Typography

Designing for the reading experience

But the thing is not to fall into the screen is paper parallel.

"With the rise of Web fonts as well as affordable hosted Web font services and ready-made kits, typography is reclaiming its title as design queen, ruler of all graphic and Web design."

(Marko Dugonjić a.k.a. @markodugonjic ~ Smashing Magazine)

Posted on February 27, 2013 | Permalink

Reusable divisions of space: Grids and modular design

If it has structure, it can be modular.

"Grids follow the same principle of modularity we've been considering the last few weeks. In some ways that seems obvious given the terminology modular grids. In other ways though it isn't quite as obvious that they're the same thing. However, when you think about how grids divide space and make it easier for us to make layout decisions, I think the modularity of grids falls right in line with the reusable modularity of components and design patterns. They separate concerns, by dividing the space into modular units. The characteristics of these modular units are reusable and through reuse help us more efficiently place information. Finally, the structure of these units in the grid leads to greater consistency in how content is organized."

(Steven Bradley a.k.a. @vangogh ~ VanSeoDesign)

Posted on February 26, 2013 | Permalink

Typography and information design: Reflections and critiques (.pdf)

Typography as the essential ingredient of design for search, find, and use information.

"A stroke, a letter, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a page, and a book: all essentially linear constructs of the typographic mind put into action. There is a typographic order of 'things', a logical sequence from the most simple, to the most complex. A line, a space, a rectangle, a margin—an aesthetic device for visuality. As an infinite list of signifiers, the above lists signify the qualitative/quantitative display of the visual properties of typography: the micro and the macro, the color and the density, the positives and the negatives, the visible and the invisibles; these are some of the typographic paradigms that yield communicative visualization."

(Chun-wo Pat ~ Parsons Journal of Information Mapping)

Posted on February 01, 2013 | Permalink

Effects of Typography on Reader Mood and Productivity

Great typography is like the oxygen of reading.

"The lesson here is twofold. First, good typography has a clear impact on the mood of the reader. People who are reading a well typeset page are more engaged in the experience and find that time flies by faster. Second, research has shown that positive mood improves creative problem solving, and since typography can be used to influence mood, it is possible that good typography also has direct effect on our productivity, at least in the sphere of certain creative tasks. Good typographic design then is not just a way to communicate the character of your text and strengthen reader engagement, it could boost their cognitive performance, too."

(Dmitry Fadeyev a.k.a. @dfadeyev ~ UsabilityPost)

Posted on November 26, 2012 | Permalink

Serif vs. Sans-Serif Fonts for HD Screens

Typography post in an usability context.

"Decent computer screens with pixel densities of 220 PPI or more lead to new usability guidelines for on-screen typography."

(Jakob Nielsen ~ Alertbox)

Posted on July 02, 2012 | Permalink

Publication Standards: A Standard Future

Going back to The Document as the base concept.

"It's never been a better time to be a writer. Anybody can publish their thoughts. Anybody can write a book and publish it on demand. Authors can reach out to readers, and enriching, fulfilling conversations can blossom around the connections we develop out of the things we make."

(Nick Disabato a.k.a. @nickd ~ A List Apart)

Posted on May 22, 2012 | Permalink

Visual aesthetics in human-computer interaction and interaction design

Everything that pleases the eye.

"To scholars and practitioners in the field of HCI at the early 1990's, the idea that aesthetics matter in information technology sounded heretic. Two decades later, in the early 2010s, this thought has conquered a solid place in both academia and industry."

(Noam Tractinsky a.k.a. ~ interaction-design.org)

Posted on March 22, 2012 | Permalink

Designing Engaging And Enjoyable Long-Form Reading Experiences

The issue of reading-from-a-screen is slowly fading. It's about time.

"When you have fantastic and original content, ensuring the best possible reading experience is critical to keeping and building your audience. The following practices will help you design your content in a way that improves the experience for readers."

