Before & After -What's The Right Typeface for Text 0269.pdf

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Before&After
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typeface for
text?
iStockphoto.com
What’s the right
How to
choose a typeface for
clear, easy reading over
long distances.
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Before&After
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What’s the right typeface for text?
For text that’s smooth, clear and readable, the operative word is
medium
T
Text type is more common than any
other. Text makes up the acres of gray
in books, magazines, reports, and
hundreds of other documents. When
reading
is the primary goal, it’s the
designer’s job to ensure that the text
is smooth, flowing and pleasant to
read. The hallmarks of good text type
are
legibility
and
readability.
Legibility
refers to clarity; it’s how readily one
letter can be distinguished from all
others. Readability refers to how well
letters interact to compose words,
sentences and paragraphs. When
evaluating the choices, the operative
word is
medium.
Text
Medium counters
Medium height-to-width ratio
Medium stroke
width variation
An example of
medium
is
Utopia.
Medium x-height
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1. Pick a typeface with similar character widths
2. Medium height-to-width ratio
For the smoothest appearance, an alphabet’s charac-
ters should have similar widths. Reading has a nat-
ural rhythm; an alphabet such as Futura (below, top)
with widely varying character widths disrupts it.
We identify letters by their physical characteristics—
stems, bars, loops, curves and so on; the clearer
they are the more legible the letter. As letters are
compressed (or expanded), these features get dis-
torted—diagonal strokes, for example, become quite
vertical—and so are harder to identify.
aefjsrm
Widely varying widths
Futura Light
aef jsrm
Similar widths
Times New Roman
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Medium height-
to-width ratio
ITC Stone Serif
Compressed
height-to-width
ratio
Racer
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3. Medium x-height
4. Look for small variations in stroke weight
The x-height of a typestyle is the height of its
lowercase characters. The larger the x-height, the
denser the type will appear. You want
medium;
unusually tall or short x-heights are better suited
for specialty projects.
Be
Be
nnn
n
Medium x-heights
Cochin
Times New Roman
Vectora
Utopia
Adobe
Caslon
x-height
x-height variations
Incredibly, all four typefaces below are the
same size: 112 points. For text, avoid the extreme on each end.
P
P
P
Too different
Bauer Bodoni
Medium difference
Times New Roman
No difference
Futura Medium
The best text faces have stroke weights that vary
somewhat, which make converging lines that help
the eye flow smoothly. But avoid extremes. Modern
styles (below, left) vary too much; at high resolu-
tion their beautiful, superthin strokes disappear in
a dazzle. Sleek geometric styles (below, right) vary
little or not at all, so are too uniform.
CG Bernhard
Fashion
Bauer Bodoni | Texture and
flasp net exating end mist of it
snooling. Spaff forl isn’t cub-
ular but quastic, leam restart
that can’t prast. It’s tope, this
fluant chasible. Silk, shast, lape
and behast the thin chack. I
have lot to say.Why? Elesara
Futura Medium | Texture the
net exating end mist of it snool-
ing. Spaff forl isn’t cubular but
quastic, leam restart that can’t
prebast. It’s tope, this fluant
chasible. Silk, shast, lape and
behast the thin chack. I have lot
to say. Why? Elesara and order
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5. Watch out for mirrors
6. Avoid overlarge counters
Geometric typestyles are so uniform that their
letters are often mirror images. For text, this is not
ideal—the more distinct each letter is, the more
legible whole words will be. Look for typestyles
that don’t mirror.
bq
Not mirrored
Gill Sans
Mirrored
Helvetica Neue Roman
bb
bb
abg
Overlarge counters
ITC Avant Garde Gothic
Counters are the enclosed spaces inside letters.
Avoid typestyles whose counters are very large in
relation to the stroke weight. In the case of Avant
Garde (below), note how much greater the space
inside the letters is than the space outside! This will
slow the reader; set in text (bottom), Avant Garde
looks like Swiss cheese!
Texture and flasp net exating end mist of it snooling.
Spaff forl isn’t cubular but quastic, leam restart that can’t
prebast. It’s tope, this fluant chasible. Silk, shast, lape
and behast the thin chack. It has larch to say fan. Why?
Elesara and order is fay of alm. A card whint not oogum
or bont. Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture and flasp
net exating end mist of it. Forl isn’t cubular but quastic,
leam restart that can’t prebast. Whint not oogum or
bont! Pretty simple, glead and tarm. Texture flasp. Silk,
shast, lape and behast the thin chack. “It has larch
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