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What is typography in design. Typography, history and tasks

Let's figure out what typography is and what it is eaten with.

Typography- this is the graphic design of printed text through typing and layout using norms and rules specific to a given language. In other words, typography is both an art and a craft, and a set of rules that use fonts and typography to achieve the one and only goal of making text the most optimal in the mind of the reader.

The typographic design of the text, and in this case we are talking about this phenomenon on the Web, has three important limitations:

Context of use text. Depending on whether a list of announcements, a poster or a magazine article is being drawn up, different expressive means should be used accordingly.

Available tools. The formatted text will be drastically different whether you use oil and canvas, thick paper and pen, thin paper and a printing press, or a computer screen and different browsers on different operating systems as tools.

The tools and means of typography vary, the goal is always the same

Screen typography, that is, the design of text for reading it from a computer monitor, is more dependent on the third limiter. Robert Bringhurst writes in his book The Basics of Style in Typography:

“There are always exceptions, there is always room for tricks and surprises. But perhaps we can agree that, as a rule, typography should provide the reader with the following services:

- invite the reader into the text;
- identify the content and meaning of the text;
- clarify the structure and sequence of the text;
- link the text with other elements of the publication;
— to bring the reader into a state of energized peace, which is ideal for reading.

The only thing that the respected author forgets to mention is that no typography will save if the text itself is badly written. Nevertheless, texts on the Internet live according to these laws, but unlike a book or a magazine, they have their own characteristics. Depending on browsers and operating systems, the end reader may have different:

installed fonts;
browsers. And to achieve the same design and display of text in different browsers is not always easy. For example, in Apple Safari, by default, there is anti-aliasing of text, which significantly changes its perception, in Firefox, Opera and IE this function is not, at least not by default;
monitor resolution and other parameters like brightness, monitor type, monitor calibration, etc., etc.

For these reasons, it becomes quite difficult to talk about strict typography rules on the Internet. However, it is possible and necessary to follow some general principles that are practically independent of tools.

There are no immutable rules in typography, as well as in the grammar of the Russian language. All "rules" are just formalized experience of thousands of typographers, reflecting best practices and traditions. The latter, by the way, reflect the habits of readers regarding a particular design of the text. The habit of reading a text formatted in a generally accepted, adequate way allows the reader to fully perceive, for example, the meaning of a text formatted with punctuation symbols. At the same time, the very use of punctuation marks (and not only) remains unnoticed by the reader - we are used to this. This tradition is now being eroded by the typing legacy and the spread of the Internet, but best practices and general principles high-quality text design does not disappear anywhere.

Naturally, the main point in the concept of "typography" is the concept of "font". It is on him that the perception of the text by the reader mainly depends.

One well-known saying states that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. As is often the case with some sayings, there is some truth in it, however, it must also be taken with a grain of salt. A well-chosen picture in the right place can be worth much more than a thousand words, and an extra, unnecessary picture will carry a useless load.

Graphics and images on the Web tend to fall into three categories: decorative, navigational, and informational. No one has anything against decorative images - everyone loves when the result of labor looks attractive. Navigation elements include buttons, arrows, dots, and other visual 'crumbs' to clarify the structure of information. But graphics, oddly enough, are not able to convey a large amount of specific and accurate information. “How many people - so many opinions” - this rule in the life of any graphics does not always play a positive role, because the perception of the same image for different people will be completely different.

That is why language in general as a means of transmitting information and words in particular play an indispensable role in our lives. Text is capable of conveying much more information and is more flexible than any image.

Traditions of typography, developed over the centuries, help us to present the text in the most clear and attractive way. It doesn't matter if it's printed or on-screen. The only thing we have to take into account is the one word "Internet". The task of the typographer and his tool, type, is to design text in such a way that the result remains attractive, regardless of operating system, browser, font size, window, computer graphics hardware, or something else. Fortunately, there are many ways to achieve this goal.

