carefully. Therefore, a designer loo into text minutely to make the right decisions.
Importance of Typography in Designing
At times, when graphic designers create typography, it becomes daunting. The entire reason relies on the type of combinations they have to maintain. With perfect uniqueness and flow of ideas in the most alluring form takes a toll on these designers. So, to rectify the feel and stay grounded, they make several attempts to weaving kinetic typography.
Reader-Friendly Typography Generates Traffic
Other than that, there are ways through which a designer reveals the message. For example, a designer always makes sure about reader-friendliness. When typography delivers an exact message of the brand or company, it gives more credibility and that paves the way towards more traffic. On the other hand, if and when fonts or the sizes of the text are chosen wrongly, it represents different and complex ideas in the audiences’ minds. Therefore, it is a must for the designer to create text around perfect alignment. Placement of the letters or arrangement of the text also plays an important role. Initially, in the past, there are four ways to align text – justified, right, left, and centered. Now, there are more ways to align the text (credit goes to photoshop pics and CSS).
Making an Impact Through Visual Resources
What is the main role of typography? As mentioned several times up till now, it is mainly to cross or convey the message to the targeted audience. To put a deep, long-lasting, and sort of permanent impact on the audience, designers tend to use larger and bolder fonts. These designers potentially make use of the new notion around bold typeface. That’s the reason why there are bold and bigger fonts in the websites and blogs. Likewise, the title of the book is mostly bigger than the name of the author on the cover page. Getting attraction from the audience, however, remains still. And that is what designers aim to do – attract people. So, in case your website, brochure, visiting card, or other marketing material has smaller and old-fashioned text, get it redesigned. The trick will make its mark and you will get more audience and eventually, there will be an increase in the list of potential buyers.
Typography Adds Personality and Sense to the Design
Typography adds more meaning and personality to the design of the text. The addition of personality makes the design more welcoming and serious. Ever wondered why and what makes it more serious? It is all because of the tactful play of typefaces. Brand’s traits and qualities can be highlighted through particular types of typefaces. Remembering the typefaces and the way they act is another point to focus on and remember. Then, it gets a bit overwhelming for the graphic designer with a beginner skillset to incorporate personality in the design. Nevertheless, it is a must to learn and understand how to maintain balance in a personality of a design.
Typography Creates Harmony and Synchronization to the Design
Harmony and well-balanced synchronization in the design allows the designer to get more viewers. Since we now know that any design which is made with a different approach and innovative thought process is not always what people like to see; we have to be sure about the taste and preferences of people. When we know the crux of branding, we are much closer to attaining the defined goal. Furthermore, designs should be such which let the viewer recognize the brand immediately. Such recognition helps in giving permanence to the design. Therefore, harmony through alignment gives an uncluttered look to the design.