Some Notes on Typography Typography Ⅲ Rhode Island School of Design Page 1

James Goggin Fall 2020 BFA Graphic Design Version 4.4

Some Notes on 11 Choose typeface(s) that both articulate the

spirit of the text and your design interpretation.
Typography (I chose to set this doc in 12 pt Bradford Regular.)
12 Choose typeface(s) that have everything you will
need for the given text: weights, italics, dîåçrïtí-
1 The first rule of typography is read the text. ċãł marks, non-lining figures (123), tabular figures
2 Many typographic rules, once you know them, (123), contextual OpenType alternates, &c.
are there to be broken. In fact, all of the points 13 Research the typeface’s provenance and history,
in this list aren’t rules, they’re just “some notes,” research the type designer and their history,
like the title says. Apart from that 1st note — the stories behind the typeface and the designer’s
well, rule. Read the text. You’ll have more fun intentions. “By whom, for whom?”
and produce more original work if you do. 14 You might also use a typeface that just somehow
3 Check that everything is spelled correctly. feels right. Don’t forget to trust your intuition.
4 Especially the largest, most obvious words. 15 Be aware of the size range the type designer had
5 For future reference: ask your commissioner or in mind when designing a specific typeface: is
editor or writer which style manual they’re work- there a Display cut for large headlines? Micro
ing with for a given project. Style manuals, or or Caption cuts for small text?
guides, determine many details, from editorial 16 Sometimes Micro or Caption weights designed
modes of citation to typographic treatment for setting small type actually work well as
of ellipses. Common examples in the United unorthodox yet compelling display type.
States are the Chicago Manual of Style (“Chicago 17 When mixing different typefaces, and sizes, be
Manual” or “CMoS”) and MLA (Modern Language aware of contrasting cap and x-heights. The cap
Association Style Manual). As RISD students, and x-heights of one font at e.g. 10 pt won’t
you have full free access to the otherwise-paid necessarily match those of another font at 10 pt.
Chicago Manual (see risd.libguides.com/az.php 18 Treat software defaults with scepticism (e.g.
?a=c ). Check it out: CMoS is a good general guide InDesign’s Optical kerning setting, which uses
to work with. In my US experience, all of my an Adobe spacing algorithm, as opposed
arts clients use it. Guides like these often dictate to Metrics, which uses the kerning set by the
typographic rules, ones that publishers adhere type designer). If you trust the type designer,
too, whether you agree with them or not. trust Metrics: use your educated judgement.
6 Good typographers are allies and collaborators 19 It’s important to know exactly what the default
with editors and writers (and readers). settings do well or do badly. But to also then
7 Ask questions of the text you’re working with: gain efficiencies by using them if needed.
what is its tone and voice? Who wrote it? For 20 Not all fonts are well designed, spaced, and mas-
whom did they write it? tered. Keep your eyes open for any anomalies
8 Ask yourself questions: how can the tone and and trust your gut. InD defaults can then become
voice of the text both inform and add balance to useful quick fixes. E.g. badly-kerned numer-
my own interpretive typographic tone and voice? als can sometimes be efficiently adjusted with
9 Research the writer, their work; research the a quick Optical selection. If that doesn’t fix it,
subject of the text, that subject’s context; find out manual kerning can be required.
everything you possibly can. 21 For paragraph settings, I actually start with every-
10 Typography is a dialectical practice: balancing thing set to the automated Adobe Paragraph
and modulating multiple tones and voices, Composer as a matter of efficiency, just to see
with careful consideration of writer, editor, what it can do. I then switch to Single-line Com-
designer/typographer (you), and reader (also you). poser to manually “rag” those paragraphs for
 Some Notes on Typography Typography Ⅲ Rhode Island School of Design Page 2
James Goggin Fall 2020 BFA Graphic Design Version 4.4

which I can do a better job than Adobe’s algo- contradicting the very guidelines I’ve noted in
rithms. (Often many of them, sadly). this paragraph. There’s a lot to pack in here!
