Written words are all around you, whether in your books, phones, or website. People understand how powerful a written word can be but often ignore the efforts of the designer in making the word powerful through proper toning.
Different words have different tones and emotions, and this can be understood by acknowledging the reaction between the look and meaning of the text. In designing, you may have heard the word typography numerous times but may not know what it exactly depicts.
In this course, you will understand the meaning and importance of typography in addition to the use of correct typography in creating great designs. Without proper typography, your text will not be able to convey the meaning that you want your viewers to perceive.
Table of Contents
What is Typography?
To start, you will have to clearly understand what the word typography means. Typography is an art through which letters and words are arranged in a manner that gives it a clear meaning and looks visually appealing. This includes the font style, structure, and arrangement, which evoke specific emotions and bring out a specific message.
To explain compactly, the right typography will bring life into the text. When designing a website or other graphical material, the typography needs to be just right to create the necessary impact on the audience.
You cannot use any font or arrange the text without care. If this happens, the design will become bland, and the audience would find no interest in reading or viewing it.
Importance of Typography in Creating Designs
Typography is not just choosing fancy fonts; it is essential for creating a user-friendly interface. Using the correct typography will enhance the design, create graphic balance, and establish a strong visual tone. It should be able to navigate the viewer in the designated manner.
Helps In Building Brand Recognition
Every established brand you see today follows a certain typographic personality. When you set particular typography to the brand, the audience will also start relating your brand to the type. This is why most brands use consistent typography so that brand recognition is enhanced.
Helps in Decision Making
Typography is vital to guide the audience in their process of decision making. When you use strong fonts which are eye-catchy, the audience will relate more to that than any weak font. In any kind of graphical interface, you use strong fonts in the areas you want the audience to react positively.
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Helps In Grabbing User Attention
Good typography will decide how long a person would view your design, whether it is on a website or any other source. If the design is not visually stimulating, then the viewer would move on to some other design. That is why you need to be very cautious when using particular typography for your designs.
Elements of Typography
There are eight essential elements of typography that you need to have a clear understanding of. The typography in your design will revolve around these eight elements. These are what will contribute to the making or breaking of your design. To create a successful design, you have to diligently use these elements.
Typeface and Font
Most people are confused about the difference between these two words – typeface and font. You may have even used these words as synonyms, but that would be factually incorrect. The typeface is the design style, which contains several characters of different weights and sizes, whereas the font is that character’s graphical representation.
In simple words, a typeface is the entire font family, and the font is the width, style, and weight of a particular typeface. For example, if Helvetica is the typeface, the fonts would be Helvetica Regular, Helvetica Light, and Helvetica Bold, etc.
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Three basic typefaces are Decorative, Serif, and Sans-Serif. It is advisable to use a maximum of three fonts if a designer wishes to keep their design streamlined and free from clutter. Designers tend to mix up serif and sans-serif fonts for different sections of their text.
Contrast
Using contrast in your text is important to get across the message that the readers should emphasize. A certain graphic page would contain several texts, but the level of emphasis on each of these texts would be different. The designer has to use contrast to create this differentiation so that the audience recognizes the text range from most important to standard.
The contrast is made using different typefaces, font sizes, styles, and colors on the page. For example, the header would be a different size, font, and maybe also a different color from the rest of the text. If there are any text highlights, then it would also be very eye-catchy on the page.
Depending on which texts you want to highlight, you will have to set the text style. Even if you want to use a single color throughout the page, you can use the font size and style intelligently for the contrast.
Consistency
Consistency is a key factor in good typography. You do not want to confuse the audience when you are designing a page. In most good designs, you will see that certain aspects of the text share the same font style, size, and color. For example, the header uses a similar typeface throughout, and the sub-headers uses another.
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Consistent typography helps the audience to understand what they are reading. The viewer will soon be able to catch on to the text pattern and know whether it is the heading, sub-heading, or any side note they are reading at the moment.
White Space
White space or negative space is the free space that is present in a design surrounding the graphics or the text. Since white space contains nothing, it is often overlooked. However, the correct usage of white space can make a design look uncluttered and change its appeal.
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White space, when used properly, will make the design more pleasing and can also help in capturing attention towards the text. It can be anything from just a space to padding and margins.
Alignment
Alignment is the equality in size, distance, and space between different elements of a design. Most designers align their graphics and texts with the use of a margin. Alignment is necessary so that the design does not seem haphazard. This also creates a great deal of impact on how your audience reads the text.
Color
The color of the text is one of the most exciting factors of typography. As a designer, you can show your creativity and use different colors to change the interface of the design. However, the usage of color in a text is not something that should be taken lightly.
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The right text color can help in elevating the standard of the design and make it stand out. You can convey the message correctly if the text color is used in the right manner. Using the wrong text color can destroy a very good design.
There are three main components in color – saturation, value, and hue. Balancing these three components rightly is important to make the text eye-catchy and legible. The text should also be able to match the background color.
It is also essential that the colors are not too vibrant or too light. Either way, your design would not be able to grab the required attention. Using the color palate correctly is of great importance for the success of a design.
Here’s further reading on color systems and conventions in designs.
