Rule of thumb for typography

06 Jul 2020 3 mins

When it comes to typography, we might find various way to use them in any design. Before using them in any design, let’s understand the goal of typography in any design.

  1. Typographic goal is to make text as comfortable as possible to read for the user.
  2. Mostly, keeping it simple is most effective way to use them.


Generally font can be divide into four groups:

  1. Casual: General font we see everywhere.
  2. Neutral: Neutral font are standard text use in formal work.
  3. Exotic: Character in such font are add with extra curve to give them a exotic looks.
  4. Graphic: Character in this groups contain graphic inside the text.

   

10 Rules to Help you in Typography

Justify Left

Justify left is easier to read

Use 1 OR 2 Font

  1. Avoid using 2 font of same classification
  2. Using second font that is complementary to primary font. It brings best result.
  3. Stay with one font until you have achieved mastery of that font.

Skip a Weight

  • Go from light to bold or medium to extra bold when changing font weight
  • The key to great design is contrast.
  • Slight change in weight make it harder for the audience notice the difference
  • Try mixing bold and light for heading and body

Double Point Size

  • A good rules of thumb when changing point size, is to double or half the point size you are using. For example if you are using 30pt. Type for heading use 15 pt type for body copy.

Align to One Axis

If you are using two or more typefaces, align them to one axis. For example, if you are using a serif and sans serif typeface, align them to the baseline.

Pick any font

Use any font you like as long as its one of the following:

Akzidenz Grotesque, Avenir, Avant Garde, Bell Gothic, Bodoni, Bembo, Caslon, Clarendon, Courier, Din Mittelschrift, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Garamond, Gill Sans, Gotham, Helvetica, Letter Gothic, Memphis, Meta, OCRB, Rockwell, Sabon, Trade Gothic, Trajan and Univers.

Group By using Rules

  • Use rules/lines to groups related blocks of information. This will also make dissimilar object to appear more orderly

Avoided the corner__

  • Don’t place the elements along the edge and corners of the page unless to deliberately cut the elements off. negative space is good thing, so let your design breath

Mind the gap

Typography is all about spacing and gaps. Make sure you have enough space between the elements. If you are using a grid, make sure you have enough space between the columns and rows. Never use forced justified type because of the inherent rivers that will runs throughout your copy. Avoid having a single word on the last line of the paragraph, otherwise known as widow. Don’t allow a new page or column to begin with the final word or line form a previous paragraph, thus separating it from the rest of its paragraph an orphan Use the single space after the punctuation in a sentence

Spacing matter: The closer things are together the more the reader will assume a relationship exit between the separate blocks of information’s.

Be Bold or Italic never regular, relax its just a types__

12 Common Mistake

  1. Too Wordy [What you are trying to communicate?]

  2. Poor Readability

  3. To Many Font

  4. Free space and negative space

  5. Inadequate use of contrast

  6. Not scaling the font size

  7. Lack of harmony in image and font color used

  8. Lack of consistency

  9. Inappropriate use of font

  10. Not choosing the right color

Tools and resource for typography:

  • https://www.mixfont.com/

  • https://color.adobe.com/create

  • https://colorhunt.co/