There is a certain standard of 100% readable sites, the ABC of any typographer. However, unlike a children's book, everyone knows the alphabet, but the simplest and most natural laws of typography are constantly and systematically violated. I think it is not necessary to cite specific resources as an example - any Internet user will find them without difficulty.

Typography came from print to the web - no wonder it's trying to make the pages of a book

If the word “typography” is primarily associated with the verb “read”, then almost all a typographer should strive for is to increase the readability of the text and the site. At the same time, there are things that the user should never be forced to do, since there is a high probability that he will simply not finish reading the text, and even more likely that he will never return to your resource. So:

Don't force user to change the font size. The reader does not want to constantly change the font size settings in the browser every time they visit a new site.

No need trying to convince the user that page scrolling is bad. In this case, ninety percent of all pages on the Internet are bad. There is absolutely nothing negative about scrolling, just as there are no negative sides to turning the pages of a book.

Do not try tell the user that the text on the site is not important. Ninety-five percent of what a web designer does is typography.

By following these apparently simple restrictions, we get a few rules that are simple enough to be easy to follow.

Lebedev did one huge favor for all Runet designers — he set a bar that no one could reach

In addition to instructions that will seem quite natural to someone, and someone will see for the first time, I promised myself to answer one question: “ Why Is screen typography so popular in Russia now?” In order to answer this question, you need to understand some of the Runet trends. Firstly, I didn’t invent and I don’t claim that “our Internet” lags behind “their Internet” by a certain number of years. This is normal, we are used to it and are pushing Runet in our own way.

The situation with the Web of Europe and the USA in comparison with the Runet very much resembles the interaction between the Sun and the Earth. The rays of the sun that we see and feel left the surface of the star eight minutes ago, covering a gigantic distance in that time. But it doesn't matter - after all, we see these rays here and now, at this particular moment. Here comes the sun. Only the Sun managed to release another million such rays, and we are content with having caught two or three. This is all exaggerated, but I hope that the essence is clear: the Runet is still quite far from the Internet of Europe and the USA, and the people who create trends there are head and shoulders above our successful entrepreneurs and businessmen from the Web. That is, in other words, typography has become so popular and necessary in Russia for one reason - The West has already learned it.

For the vast majority of people in Russia associated with design, development and the Internet, typography began with the reading of the immortal § 62 of Lebedev's Guidebook, published on December 17, 2000. Up until this point, most designers had either never heard of typography, or had heard about it but didn't know what to do with it, or didn't want to listen. Now there is a moment when this trend can no longer be ignored - there are large (and small) studios that set the pace in the quality and quantity of their work. A lot of what a designer has to do when creating a web page is typography. The most important thing is not to lack it.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cover of Emil Ruder's book "Typographie"

Story

The latest scientific evidence suggests that the very first forms for typing - made of faience - were used about a thousand years ago in China (1040). Despite the fragility of such material, no other technology was used until the 13th century.

But the heyday of typography as a separate field of activity began in Europe, where it appeared in the middle of the 15th century. Its spread was facilitated by the lightness and relatively small number of characters in the Latin script, in contrast to Chinese characters. The first to seriously engage in European typographic art was Johannes Gutenberg (1397-1468), a German inventor and jeweler. In 1440 he created a typesetting form from lead letters and gave the world the first printing press. From now on, creating books has become much easier, their cost has decreased, and the number has increased. And 14 years later, the first printed book was released. She became the Bible, typed in Gothic type - this type most corresponded to the handwritten text of those times, was familiar and convenient to the reading public.

Development of typography

Competent text design of a printed sheet has always been appreciated. And already from the middle of the 15th century, the first foundations of typography began to emerge: in Europe, readable antiqua was used as a font for texts. Looking at a Roman capital and a humanistic minuscule, the French engraver Nicolas Janson (1420-1480) cuts the first antiqua. Typographic fashion includes the principle of uniform leading and paragraph indentation to highlight and structure text. In 1494, Aldus Manutius, an Italian printer and publisher from Venice, publishes the first book with paragraph indentation convenient for the reader's eye.