22 “Ragging” is the monotonous — or peaceful and 31 Use the Info panel in InD to check character
meditative, depending on your point of view — and word counts per line.
practice of fine-tuning paragraph edges with 32 Be aware of redundancies in your typesetting.
manual line breaks, gaining an even in/out flow. If a subhead is already bold, does it need to be
23 With well-designed fonts, first set body text to underlined too? If it’s bold, underlined , and
0 (zero) tracking, print and read your typesetting, italicised , doesn’t just one of those treatments
and only then adjust the tracking out or in, if differentiate and contrast the style enough
you think the type feels too tight or too loose. from the rest of the text?
24 For larger type — like display & headline styles — 33 With underlining , don’t just accept InD’s default:
tighter tracking is often needed. Check if there is a adjust line weight and baseline offset with the
Display style of the given typeface you’re using. sidebar menu in Character: Underline Options.
25 Use your judgement by reading printouts of your 34 For all-caps abbreviations and acronyms in
typography to establish comfortable leading: don’t your text (like AOC or NASA), consider using
rely on automatic leading settings. (This 12 pt text small caps (if your font has them in the char-
here is set with 15 pt leading: “12 on 15” or “12/15”) acter set and if it feels right): e.g. AOC and nasa.
26 Create a grid structure that accommodates all lev- Never use software options that fake bold
els of content: think about the columns you’ll need, weights, italic slants, or scaled-down small caps
readable text column widths, the different hier- that then appear lighter than the regular size.
archies and modules of text you’re working with 35 Even well-drawn small caps can still sometimes
(titles, subheads, quotations, footnotes, captions). look out of place in text. A good tip from Jost
Allow the content on the pages to guide you: the Hochuli (ace book designer and author of the
grid will come from your intuitive arrangement highly-recommended Detail in typography
of these elements, rather than forcing an arbitrary [London: Hyphen Press, 2008; reprinted Paris:
number of columns onto the content first. Editions B42, 2015]): if small caps aren’t feeling
27 Create a clearly differentiated order of content. right, just scale an all-caps abbreviation or simi-
Use sizes, weights, colors deliberately and unam- lar down by 1 point, to REDUCE its prominence
biguously with clear size differences. in the context of upper and lowercase text.
28 Choose a column width — what we call a “column 36 Consider your numerals: in running text, pro-
measure”— that aids readability. Not too narrow, portional non-lining numerals (AKA “Oldstyle
and definitely not too wide. With lines of text that Figures” or “OsF”) often work best, so they flow
are too long, our eyes lose track of where they naturally within the text as upper and lower-
are as they try to scan back across to the next line. case, rather than protruding like shouting all-
29 This rapid back-and-forth eye movement between caps numbers. Compare 2019 (Proportional
points is known as a “saccade”: you shouldn’t Lining) with 2019 (Proportional Oldstyle).
notice your eyes doing it with a good measure. 37 You might then still use the font’s regular
30 For your column measure, 60–70 characters, or proportional lining “caps” numerals for page
10–12 words (in English at least), per line can be numbers (“folios”) and in headings.
a good guide. This column measure you’re read- 38 With any font you use, explore the Glyphs
ing right now averages around 45 characters and palette in InD, and explore the OpenType fea-
7–8 words. That’s too short, making paragraph tures & alternate characters (any well-designed/
edges more difficult to rag evenly. But, remem- produced typeface from the last five years or
ber, these are notes on typography, so I’ll argue more should have them) through the Charac-
that it’s an appropriate measure, even though I’m ter palette sidebar menu.
 Some Notes on Typography Typography Ⅲ Rhode Island School of Design Page 3
James Goggin Fall 2020 BFA Graphic Design Version 4.4

39 Use the ligatures that your typefaces have (which 46 Be consistent in your use of italics. For citations
you can see in the Glyphs palette). Common ex- (of books referenced, of websites, artworks, even
amples: fi, ffi, fl, ffl. If you’re brave, you might TV shows music albums, or tweets), consult The
try designing and adding new ligatures for com- Chicago Manual of Style or the style guide speci-
binations not included in the font. fied for your project.