(Martha Rotter a.k.a. @martharotter ~ Smashing Magazine)

Posted on March 09, 2012 | Permalink

The Perfect Paragraph

Or, what a paragraph can do for you.

"In this article, I'd like to reacquaint you with the humble workhorse of communication that is the paragraph. Paragraphs are everywhere. In fact, at the high risk of stating the obvious, you are reading one now. Despite their ubiquity, we frequently neglect their presentation. This is a mistake. Here, we'll refer to some time-honored typesetting conventions, with an emphasis on readability, and offer guidance on adapting them effectively for devices and screens."

(Heydon Pickering a.k.a. @heydonworks ~ Smashing Magazine)

Posted on November 30, 2011 | Permalink

Visual Designers Are Just As Important As UX Designers

Always thought perception was an integral part of feeding the experience.

"Conceptually I believe you can break design into tangible and abstract activities. Tangible design typically draws on the artistic skills of the designer and results in some kind of visually pleasing artefact. This is what most people imagine when they think of design and it covers graphic design, typography and visual identity."

(Andy Budd a.k.a. @andybudd ~ Blogography)

Posted on July 19, 2011 | Permalink

How Print Design is the Future of Interaction

"There are three areas that I covered in the talk. First, how the visual language of UI has evolved and been shaped in to what we find in the interfaces we are familiar with today. Second, I'll discuss why I think a new approach to the visual design of interfaces, influenced by Print Design, is emerging and necessary. And finally, why I think Print Design is an important influence to the next evolution of UI, and what we (as UI and Interaction Designers) can learn from the discipline of Print."

(Mike Kruzeniski a.k.a. @mkruzeniski)

Posted on July 01, 2011 | Permalink

Effective Use of Typography in Applications for Children

"In this installment of my column, I'll take a look at one of the most important visual design elements for graphic user interfaces: typography. I'll concentrate on general guidelines for the effective use of typography in the design of applications for children between 3 and 10 years of age. What considerations do we need to take into account when working with digital typography when children are its primary interpreters?"

(Catalina Naranjo-Bock ~ UXmatters)

Posted on June 08, 2011 | Permalink

More Meaningful Typography

"Designing with modular scales is one way to make more conscious, meaningful choices about measurement on the web. Modular scales work with - not against - responsive design and grids, provide a sensible alternative to basing our compositions on viewport limitations du jour, and help us achieve a visual harmony not found in compositions that use arbitrary, conventional, or easily divisible numbers. As we've seen in this article, though, modular scales are tools - not dogma. The important thing for our readers, our craft, and our culture is that we take responsibility for our design decisions. Because in so doing, we'll make better ones." (Tim Brown ~ A List Apart)

Posted on May 03, 2011 | Permalink

Typeface As Programme

"Like many disciplines dependent on technology for execution or production, type design has undergone a series of fundamental revolutions and transitions in the past century. Driven by technological advance, this process has completely changed the way people work with type, to the point where someone employed in the field had to adapt to a significantly changing situation multiple times throughout a career. " (Jürg Lehni ~ Typotheque) courtesy of latebytes

Posted on April 19, 2011 | Permalink

Testing Content

"Nobody needs to convince you that it's important to test your website's design and interaction with the people who will use it, right? But if that's all you do, you're missing out on feedback about the most important part of your site: the content. Whether the purpose of your site is to convince people to do something, to buy something, or simply to inform, testing only whether they can find information or complete transactions is a missed opportunity: Is the content appropriate for the audience? Can they read and understand what you've written?" (Angela Colter ~ A List Apart)

Posted on December 14, 2010 | Permalink

Art Direction and Design

"Glorifying the supposed arrival of art direction on the web is one of the latest trends in interactive design. (...) Sadly, many designers don't understand the difference between design and art direction; sadder still, many art directors don't either: Art direction gives substance to design. Art direction adds humanity to design." (Dan Mall ~ A List Apart)

