25 of the rules of typography for young designers
Forming / / December 19, 2019
About typography written many excellent books that a beginner designer or ordinary user computer, who wants to bring order to their documents, it is difficult to decide where to to begin. Are you one of them? Then you are in the right place. In this article you will find 25 basic set of rules that are indispensable in the digital age.
Choosing the right font
1. Do not use fancy fonts
If you have enough experience and knowledge, do not even try to use unusual, fancy fonts. Keep it simple.
2. Forget about Comic Sans
Imagine that you are his never seen.
3. Do not avoid the standard, default fonts
Seriously, if someone tells you that the standard fonts - it's boring, he just does not understand typography. How the font will look depends on how it is dialed. Times New Roman may look really cool. And most importantly: it's better to be boring text than ugly or unreadable.
mix fonts
4. Do not use more than two fonts
Experiment with more fonts at the initial stage is not necessary. Two is enough. You do not want to turn text into mismatched nonsense, is not it?
5. Mix only contrasting fonts
Grotesque with a serif font, handwritten with modernity. It is important to keep the contrast. Two similar font close look sloppy.
6. Choose fonts with the same height of the letters
The height of lowercase letters without remote elements - the distance from the base to the top of the baseline, in other words - the value of points of line. Choosing the fonts you want to use when you make together, you need to make sure that the height of lowercase letters was the same. This will help to sustain the same level of saturation of the paragraph. In addition, this text will be easier to read.
type the text
7. Font size
The size of text in the web should be less than 13 pixels. In my opinion, the best choice - within a 14-18 px. Not too big and at the same time readable.
8. Select the correct line length
Do not believe the gossip that the correct length of the string can be obtained by multiplying the font size by two. This is bullshit. Just try to keep the length of the string in the range of 45-75 characters. GOST for prints recommends a length of 60 characters, but it is, of course, the elusive ideal in terms of the web. And still need to strive for it. Is determined on the eyes, it is not the line is too long or too short.
9. Leading must match the size of the font
To achieve a balance between the text and the "air", make a line spacing of about one and a half times the height of lowercase letters. There is another way easier: set the line spacing equal to 125% of the font size.
Paragraph
10. Align the left side
If you are not sure what the justification to choose, choose the justification left: Options "Right" and "Justified" on the web rarely justified. The rough edge there is nothing wrong. Cut to the left the text easier to read, as the eye sees a clear visual end of each line. But this text is easy to read in Russian, if the line is not too long. Therefore, if your string is longer than 60 characters, try rasklyuchenny set. Just do not forget to hyphenate and check if everything looks good: a few shifts in a row definitely make it difficult to read.
11. Avoid a large number of transfers
In general, transfers on the web should be avoided whenever possible. Try moving the word on a new line or slightly change interalphabetic distance. If too many characters transport, adjust the font size or the size of gaps. And with justification to the left does not use word wrap.
12. no indentation
Do not separate indent the first paragraph of the title. If you slugger paragraphs by a blank line, do not use indentation. It is superfluous and tasteless. On the other hand, the text without any indentation and picks will be more difficult to be perceived. In general, choose one of the following: or a red line, or the skip - and use it throughout the text.
13. The narrow column
If you need to dial a short column of text, try to use narrow font. So the text will not only look better, but also easier to read, as a string of characters to put more.
14. Hanging punctuation
The line set should make quotation marks, parentheses, hyphens, periods, commas. It always looks elegant and helps maintain the desired shape of the paragraph.
15. "Widows" and "orphans"
It is about widows. "Widow" - a single word on the whole line at the end of a paragraph or a very short line at the end of the text or page. "Orphan" - a widow who falls on the beginning of a new page or column. They should be avoided. Try to reduce the distance interalphabetic, transfer line, or adjust font size - in general, do not let the "widows" and "orphans" to get into your text.
16. Do not overuse spaces
To start a new line, press Shift + Enter. To start a new paragraph, press Enter. That's so easy.
The words
17. kerning
If you are an inexperienced designer and you do not have the trained eye for the smallest details, not Kern text manually.
18. tracking
Remember that when you increase the font size, character spacing also increases. Therefore, if you set the text of a big headline, we recommend apportion the distance between characters and words.
19. Accentuation
Highlight the important thought or word, for which you need to pay attention to a variety of ways. Do not go overboard with them. It is not necessary to allocate one whole sentence in capital - a beginner can not always make it to the site. Just use a bold font.
20. Lowercase without discharge
It is not necessary to increase the distance between the lower case. The reason is simple: reduced readability.
21. Capital with discharge
Increase the distance between the capital. In this case, the readability is increased. Normally, increasing the space letterspacing 10% works well.
22. Do not write everything in capital
Do not abuse the set of capital. The length of such a set can not exceed one line.
23. Do not use without the need for capital
If the font does not include a special small-caps style, do not use it at all.
letters
24. Do not change the width of the letters
Just do not do it. You are welcome.
numbers
25. number of words
Write the number of words, it looks elegant.