40 For dimensions in inches (e.g. of artworks in 47 For light text on dark background, try the
art catalogues), use proper fractions (e.g. 1/2, 1/4, next weight up and track it out slightly. (This is
5/8). See the OpenType options for your font. a subtly heavier “Book” weight, tracking at 5.)
If your font doesn’t have the right fractions, set 48 Justified paragraph typesetting takes a lot of
your own to match the existing fractions. work to not look terrible, full of awkward
41 There are NO excuses for using primes ( ' ) as apos- spaces and so-called “rivers” meandering verti-
trophes ( ’ ). InD has a Use Typographer’s Quotes cally down your paragraph (like here). Then again,
checkbox in Preferences: it’s in the Type sidebar it could be cool if you’re an experimental poet.
but it A) regularly turns itself off, and B) uses a 49 Explore the Paragraph palette’s Justification
prime in the actual “Use Typographer’s Quotes.” options in the sidebar menu: as you’ll see, the
line. (They actually finally fixed this in InD 2020.) Word Spacing default is “Minimum: 80%;
42 Same goes for ‘single’ and “double” quotation marks. Desired: 100%; Maximum: 133%”. Often far too
Use “proper marks,” not "primes" (OK, unless you much space between words. Try e.g. 70/90/100
can pull them off "deliberately" like Virgil Abloh). to start (that’s how this text is set), and play around,
43 When you have a quotation within a quotation, testing to see how comfortable it feels to read.
the main quote uses “double quotation marks, 50 With left-aligned text, aim for an even, subtle in/
and ‘the inner quote’ is contained in single quota- out/in/out rag that aides readability and break
tions.” (A transatlantic difference: UK convention lines by sense. Try to keep prepositional phrases
is generally ‘single quotation marks as default, together while avoiding odd negative shapes
with “doubles” used for quotes within quotes’ ). discernible in the right edge of the text block.
Note: Some publications or manuals have styles 51 Hyphenation can be good, and is often better
that differ from national conventions. with shorter column measures (like in this doc),
44 In most situations, try “hanging” your quotation making for an easier reading experience. Try
marks and other punctuation outside the column. to avoid repeating multiple hyphenated lines:
“Like this.” If not, quotation marks &c. will look two should be an absolute maximum if forced.
like a slight indent in the paragraph’s left edge, 52 Avoid breaking proper nouns, especially names
breaking the left alignment of the rest of the block’s of people, institutions, and places.
letters. You can hang punctuation by turning on 53 Avoid paragraphs with just one word left on its
and adjusting the InD Optical Margin Align- last line, what is rather cruelly known as a
ment setting in the Story palette, or manually “widow.” (An “orphan” happens when the first line
by inserting a Hair Space before the quotation of a new paragraph is awkwardly left alone at
mark and kerning back negatively by quite a lot. the end of a column or page. Confusingly, “widow”
45 In my experience, hung punctuation can some- also refers to the last line of a paragraph flowing
times be a contentious issue with clients: if they’re over to the beginning of the following page or col-
not used to it (that is, if they’re not used to, ahem, umn.) Either way, these situations create distract-
good typography), I have to respectfully argue my ing shapes of white space and should be avoided.
case and convince them of the value of a clean 54 Sentences should end with a period followed
left edge. The Wire’s publisher refused hung quota- by a single letter space, not two spaces (a throw-
tions for the three years I art directed the maga- back from the monospaced typewriter era
zine, in spite of monthly protestations from me. when an extra space helped to separate sentences
 Some Notes on Typography Typography Ⅲ Rhode Island School of Design Page 4
James Goggin Fall 2020 BFA Graphic Design Version 4.4

visually). I still have to regularly find and change punctuation (fussy periods after numbers, &c.).
double-spacing in client-supplied text docs: it’s Use spacing, hierarchy, font weights, to achieve
actually one of the first checks I do with a new text. clarity and differentiation.