Posted on November 02, 2010 | Permalink

Web Fonts at the Crossing

"Font designers are very still very much focused on print. By and large, the money is in catering to professional customers in the printing industries: Books, magazines, displays, etc. Prices usually move on a sliding scale based on the number of users. The fear is that once fonts are on the web, they will become a commodity, the current model will break, and a devaluation of fonts, in general, will occur." (Richard Fink ~ A List Apart)

Posted on June 08, 2010 | Permalink

Typography for Lawyers

"Even though the legal profession depends heavily on writing, legal typography is often poor. Some blame lies with the strict typographic constraints that control certain legal documents (e.g. court rules regarding the format of pleadings). But the rest of the blame lies with lawyers. To be fair, I assume this is for lack of information, not lack of will. This website fills that void." (Matthew Butterick) - courtesy of luctiemessen

Posted on April 20, 2010 | Permalink

Designing for the Web

"(...) aims to teach you techniques for designing your website using the principles of graphic design. Featuring five sections, each covering a core aspect of graphic design: Getting Started, Research, Typography, Colour, and Layout. Learn solid graphic design theory that you can simply apply to your designs, making the difference from a good design to a great one. If you're a designer, developer, or content producer, reading the book will enrich your website design and plug the holes in your design knowledge. Now available online. For free!" (Mark Boulton)

Posted on March 24, 2010 | Permalink

On Web Typography

"We've been spoiled. Until now, chances are that if you dropped some text onto a webpage in a system font at a reasonable size, it was legible. What's more, we know the ins and outs of the faces we've been forced to use. But many faces to which we'll soon have access were never meant for screen use, either because they're aesthetically unsuitable or because they're just plain illegible." (Jason Santa Maria - A List Apart) - courtesy of lucraak

Posted on November 17, 2009 | Permalink

Web Design is 95% Typography

"Information design is not about the use of good typefaces, it is about the use of good typography. Which is a huge difference. Anyone can use typefaces, some can choose good typefaces, but only few master typography." (Oliver Reichenstein - Information Architects Japan)

Posted on July 14, 2009 | Permalink

History of Graphic Design

"This site was first launched in 1999 to accompany my lectures on the History of Graphic Design. I devised this unique format of presenting the information by topics because I saw that students were overwhelmed by the scope of the topic or most texts I also saw that they learned more when the discussions included direct links to what is happening in design today. It seems to work well for visual artists who are not interested in a degree in art history." (Nancy Stock-Allen) - courtesy of AP

Posted on July 10, 2009 | Permalink

In Defense of Readers

"Despite the ubiquity of reading on the web, readers remain a neglected audience. Much of our talk about web design revolves around a sense of movement: users are thought to be finding, searching, skimming, looking. We measure how frequently they click but not how long they stay on the page. We concern ourselves with their travel and participation - how they move from page to page, who they talk to when they get there—but forget the needs of those whose purpose is to be still. Readers flourish when they have space - some distance from the hubbub of the crowds - and as web designers, there is yet much we can do to help them carve out that space." - (Mandy Brown - A List Apart)

Posted on February 18, 2009 | Permalink

Text Treatment and the User Interface

"Before graphic user interfaces, text was the primary means of both input and output defining human-computer interactions. Even today, much of the information user interfaces present is textual. Therefore, we should not underestimate how the right text treatment can measurably improve user productivity and increase user satisfaction. As new technologies become available—for example, larger monitors with higher resolutions—a good foundation of knowledge about effective text treatment can help designers create usable user interfaces for them more quickly." (Tobias Komischke - UXmatters)

Posted on January 23, 2009 | Permalink

Web Typography Sucks

"It's all our fault!" (Richard Rutter and Mark Boulton)

Posted on March 14, 2007 | Permalink

The Elements of Typographical Style Applied to the Web

"For too long typographic style and its accompanying attention to detail have been overlooked by website designers, particularly in body copy. In years gone by this could have been put down to the technology, but now the web has caught up. The advent of much improved browsers, text rendering and high resolution screens, combine to negate technology as an excuse." (Richard Rutter)

