#20405
Swash and Alternate Characters
Are you looking for a way to add flair to a typographic treatment? Try using swash characters. These extremely decorative letters have a flourish or extended stroke at the beginning or the end of the character. They are almost always capitals, and you’ll frequently find one used as an eye-catching initial letter at the beginning of a paragraph, chapter or article.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2003). Design>Typography
#20412
What’s the point of a point system in which 24 points doesn’t always equal 24 points? It’s not pointless, but it does require some explanation!
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2003). Design>Typography>Standards
#29308
TypeTalk: Information, Activation, Matching Feet, and Style Sheets
One of the best ways to stay current is to sign up for the free e-mail newsletters offered by many type foundries and resellers. Not only do the newsletters show and tell you about new releases, but they also offer free fonts, special discounts, interviews with designers, and other informative and entertaining articles.
Strizver, Ilene. Creative Pro (2007). Design>Typography
#20415
Designers are used to being detail-oriented and mathematically precise, nudging things a point this way and a pixel that way until technical perfection is achieved. However, when it comes to typographic alignment, the mathematical approach to design doesn’t apply: it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Visual alignment (also called optical alignment) means exactly that: using that high-tech tool, the human eye, to line up your text until it looks right.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2002). Design>Typography>Graphic Design
#29316
Questions and answers on word spacing, kerning, tracking, period placement, missing fonts, and font-size confusion.
Strizver, Ilene. Creative Pro (2007). Design>Typography
#20408
When setting type, most of us are very conscious of type style, size, width and line spacing. Many of us also pay attention to letter spacing and kerning, even if we’re not as confident in these areas. But word spacing--the space between words--is probably the most neglected of typographic attributes. This seemingly small detail plays an important role in the color, texture and readability of your type.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2003). Design>Typography>Document Design
#29315
Read about em and en dashes in print and on the Web; specimen books; and the best way to convert quotation marks and primes from dumb to smart and back again.
Strizver, Ilene. Creative Pro (2007). Design>Typography
#32557
OpenType fonts often contain a treasure trove of typographic options. Discover some easy ways to enhance your typography by taking advantage of discretionary ligatures, swashes or titling alternates – to name just a few.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Design>Typography>Fonts
#32558
The history of Helvetica includes a number of twists and turns. There are, in fact, two versions of Helvetica. The first one is the original design, which was created by Max Miedinger and released by Linotype in 1957. And secondly, in 1983, D. Stempel AG, Linotype’s daughter company, released the Neue Helvetica® design, which was a re-working of the 1957 original.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Design>Typography>Fonts
#32559
Setting professional-looking typography is all about attention to detail. Hyphenation is one of these critical details: what and where to hyphenate, and, in some cases, what not to hyphenate. There are times you don’t want text to break at the end of a line, such as a proper name, a phone number or a URL. But if you leave the choice up to auto-hyphenation, it can happen without your consent. This is when the nonbreaking hyphen comes in handy. A nonbreaking hyphen is not really a hyphen; rather, it is a command not to hyphenate. When placed in front of a word or a group of characters acting as a word, such as a phone number, web address or email address, that word will not be hyphenated. This is helpful not only in text, but also in headlines that you don’t want breaking onto two lines.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Typography>Grammar
#32560
Small Caps in InDesign CS3 and QuarkXPress 7
We previously discussed small caps and the importance of using true-drawn versions rather than computer-generated, “fake” ones. Many of today’s OpenType fonts include true-drawn small caps, making it easier than ever to take advantage of this typographically sophisticated feature, but the OpenType interface in both Adobe® InDesign® CS3 and QuarkXpress® 7 can be a bit confusing.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Document Design>Typography>Adobe InDesign
#32562
Hung Punctuation and Optical Margin Alignment
Even with all the technology at the disposal of today’s designers, in the end it’s what the human eye sees that counts. That’s why hung punctuation is one of the skills to master when you’re ready to add professional finesse to your typography. Learn what hung punctuation is and how to achieve it in the leading page layout applications.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Document Design>Typography
#32563
Double Spaces Between Sentences…NOT!
Typing two spaces after a period is a relic of the typewriter era that has hung around long past its sell-by date. Here’s how to make sure none of those double-space dinosaurs find their way into your typeset work.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Document Design>Typography
#32564
Automatic, or manual? No, we’re not talking about transmissions - we’re talking about bullet lists, those frequently used tools for organizing lists of information. Your layout application will be happy to format these lists for you, but for true typographic finesse, it’s time to learn to “drive stick” and call your own shots about bullets, alignment and spacing.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Document Design>Typography
#32565
The Halloween season offers a spookily good excuse to explore the world of scary fonts, but the terror needn’t end there. From media packaging to promotional items, whenever horror, mystery, fear and suspense need to be evoked, scary fonts can sneak up behind your audience and say “boo!”
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Typography>Fonts
#32568
Breaking up isn’t hard to do – just do it right so you don’t lose face. Learn why making the right line breaks in display type is essential for good looks and good sense.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Document Design>Typography>Usability
#32569
Space matters. Word space, that is. Different letter and word shapes call for subtly different amounts of space. Learn to see and finesse word spacing in both text and display type with these how-tos.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Typography>Usability>Adobe InDesign
#32570
Comic book writers aren’t the only ones who can use silly, wacky and irreverent fonts. You, too, can give your work a fresh and light-hearted look with one of these fine, fun fonts.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Typography>Fonts
#32571
InDesign Shortcuts: Special Characters
The keyboard is rarely the friendliest path to symbols and special characters. Sometimes a bit of menu magic can guide you past the overwhelming Glyph palette. Indeed, the Special Character flyout palette in Adobe InDesign CS3 is a great shortcut to frequently-used characters and will spare your fingers the keyboard contortions.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Document Design>Typography>Adobe InDesign
#32572
Powerful design software makes many choices available to graphic designers, but just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should. For example, sometimes it’s a good idea to convert your text layouts to outline, but sometimes it isn’t. Learn more about this occasionally necessary, often ill-advised practice before you decide whether or not it’s time to convert.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Document Design>Typography>Graphic Design
#32573
If there were a “Ten Most Wanted” list for typographic crimes, these hardboiled miscreants would be on it. Learn what the ten worst (and most common) type crimes are, and how to avoid them.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2008). Articles>Typography
#32574
OpenType Numerals in InDesign and Quark
Today’s OpenType fonts come equipped with a virtual buffet of numeral styles, but all those choices can be a bit much for your design application to swallow. Here’s a practical guide to help you find your way through the maze of oldstyle, lining, proportional, and tabular, in both InDesign and Quark.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2007). Articles>Document Design>Typography>Adobe InDesign
#32575
Sometimes a simple idea can make a big difference in your work. One recent improvement to major design applications is the addition of glyph palettes. This handy feature will help you find and use the exact character you’re looking for – even if your font has thousands to choose from!
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2007). Articles>Typography>Fonts>Software
#32576
Does designing a table of contents drive you dotty? Next time, remember to say “take me to your tab leader.” Learning how to use your application’s automated tab leader function is a great way to save time and keep your layouts looking professional, down to the last detail.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2007). Articles>Document Design>Typography>Adobe InDesign
#32577
Graphic designers love the convenience of today’s computer-created type designs, but too much perfection can get boring. When your eye gets tired of all those flawless, digitally-precise letters, it’s time to explore distressed typefaces. They’re weather-beaten, inconsistent, and utterly, irresistibly human.
Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2007). Articles>Typography>Fonts
