25 typography rules for aspiring designers

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

There are so many excellent books written about typography that it can be difficult for a novice designer or an average computer user who wants to put things in order in their documents, where to start. Are you one of them? Then you are in the right place. In this article, you will find 25 basic recruiting rules that are essential in the digital age.

Choosing the right font

1. Don't use fancy fonts

If you don't have enough experience and knowledge, don't even try to use fancy, fancy fonts. Keep it 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 are boring, they just don'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 the text be boring rather than ugly or unreadable.

Mixing fonts

4. Don't use more than two fonts at the same time

It's not worth experimenting with a large number of fonts initially. Two is enough. You don't want to turn the text into assorted nonsense, do you?

5. Mix only contrasting fonts

Serif grotesque, handwritten with Art Nouveau. It is important to maintain contrast. Two similar typefaces side by side look sloppy.

6. Choose fonts with the same letter height

The height of lowercase letters without descenders 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 in design together, you need to make sure that the height of their lowercase letters is the same. This will help maintain the same level of weight in the paragraph. It also makes the text easier to read.

We type the text

7. Font size

The size of text on the web should be at least 13 pixels. In my opinion, the best choice is between 14-18 px. Not too large and readable at the same time.

8. Choose the correct line length

Don't be fooled by the rumor 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 recommends 60 characters for print, but this is certainly an elusive ideal on the web. And yet it is worth striving for. Determine by eye if the line 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 the lowercase letters. There is another easier way: set the leading to 125% of the font size.

Paragraph

10. Align to the left

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

11. Avoid a lot of hyphenation

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

12. No indentation

Do not indent the first paragraph from the heading. If you indent paragraphs with a blank line, do not use paragraph indents. It's overkill and tasteless. On the other hand, text without any padding or spacing at all will be more difficult to read. In general, choose one of the ways: either a red line or a space - and use it throughout the text.

13. Narrow column

If you need to type 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 on the line.

14. Hanging punctuation

You should put quotes, brackets, hyphens, periods, commas behind the dialing line. It always looks elegant and helps to keep the paragraph in shape.

15. "Widows" and "Orphans"

We are talking about orphans. “Widow” is one word on a whole line at the end of a paragraph, or a very short line at the end of a text or page. An orphan is a hanging line that appears at the beginning of a new page or column. They must be avoided. Try to reduce the letter spacing, line break or adjust the font size - in general, do not let the "widows" and "orphans" get into your text.

16. Don't overuse spaces

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

The words

17. Kerning

If you are an inexperienced designer and have no eye for the smallest details, do not curl the text by hand.

18. Tracking

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

19. Highlights in the text

There are many ways to highlight an important thought or word that needs attention. Don't overdo it with them. It is not necessary to single out a whole sentence in capital letters - a beginner cannot always make it to the point. Just use bold typeface.

20. Lowercase without discharge

Do not increase the space between lowercase letters. The reason is simple: readability decreases.

21. Uppercase with discharge

Increase the space between capital letters. In this case, readability increases. Increasing the letter spacing by 10% usually works well.

22. Don't write everything in capital letters

Do not overuse capitalization. The length of such a set should not exceed one line.

23. Do not use small caps unnecessarily

If your font doesn't include special caps, don't use it at all.

Letters

24. Do not change the width of the letters

Just don't do it. Please.

The numbers

25. Numbers in words

Write the numbers in words, it looks sophisticated.