Posted on February 27, 2007 | Permalink

Fine Typography for the Web

"Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form, and thus with an independent existence. Its heartwood is calligraphy - the dance, on a tiny stage, of the living, speaking hand - and its roots reach into living soil, though its branches may be hung each year with new machines." (Dave Shea)

Posted on June 21, 2006 | Permalink

Typography and the Aging Eye: Typeface Legibility for Older Viewers with Vision Problems

"The population is rapidly aging and becoming a larger share of the marketplace. 13 percent of the population is currently over 65 years old. In 30 years that group will double to 66 million people. People change as they age. Sensory, cognitive and motor abilities decline. The built environment is not typically created with the needs of the aging population in mind. How does the choice of typeface in signage systems, for example, impact the older viewer who is experiencing vision problems typical to that age group? Are certain typefaces more suitable to the aging eye?" (Paul Nini - AIGA Clear)

Posted on February 13, 2006 | Permalink

Semantic Typography: Bridging the XHTML gap

"In the Web Standards community we hear the words 'Semantic Markup' thrown around a lot as a concept—the right thing to do— but I know a lot of designers who are trying to learn this stuff are being confused by the whole 'semantic thing'. It's a difficult task for a designer, who primarily thinks very visually, to relate to a concept like semantics in a document when all they want to do is create something. After doing a ton of research over the past couple of weeks I've begun to notice links and patterns between typographic theory and Web Standards." (Mark Boulton) - courtesy of webgraphics

Posted on January 02, 2006 | Permalink

Erik Spiekermann: Typography and design today

"(...) calls himself an information architect. He is equally comfortable and prolific as a writer, graphic and typeface designer, but type is always at the epicentre of this communication dynamo. He founded MetaDesign in 1979, started FontShop in 1988, is a board member of ATypI and the German Design Council, and president of the istd International Society of Typographic Designers. In July 2000, Erik withdrew from the management of MetaDesign Berlin - which created a bit of a stir - and set up his new studio, United Designers Network in the same neighbourhood." (Uleshka - PingMag)

Posted on December 11, 2005 | Permalink

Underground Typography

"There are few more obviously functional forms of environmental typography than the signage in a subway or other transit system." (John D. Berry - Creative Pro) - courtesy of kottke

Posted on July 14, 2005 | Permalink

Reading Online Text with a Poor Layout: Is Performance Worse?

"This study examined the effects of enhanced layout (headers, indentation, and figure placement) on reading performance, comprehension, and satisfaction. Participants read text passages with and without enhanced layout. Results showed that reading speed and comprehension were not affected by layout, however, participants were more satisfied with the enhanced layout and reported it to be less fatiguing to read." (Barbara S. Chaparro et al. - SURL 7.1)

Posted on February 16, 2005 | Permalink

The Science of Word Recognition

"Evidence from the last 20 years of work in cognitive psychology indicate that we use the letters within a word to recognize a word. Many typographers and other text enthusiasts I've met insist that words are recognized by the outline made around the word shape. Some have used the term bouma as a synonym for word shape (...). This paper is written from the perspective of a reading psychologist." (Kevin Larson - Advanced Reading Technology, Microsoft Corporation) - courtesy of karel van der waarde

Posted on January 19, 2005 | Permalink

Usable Type: Typography for the World Wide Web

"(...) font sizing is probably the most complicated and controversial aspect of web typography." (Andrew Hume)

Posted on December 17, 2004 | Permalink

Microsoft Typography

From Lewis Blackwell's 20th-Century Type: "Microsoft has arguably the largest, most expert typographic unit in the world. With repsonsibility for the functionality and output of the great majority of type-generating devices, it is no surprise that they should have that, but it is not a fact that is celebrated or much investigated. That the Apple Macintosh platform is more celebrated and widely supported by creative designers obscures the prevelance of Microsoft technology in generating the typography that the world sees -- even if many of its smartest ideas came from elsewhere." (...) "Microsoft's Typography group researches and develops fonts and font technologies, and supports the development of TrueType and OpenType fonts by independent type vendors." (Microsoft) - courtesy of jamie divine

Posted on October 21, 2004 | Permalink

Apple Fonts

"As a company that arguably did more to jump-start the desktop publishing industry than any other in the mid-1980s, Apple Computer has always paid great attention to the typefaces used in its marketing, operating systems and industrial design. It has also been a leading player in font technology development, and controls several patents important to the implementation of high-quality typeface rendering on computers." - (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Posted on October 21, 2004 | Permalink

Lorem Ipsum Generator

"116 words of the original 16th century Lipsum plus 384 additional words, carefully chosen from Cicero's very own 'De Finibus', bonded by superior scripting and utmost linguistic accuracy guarantee for the web's most random ... ah, randomness - 500 times sheer bliss for the typographically inclined. Ipso facto." (Lorem Ipsum) - courtesy of marek moehling

Posted on May 19, 2004 | Permalink

SVG and Typography: Characters

"(...) we explore some time-honored practices of typographic excellence." (Fabio Arciniegas A. - XML.com)

Posted on May 13, 2004 | Permalink

Measuring the User Response to ClearType

"We are investigating the user response to Microsoft's ClearType™ font enhacement technology. ClearType is a setting that is manipulated through the operating system of devices using Liquid Crystal Display screens. ClearType works by altering the vertical color stripe within a pixel, allowing for changes in how the text looks at fractional levels. These changes are intended to enhance the resolution of the screen text and improve readability." (Andrew Dillon et al.)

Posted on April 28, 2004 | Permalink

Accessible Web Typography: An introduction for web designers

"This short(ish) book contains all the important 'stuff' I ever wanted to know about creating accessible text on my own web pages; and now that I have figured it out myself, I am happy to pass it on." (Jim Byrne - ScotConnect) - courtesy of deswozhere

Posted on February 12, 2004 | Permalink

The typographic contribution to language: Towards a model of typographic genres and their underlying structures

"This thesis presents a model which accounts for variations in typographic form in terms of four underlying sources of structure. The first three relate to the three parts of the writer-text-reader relationship: topic structure, representing the expressive intentions of the writer; artefact structure, resulting from the physical constraints of the medium; and access structure, anticipating the needs of the self-organized reader. Few texts exhibit such structures in pure form. Instead, they are evidenced in typographic genres—ordinary language categories such as 'leaflet', 'magazine', 'manual', and so on - which may be defined in terms of their normal (or historical) combination of topic, access and artefact structure." (Rob Waller PhD. Thesis 1987) - courtesy of karel van der waarde

Posted on January 30, 2004 | Permalink

Typographica: A journal of typography

"Typographica is a daily journal of typography featuring news, observations, and open commentary on fonts and typographic design." (Stephen Coles and Joshua Lurie-Terrell )

Posted on December 18, 2003 | Permalink

Understanding Web Typography

"In this article, I attempt to cut a swathe through the complexities of Web typography; explain the possible pitfalls; and provide some guidelines for creating accessible and easy to read web pages." (Jim Byrne)

Posted on December 01, 2002 | Permalink

The Typography of News

"The online newspaper, despite the seemingly limitless possibilities of type on the Internet, slavishly apes the appearance of its printed sibling." (Peter Hall - Font Magazine)

Posted on June 13, 2002 | Permalink

Typographical Signage Project

"The Chicago urban environment is layered with graphic signage that crosses boundaries of time and culture." (Department of Visual Communications - Loyola University Chigago)

Posted on April 09, 2002 | Permalink

A Comparison of Popular Online Fonts: Which is Best and When?

"(...) a majority of sites use 12-point fonts" (Michael Bernard et al. - Usability News Summer 2001 - SURL)

Posted on July 24, 2001 | Permalink