Hierarchy
Establishing a typographical hierarchy is a very crucial thing in any design. Hierarchy creates the necessary distinctions that should be present between different text copies. This makes the necessary texts prominent in order of their importance.
Due to the fast-paced nature of people in current times, designers are more and more using typographical hierarchy to help people grasp the necessary information in a quick time. This is established using hierarchy by changing the size, contrast, alignment, and color of the text.
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For example, in most designs, the heading is the largest text, then comes the sub-heading, and finally, the standard text.
How to Choose the Right Typography for Creating a Design?
Now that you know what typography is and the key elements of typography, you will have to know the right way to using typography for a great design. When using texts for any design, you will find that there is a vast choice of typeface and fonts. You may easily get confused about what to use and what not to use.
Below are certain key considerations that you will have to keep in mind while creating a design. These considerations will ensure that you do not use the wrong typography and can create a successful design in the best possible way.
Decide the Design Personality
The first thing that you have to decide before you start the design is personality. Do you want to create a friendly personality or want the design to emit seriousness? The typography that you use for the design should be able to define the personality. To do this, you will have to understand the kind of message the design wants to impart to the audience.
Check out different typefaces that would suit the needs of the brand. If you already have set typefaces, then the same can be used for the other designs. However, if you are building the typeface pattern from scratch, then you have to capture the essence of your brand.
Decide On the Tone of the Design
Once you have decided on the personality of the design, decide on the tone that you would carry throughout your design. This tone will help you select the fonts that would be used. If the tone is serious, then you will have to use professional fonts. On the other hand, if you are looking for a playful tone, you can use a less formal or even some legible decorative font.
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Make sure that whatever font you use is clearly understood to the audience. If the tone is something serious, then avoid using anything decorative or stylized as it will kill the tone of the design.
Set the Text Hierarchy
The next thing that you would have to go for is the text hierarchy. As we have discussed above, typographical hierarchy is used to distinguish between different texts. This hierarchy is created based on the importance of each text in the design.
If you are using the standard format, i.e., heading, sub-heading, and normal text, then select which section goes under which type. If you have certain highlighted texts, then that would require a more different color and size.
The usage of white space also falls under the hierarchy of the text. You can have as many levels of hierarchy as you want to make the design clear and distinct.
Look For Inspirations
If you are unsure of the kind of typography that you should be using for your design, then you can surely look for inspirations elsewhere. Check out the other designs which carry the same personality and tone as the design you are building. Do not copy their typography exactly as each design is different.
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You can check out not one but multiple designs as examples. This will help you distinguish between good and bad use of typography. You will even know the things that you should avoid to not destroy the design completely.
Experiment with Your Designs
Experimentation is the key to a successful design. There is a huge palette of typography, and you can mix and match different combinations before you select the final one. Try out different designs and see how they look.
It would be great if you have a friend or family who can help you out. Show them the designs, and they can provide you with honest feedback from the point of view of an audience. Play with the font type, size, color, and even hierarchy of the texts.
If there are issues with the design, then change one aspect at a time to determine the core of the problem.
Consider the Performance
You have to be very aware of the performance of each typeface and font. The kind of font that you use in your design will be very important. You need to choose fonts that are user and web-friendly. Check out several font feedbacks to see which are the ones that are most commonly used.
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In designing, it is better to choose common fonts since they are more attractive to users. You cannot set apart your design by using fonts that are decorative but not at all legible to the audience. In fact, this would make your design go downhill and would do nothing to grab the audience’s attention.
You can also download different web fonts that would be rendered quickly by any web browser.
Use Extended Type Families
Using extended or variable type family is a great way to select the right typography, especially if you are working on a diverse project. For this, you will mostly find a different version of sans-serif and serif typeface. If you have more than one design in hand, then you can go for a similar typeface palette.
The best thing about this is that you will be able to maintain consistency in your designs. Moreover, you cannot go wrong with the same typeface once you have decided which you are choosing for the first design. However, if this is not the look that you are going for, then you can choose diverse typefaces.
Stick to Classic Combinations
Sticking to the classic typeface combinations is a great way to finish your design, especially if you are working on a strict deadline. If you do not have the time to experiment with the typefaces or are unable to select one, then you can choose the classic ones. You can never go wrong with the classic typefaces.
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There are several classic combinations that you can choose from. Depending on the design that you want to make, you can choose the combination that you feel would be relatable.
Use Limited Palette
The most confusing thing for a designer when they are creating a design is the abundance of fonts. You may find it difficult to choose the right typography due to the variety of fonts. In a situation like this, it is better to opt for a limited palette. This means you go for a selected few popular fonts and then play with them accordingly.
Do not go looking into all the fonts that you are being offered. You can search online to see which are the most popular fonts that are used in designs similar to yours and then shortlist the ones that you like.
To Sum Up
The importance of typography is often ignored by designers, but the best ones know how important typography is. If you want the design to be great, then you will have to be very proficient in the use of the right typography.
A typographical error can be very bad for your design since people will not even look at it. If you find that your design is not receiving the desired traction, then it would be good to look into the typography, among other things.
Mastering typography will help you create great designs in the future and attract a huge number of customers.
These are all things that we take into consideration, and much more, with our graphic design services.