And already at the beginning of the 16th century, italics were introduced for the first time. At this time, publishers are increasingly experimenting with writing and design, moving further and further away from a close-to-handwritten font. Also intricate illustrations, ornaments and decorations come into use.

In the 17th century, typography began to change, favoring the readability of books in an attempt to adapt editions to a wider readership. This is connected with a decrease in the format, a modification of fonts - while maintaining the clarity of the print, they become more heavy. In the same period, the “Royal Antiqua” font appears, which is even more unlike all those fonts that were created before it. In the middle of the 18th century, for the first time, there were attempts to systematize the type sizes and issue books of type samples. Special meaning here is the work of the Englishman John Baskerville (1706-1775), who abandoned the use of book ornament in favor of "pure" typography, based solely on type design. Typography is changing rapidly: over time, patterning is replaced by geometric accuracy, the importance of the overall composition of the free space of the sheet is manifested, new tinted, contrasting fonts are being born. Typography came to Russia together with the first book printer Ivan Fedorov (1520-1583), who opened the first printing house in Moscow in 1563 and developed a colorful design with many small details.

In an attempt to introduce typography into the realm of science, the French engraver Pierre Fournier (1712-1768) publishes a Typographic Manual (1773), which presents his own system for determining type sizes. To do this, he suggested using spades and points. And Francois Didot, the French type designer, who equated 72 points to one inch, laid the foundations modern system measurements.

Criticism

There is no single point of view when it comes to typography. Some consider it a science, others an art, still others a skill, and still others a philosophy. But this is not the only point of contention. Modern designers also disagree about text design: some adapt to constantly changing fashion trends, easily experimenting with shape and size; others pay tribute to tradition, preferring classic, time-tested fonts; others believe that all this can be put together and create something fundamentally new and even more convenient for the main consumer - the reader. One way or another, it is thanks to these professional disputes and discussions that typography does not stand still, but constantly develops as a self-sufficient activity, no matter what area it belongs to.

Typography in a modern context

During the industrial revolution that began in the 19th century, the advertising market was born. And over time, merchants came to the conclusion that in order for a product to be sold, it must have its own distinctive features. Type designers came to their aid - in order to withstand the competition, they began to actively develop new fonts to highlight this or that product. By trial and error, they found out that serifs were not needed for a large headline or sign - this is how grotesques appeared, and serifs moved into the category of decor.

The constructivists of the early 20th century, on the contrary, decided to abandon the painted fonts and turn to minimalism: the letters approached geometric shapes. This greatly facilitated the reading of the text and maximally concentrated the attention of the public on the meaning, and not on the form and presentation of the material. Fonts such as Futura soon appeared, followed by Gill Sans, in the style of which the first maps of the London Railway were designed. In 1957, thanks to the Swiss Max Midenger (1910-1980), one of the most famous Helvetica typefaces used to this day appears. Each era was characterized by its own fashion trends in typography, and each of them met the challenges of its time.

Today, in the era of computerization, when the bulk of information is drawn from the World Wide Web, designers strive for lightness and accuracy of text, choosing the simplest and most readable fonts. To do this, the text is assembled into a single whole, the most appropriate font is selected, and the design concept for a given space is determined. Speaking about website design, one thing must be taken into account: the more clearly the text itself is written, the more competently and rationally it is placed, the higher the chances of this site for success among network users, because “the work of a typographer is pointless if the printed work cannot be read.” AT otherwise it will turn out to be of little interest, and the visitor will close the tab without learning anything new for himself.

