Designing Documents

The aim of this tutorial is to provide an introduction to typography. Typography is defined as: the art of designing printed matter; the appearance of printed matter. There are many different types of printed matter, books, brochures, newsletters and many more. This tutorial focuses on technical documents. Typography is relevant for user interface designers from two perspectives. Firstly, user interface design often includes the presentation of text on a display. Although typography is mainly concerned with printed matter, it provides valuable guidance for these situations. Secondly, user interface design involves to a large degree documenting and communicating designs, usually on paper. Knowledge of typography can aid this process.

HCIRN (2003). Design>Typography>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

Do These Serifs Make Me Look Phat? Conveying Personality with Typeface

Explores some possible approaches to understanding typeface 'personality,' including empirical research and scholarly discussion, in the hopes of generating more discussion about how we can understand and use typeface personality when creating organizational identity packages.

Striker, Amy. Orange Journal, The (2005). Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric

Font Types: Affecting Meaning

In the first lesson on font type I highlighted how they can be used to make information easier to understand, and how the look of the font accomplishes that. Here I'd like to discuss how fonts can actually affect the meaning of that information.

Lanier, Clinton. sense and usability (2007). Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric

Hearing Type

Understanding the dynamic qualities of typography through analogies with sound and music.

Armstrong, Frank. AIGA (2005). Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric>Audio

Perception of Fonts: Perceived Personality Traits and Uses

This study sought to determine if certain personalities and uses are associated with various fonts. Using an online survey, participants rated the personality of 20 fonts using 15 adjective pairs. In addition, participants viewed the same 20 fonts and selected which uses were most appropriate. Results suggested that personality traits are indeed attributed to fonts based on their design family (Serif, Sans-Serif, Modern, Monospace, Script/Funny) and are associated with appropriate uses. Implications of these results to the design of online materials and websites are discussed.

Shaikh, A. Dawn, Barbara S. Chaparro and Doug Fox. Usability News (2006). Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric

Reading Minds: The Book as a Communicational Space (Practice + Pedagogy)  

Book designers research, compile and interpret information that helps them to determine the various formal attributes of the book. What size should it be? What format should it have? What should be the approach to the cover design, the typography, and the structure of the layout? The selected attributes may make certain impressions, on the potential reader, about the nature of the content. These impressions are interpretations of meaning which may create expectations about the character of the book, its content and style of writing. In other words, the formal attributes give the book a certain 'visual identity' which is intended to represent to the reading public, in a carefully selected visual language, the 'essence' of the author’s work.

Colberg, Susan. University of Alberta (2003). Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric

Reading Online Text: A Comparison of Four White Space Layouts

In this study, reading performance with four white space layouts was compared. Margins surrounding the text and leading (space between lines) were manipulated to generate the four white space conditions. Results show that the use of margins affected both reading speed and comprehension in that participants read the Margin text slower, but comprehended more than the No Margin text. Participants were also generally more satisfied with the text with margins. Leading was not shown to impact reading performance but did influence overall user preference.

Chaparro, Barbara S., J. Ryan Baker, A. Dawn Shaikh, Spring S. Hull and Laurie Brady. Usability News (2004). Design>Web Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric

The Rhetoric of Typography: Effects on Reading Time, Reading Comprehension, and Perceptions of Ethos    

Asserts that typography has not occupied a significant role in discussions of visual rhetoric. Extends those discussions by investigating whether typeface persona shapes readers' interactions with a document.

Brumberger, Eva R. Technical Communication Online (2004). Design>Typography>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

The Rhetoric of Typography: The Awareness and Impact of Typeface Appropriateness    

Extends previous research on the rhetorical role of typography that has examined typeface persona and typeface suitability. Investigates whether clashes in typeface and text persona affect readers' perceptions of the text.

Brumberger, Eva R. Technical Communication Online (2003). Design>Typography>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

The Rhetoric of Typography: The Persona of Typeface and Text    

Provides strong empirical support for the notion that readers ascribe personality attributes both to typefaces and to text passages. Establishes a foundation for investigation of the interactions between typeface and text personas.

Brumberger, Eva R. Technical Communication Online (2003). Design>Typography>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

typographic

An interactive experience informed by type and typography, which aims to illustrate the depth and import of type, and to raise relevant questions about how typography is treated in the digital media, specifically online.

typographic. Design>Typography>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Typographical Design, Modernist Aesthetics, and Professional Communication    

The technology of in-house publishing is radically shifting the responsibility for document design from the graphic specialist to the individual writer. To apply the new technology, professional communicators need to understand the principles underpinning typographical design and their origin in the functionalist aesthetics of modernism, particularly as articulated by the Bauhaus. While some of the key concepts of modernism--strict economy, universal objectivity, intuitive perception, and the unity of form and purpose--are well-suited to business and technical documents, these concepts are bound to an historical and intellectual milieu. By understanding the influence of modernism on typographical design, professional communicators equipped with the new technology can adapt design principles to the rhetorical context of specific documents.

Kostelnick, Charles. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1990). Design>Typography>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Why Design Matters

As business communicators, our goal is typically to influence opinion or change behavior in order to achieve business objectives. To accomplish this, we must get people to interact with our message. A page of 12-point Times New Roman text is seldom compelling, so what you are left with to persuade people to read your publication is graphic design.

Canfield, Jocelyn. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Design>Document Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric