TYPO DESIGN FULL

Tracking is the space between all letters of a word, it should not be confused with kerning, as tracking is the spacing across the whole word and kerning is only applied to an individual letter.

TYPO DESIGN FULL

We’ve had our minds blown by this previously you can read the full article here. However, the ampersand is no longer a ligature and is now a full blown member of the typography family. The “&” (ampersand) was originally a combination of the letters “e” and “t”, et, the Latin for “and”. In large documents ligatures can provide a beautiful touch to what could be quite a plain document. The most common ligatures are ff, fl, fi, ffi and ffl and although it looks like two characters joined together this is not the case, these characters are crafted to create 1 beautiful ligature. Ligatures are relics from the past but they can look refined and beautiful when typeset in modern documents. True italic is when a type designer specifically designs another version which is italic, this is a preferred italic to use as it has special flourishes and a polished look to it. There are two types of italic regular italic is when the typeface doesn’t have a specifically designed italic version, it will generally be a slanted version of the regular font. Italics is a style of font that slants to the right, most fonts will have an italic version to choose from. Great for a bold, masculine brand, much like the Volvo brand. The small edges that extrude from the slab serif are square and don’t taper off as much as a serif. Slab serif typefaces are a chunky style of serif. They can also be an elegant choice if you are going for a timeless, sophisticated look (like Ralph Lauren).

So why would you choose a serif typeface over a sans serif typeface, you ask? Serif typefaces are easier to read in large blocks of text (have a look at the book you’re reading), if you have to typeset a large document like a magazine the serif helps draw the eye across the text and creates a more readable document.

Serifs are the small lines that tail the edges of a typeface. San serif typefaces are usually used in branding that resonates with a modern, bold look (think Adidas). They are also great for the web, as they don’t have any small, pesky serifs that could pixelate and become hard to read on the screen. Sans Serif typefaces are best used for headings and clean body copy. Sans serif literally means “without line”. Learning more about the basics of typography will put you in good stead when it comes to knowing what’s right and not right for your brand (because who doesn’t appreciate good kerning when you see it). By the way, ‘typography’ is the family name, and ‘font’ is the style name, like Arial Italics or Arial Bold (note: we don’t use Arial).

Here at Juno, we have created this guide to help you out with the A-Z of fonts. Typography – it’s a whole world of serifs, sans serifs and slabs, and sometimes deciphering the terminology can be confusing.

Typo design