Notes

It is precisely as an art that typography is defined by a variety of researchers, starting with Stanley Morison. See for example: Stanley Morison. First Principles of Typography. - Macmillan, 1936. - P. 1.
Maxim Zhukov. Typography by Emil Ruder // Emil Ruder. Typography: Design Guide. - M.: Book, 1982. - S. 277.
Alexandra Korolkova. Living typography. - M. : IndexMarket, 2010. - P. 8.
Innokenty Keleinikov. Book design: from words to deeds. - M. : Rip-Holding, 2012. - S. 14.
At the same time, Jan Tschichold, one of the most influential typographers, wrote: "Perfect typography is more a science than an art." However, he avoided giving a precise definition of the term, and in the same article he called typography also art, meaning its creative nature, in contrast to the production processes of layout and printing. See: Like clay in the hands of a potter... // Jan Tschichold. The appearance of the book: selected articles about book design. - M.: Book, 1980. - S. 11-16.
admin. Typography, History and Tasks. www.fotokomok.ru Retrieved 28 November 2016.
Typography: a history of millennial development. | Web design forum at Galior-Market.ru. galior-market.ru Retrieved 28 November 2016.
Typography | A History of Typography. typography.bezugly.ru. Retrieved 28 November 2016.

Typography– the process and art of developing communication architecture; modeling, graphic design of material through typesetting and layout, based on certain rules specific to a given language.

Typography is the art of providing textual information, the transformation of text into graphic design, the basis of graphic design.

The term typography comes from the Greek τύπος - imprint + γράφω - I write) - the art of designing printed text.

Typography is, on the one hand, a set of rules that determine the use of fonts and design tools, on the other hand, the art of graphic design.

Purpose of typography- simplify communication with the audience, improve the perception of the transmitted information.

Tasks of typography, the most creative stage of text design, suggest:

definition of parameters for the subsequent processes of typesetting, typesetting and prepress;
facilitating the transfer of emotions, moods, attitudes conceived by the author, involvement in reading and studying;
modeling the type and form of contact between the audience and the object of author's and design creativity;
to make the text the most optimal, clear, ensuring the readability of the text as much as possible;
to make the text interesting in the perception of the reader, spectacular, harmonious in overall structure communications.

Typography in Marketing- a tool and tool that provides better communication with the target audience. Typography defines the overall format of the final marketing material:

proportions, type-setting strip format, field layout;
font parameters: size, spacing between words and lines;
sizes, location and measure of visual "gravity" of illustrations.

High-quality typography, from the point of view of marketing, is always thought out, subject to a certain author's intention.

Printer- a specialist engaged in topographic activities: art and technical editor, designer and artist, calligrapher and font designer, graphic designer - all those who in one way or another encounter typography. A typographer in marketing is an intermediary between the owner, the manufacturer of the product, the developer of its advertising communications and the target audience.

History of typography begins in the middle of the 15th century, when the first foundations of typography were formed: the legible Antiqua was used; the principle of uniform leading and alphabetical indentation is introduced. In the 16th century, the concept of "cursive" was introduced into typography. In the 17th century, typography changed its tasks in order to create books for a wide range of readers - the format of books was reduced, fonts were modified, a special role belongs to J. Baskerville, who abandoned the use of ornament in favor of typography, exclusively based on type design.

How to make text more readable? How to choose font pairs? What font to choose for business and not make a mistake? These and other important questions are answered in Skillbox's typography guide.

One source of information is text. In order to attract the attention of the reader and highlight the material among others, they try to arrange it beautifully and make it easy to understand. The direction, which contains the rules about the location of the text, the choice of fonts and sizes, is called typography.

To make the text easy to read and choose the right font, you need to know what typography consists of and what fonts can be used on the site.

What is typography

Typography is the design of typed text. It is placed on paper or screen, indents and intervals are adjusted, the font is selected. Well-designed material looks concise and pleasant. It is easy to read, harmony is felt.

Where to get fonts

On the Internet you can find free and paid fonts. Both fonts can be used on the site.

Free

A large library of quality fonts is called Google Fonts. The font is easy to choose according to the desired parameters: choose only Cyrillic, look for antiqua or grotesque. They can be downloaded from Google Fonts or connected directly to the site.

Often designers draw their fonts and

1. Don't use fancy fonts

If you do not have enough experience and knowledge, do not even try to use unusual, intricate fonts. Be simple.

2. Forget Comic Sans

Imagine that you have never seen him at all.

