1. Class general info overview
- Syllabus
- Class website
- Grading policy
- Class Rules
2. Typography
Typography is the art of arranging type to make written text readable and aesthetically appealing for the reader. It is used to communicate a feeling, a message or an idea.
Video
Graphic Design and Typography short overview (6 min; today - till 3:35)
History of Typography
Illuminated manuscripts
Illuminated manuscripts were hand-made books, initially produced by monks in Western Europe between the 5th and 13th centuries. They are so called because of the use of gold and silver which illuminates the text and accompanying illustrations.
The most popular type was the Book of Hours which were Christian prayers to be said at certain times throughout the day.
Video
The process of creation (3 min)
Their production gradually died out after the invention of the printing press.
Video
A Brief History of Type (11min)
Note: Linotype vs monotype:
Linotype - typesetting machine by which characters were cast in type metal as a complete line
Monotype - typesetting machine that produced type in individual characters, which are assembled into lines in a fashion similar to classical movable type.
Type Classifications
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Serif: Typefaces with a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol
Examples: Times New Roman, Garamond, and Georgia, etc.
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Sans-serif: Sans means without. These typefaces are devoid of those small extensions, hence without serif. Examples include Gill sans which has Humanist connotations, Helvetica with its transitional characteristics and so on.
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Script: Letter forms developed in close relation to human handwriting are script typefaces. They are flexible in nature with varying stroke widths.
Example : Bistro Script, Shelly, Minstral etc.
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Blackletter: A bold script style of calligraphy used heavily during the renaissance.
Example: Fraktur
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Decorative: Typefaces which do not fit in other categories are decorative in nature. Built for specific use cases which largely consist of headlines, posters etc.
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Monospaced font, also called a fixed-width, or non-proportional font, is a font whose letters and characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space
Monospaced fonts are customary on typewriters.
Serif classifications
There are four major classifications of serif fonts: old style, transitional, modern (didone, classical, neoclassical), slab-serif (Egyptian)
3. Typeface vs. type family vs. font
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Typeface: The core artistic design, style, and visual identity of characters; they have different names, for example, Helvetica).
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Type Family: The overarching group that houses every variation of a typeface - such as light, regular, bold, italic, condensed, etc. built from that same design
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Font: A particular specific design style, weight, width for example Helvetica Light
1. Type Measurements and Spacing (Leading, Kerning, Tracking)
Video
Typography short overview (from 3:35 to 6:00)
Measurements:
1 inch = 6p0 = 72 pt
1p0 = 12 pt
- Points are traditionally used in print media
- Pixels are fixed-size units that are used in screen media
- “Ems” (em): The “em” is a scalable unit that is used in web document media.
An em is equal to the current font-size, for instance, if the font-size of the document is 12pt, 1em is equal to 12pt. Ems are scalable in nature, so 2em would equal 24pt, 0.5em would equal 6pt, etc. Ems are becoming increasingly popular in web documents due to scalability and their mobile-device-friendly nature.
Spacing:
Leading - space between lines of text
Kerning - space between two alongside letters
Tracking - space between all letters in a word
Practice kerning:
Kerning Game
Just drag the letters (except the first and the last) so the distance between each one would look approximately equal. Then Click Done button. (You can refresh the browser to work on the same word again.
It is not easy at the beginning, but we have to train our eyes.
2. Type Anatomy
Note: don’t try to remember all of the parts at once, first – those, which are more important: Baseline, x- height, Cap Height, Ascender, Descender, Stem, Arm, Serif ...
3. Learning InDesign - beginning
- creating new documents
- exploring the workspace
- managing panels
- adding new pages
- master page
- adding text
- placing and adjusting images
- and more