55 Hyphens ( - ) are for hyphenated word breaks, and 64 When using bullet points, fine-tune the size,
compound hyphenated words. (E.g. Up-to-date.) position, and spacing (even the character, per-
56 En dashes ( – ) connect numbers and words with haps an arrow or other glyph from your font, or
no (or minor) spacing to indicate spans of time maybe a character from Zapf Dingbats, with its
or place, e.g. 2017–21, or Providence–New York. well-drawn full, deliberate bullet circles and
57 Em dashes ( — ) are used to make a break be­tween squares) to have an optimal relationship with the
parts of a sen­tence—like this—although its use font you are using, and indeed with your concept.
can vary by country. In the US, this kind of slight 65 Increasingly, in many situations I avoid bullets
pause in a text uses an em dash with no spacing altogether. They can look too “Microsoft Office.”
(or a Hair Space like I’m doing in this doc). British Instead, I use a Paragraph Style with the whole
convention – like this – is space, en dash, space. paragraph left-indented (e.g. 6 mm), but First
58 Some typefaces have en and em dashes that Line Left Indent option set to negative the
are too short, and manual adjustments need to same amount (–6 mm). This results in a list with
be made (e.g. with InD Horizontal Scale). each first line outdented, so the reader can easily
59 Apply a Baseline Shift (in the Character palette) navigate a list without ugly dots cluttering things
to raise or lower inline glyphs that are often awk- up. (I’ve done it in this doc with all the numbered
wardly-positioned in fonts, or when situated next points. See also the lists on my Typography Ⅲ
to a capital rather than lowercase letter (or vice site References page — you can do it with CSS too).
versa): dashes, slashes, parentheses, brackets, math 66 Proof your typography at actual size and read it
symbols, @, &c. Well-produced fonts now often in the right medium. In print and/or on actual
have OpenType contextual alternates that offer devices (mobiles, tablets, even different browsers).
e.g. parentheses that subtly align vertically with 67 A crucial InD default to adjust, which you will
both upper– and lowercase letters (like) (this). then never do without: Object > Text Frame
60 Kern letters that seem too far apart: characters Options. The default setting in the Baseline
such as Y W T V and 1 often need to be kerned in. Options tab is First Baseline: Offset: Ascent.
The number 1 is a particularly common problem, This means that the cap height always has a
often set by default in fonts as a tabular lining fig- bit of space above it in the text box, forcing you
ure (for aligning vertically in table columns, with to always nudge it up slightly to hit any grid
lots of space either side compared with rest of line above. I always set my InD default to First
the numerals of greater widths). A common mis- Baseline: Cap Height. Perfect top-alignment.
take, especially on posters: “1” spaced by default 68 A final note about typography guides (e.g. Robert
further out from the rest of the numbers. Until Bringhurst and Jost Hochuli): you are allowed to
recently we were in the teens — 2017, 2018, 2019 — disagree with them. E.g. p. 40 of Detail in typog-
so you saw this problem a lot with typeset dates &c. raphy, Jost says it’s fine to just use a lowercase
61 Titles and headlines are particular situations “x” instead of a proper multiplied symbol (×) for
where kerning adjustments are often necessary. measurements (e.g. 2 x 4, instead of 2 × 4), which
62 You might need to sometimes kern back (or sneak I think is terrible advice. I mean, seriously, Jost?
some selective Optical kerning around) punctua- They’re two completely different characters!
tion next to letters: commas, dashes, parentheses,
&c. that run next to characters like “r,” or numerals. With thanks to Nick Adam (RISD GD MFA 18),
63 In display settings and headlines, and in lists (e.g. Lucinda Hitchcock, Doug Scott, and Ramon Tejada.
on résumés), I personally avoid unnecessary Typeset in Bradford (Laurenz Brunner, Lineto)