3. Don't Avoid Standard, Default Fonts

Seriously, if someone tells you that standard fonts- it's boring, he just doesn't understand typography. How the font will look depends on how it is typed. Times New Roman can look really cool. And most importantly: let better text would be boring rather than ugly or unreadable.

OmegaTransFer / Depositphotos

Mixing Fonts

4. Do not use more than two fonts at the same time

Experiment with large quantity Fonts at the initial stage are not worth it. Two is enough. You don't want to turn the text into all sorts of nonsense, do you?

5. Mix Only Contrasting Fonts

Grotesque with serif typeface, cursive with Art Nouveau. It is important to maintain contrast. Two similar fonts side by side look sloppy.

6. Choose fonts with uniform letter heights

The height of lowercase letters without extensions is the distance from the base to the top line of the font, in other words, the value of the lowercase point. When choosing fonts that you want to use together, you need to make sure that the height of their lowercase letters is the same. This will help maintain the same level of paragraph saturation. In addition, such text will be easier to read.

We type text

7. Font size

Text size on the web should not be less than 13 pixels. In my opinion, the best choice- within 14–18 px. Not too big and at the same time readable.

8. Choose the right line length

Do not believe the talk that the correct line length can be obtained by multiplying the font size by two. This is bullshit. Just try to keep the line length between 45-75 characters. GOST for printed publications recommends a length of 60 characters, but this, of course, is an elusive ideal on the web. And yet it is worth striving for. Determine by eye if the string is too long or too short.

9. Leading must match the font size

To achieve a balance between text and “air”, make the line spacing about one and a half times the height of lowercase letters. There is another simpler way: set the leading equal to 125% of the font size.

Paragraph

10. Align Left

If you're not sure which justification to choose, choose left justification: the Right and Justified options on the web rarely pay off. There is nothing wrong with a jagged edge. Text turned off to the left is easier to read, as the eye sees a clear visual ending to each line. But in Russian, such text is convenient to read if the line is not too long. So if your string is longer than 60 characters, try the split set. Just remember to hyphenate and check if everything looks good: several hyphens in a row will definitely make reading difficult.

11. Avoid too many transfers

In general, web wrapping should be avoided whenever possible. Try wrapping the word on a new line, or slightly change the letter spacing. If there are too many hyphens, change the font size or spaces. And when turning off to the left, do not use word wrap at all.

12. No padding

Do not indent the first paragraph from the heading. If you are indenting paragraphs with an empty line, don't use paragraph indents. It's redundant and tasteless. On the other hand, the text without indents and spacing will be more difficult to perceive. In general, choose one of the ways: either a red line, or a spacer - and use it throughout the text.

13. Narrow column

If you need to type in a small column of text, try using a narrow font. This will not only make the text look better, but it will also be easier to read, since more characters will fit in the line.

14. Hanging punctuation

Quotes, brackets, hyphens, periods, commas should be placed outside the dialing line. This always looks elegant and helps keep the paragraph in the right shape.

15. "Widows" and "orphans"

We are talking about hanging lines. "Widow" is one word on a whole line at the end of a paragraph or very short string at the end of a text or page. "Orphan" is an orphan string that falls at the beginning new page or columns. They must be avoided. Try reducing the letter spacing, break the line, or adjust the font size - in general, do not let the "widows" and "orphans" get into your text.

16. Don't overuse spaces

To start a new line, press Shift+Enter. Press Enter to start a new paragraph. It's that simple.

The words

17. Kerning

If you're an inexperienced designer and don't have a keen eye for the smallest details, don't manually core text.

18. Tracking

Remember: when you increase the font size, the spacing between characters also increases. Therefore, if you set a large heading in the text, we advise you to proportionally adjust the distance between characters and words.

19. Emphasis in text

You can highlight an important thought or word that you need to pay attention to using the most different ways. Don't overdo them. It is not necessary to highlight the whole sentence in capital letters alone - a beginner cannot always do this in a proper way. Just use bold font style.