Typography is the study and process of typefaces; how to select, size, arrange, and use them in general. Traditionally, typography was the use of metal types with raised letterforms that were inked and then pressed onto paper. In modern terms, typography today also includes computer display and output.
#10368
Typographic Dimensions and Conventional Wisdom: A Discrepancy? 
Typographic guidelines are based on a combination of legibility research and personal experience. Both of these approaches seem to ignore actual documents as a source of information. An inventory of the typographic dimensions of existing texts in different genres is required to investigate and discusscurrent typographic guidelines. In this study, three dimensions - x-height,linelength and linespace - of 106 brochures, 114 scientific journals and 110 novels were measured. The results show that the design of these documents does not reflect current typographic guidelines. The results also show that document developers specify the x-height, line length and linespace within clear boundaries andthat these boundaries differ per genre. There are preferences within these boundaries and these might be based on conventional wisdom.
van der Waarde, Karel. Technical Communication Online (1999). Design>Typography>Style Guides
#29047
Typographic Settings for Structured Abstracts
Structured abstracts contain more information, are of higher quality, and are easier to search and read than are traditional abstracts. However, there is a bewildering variety of ways in which structured abstracts can be printed and little is known about how the typography of structured abstracts can affect their clarity. The aim of this article is to delineate some of these major typographic variables and to comment on their effects upon the layouts of structured abstracts.
Hartley, James. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Design>Document Design>Typography
#22532
The Typographic Texture of the News
The typefaces in which we read the daily news change, but do we notice? John D. Berry looks at a few of the newspaper typefaces in use today.
Berry, John D. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Typography
#30158
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
#27310
Typographical Features of the Cocoa Text System
It is common, especially in technical writing, to mix languages with differing text direction, such as English and Hebrew, in the same line. Some writing systems even alternate layout direction in every other line (an arrangement called boustrophedonic writing). Some languages do not group glyphs into words separated by spaces. Moreover, some applications call for arbitrary arrangements of glyphs; a graphic layout may require glyphs to be arranged on a nonlinear path.
Apple Inc. (2006). Design>Typography>Programming>Macintosh
#27199
Typographical Tips from Microsoft Publisher
In one form or another, Word is ubiquitous. If you buy a new computer, chances are good that it will come with some version of Office or Works Suite (which includes Word) installed. Word is a powerful word processing program that incorporates many of the features of a page layout application, but there are times when a page layout or desktop publishing application is what is needed. If you are using the Small Business Edition of Office 97 or Office 2000 SBE, Professional, or Premium, you have such a program: Microsoft Publisher.
Barnhill, Suzanne and Dave Rado. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Typography>Microsoft Word
#20403
Typography is the rightful distribution of letters and spaces (historically, using lead type) on a surface (sometimes vellum, usually paper, and now -- apparently -- a monitor or screen) to convey information and facilitate understanding. Typographers are people who get excited by letters: their shapes and forms, their colour, their power when combined into words, their history and their future. While this is not the place for a discussion of language or literature, it is precisely those areas of our culture with which typography is concerned.
#23779
Typography and its Links to Technical Communication 
Typography is the often-ignored stepchild of graphic design. Yet few elements of design have as great of an impact on technical communication as typography. The typeface and style that one uses affects everything from reading speed to the audience’s overall perception of the content of the work. It is safe to say that typography often does not receive the attention that it deserves in the area of technical communication. There are over 10,000 digitized typefaces (Williams 1998, 21). With such a range of options available, it is no wonder that we as technical communicators at times tend to take typography and the process of creating typefaces for granted. Typefaces just seem to “magically” appear under the font index of our favorite publishing program.
Madison, Nicole. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Typography
#29483
Typography and Page Layout: Classification of Type 
The number of type faces in use today runs into the thousands and as such presents difficulty in selecting the appropriate design for a particular job. Because there are so many type designs to choose from, it is easier to first choose a general type style or classification to suit your graphic design, and then, look for a particular type face that relates to that classification.
Magnik, John. Typography First. Design>Document Design>Typography
#29478
Typography and Page Layout: Copy Preparation
Copy preparation is a skilled job which, if done properly, assists the smooth flow of work through later stages of the production cycle. All personnel, especially those involved in the composition areas, have seen the results of ineffective copy preparation.
Magnik, John. Typography First. Design>Document Design>Editing>Typography
#29480
Typography and Page Layout: Principles of Design
Principles of design should always be incorporated in any graphic design project to assist its communicating and graphic interest, however in the planning of a basic design, the designer must produce a job to suit the class of work, the copy, and the tastes of the customer.
Magnik, John. Typography First. Design>Document Design>Typography
#29479
Typography and Page Layout: The Printers' Point System
In the year 1898 the English typefounders, as a body, adopted a system (which had been in use in America since 1878) of casting their types to a certain fixed standard. That standard was the American pica, 83 of which equalled 35 centimetres. The pica, which measured 4.21mm, was divided into 12 equal parts called 'points', which makes the size of a point approximately 0.35 mm.
Magnik, John. Typography First. Design>Document Design>Typography>History
#25308
Typography and Page Layout: Type Faces
To identify type or recognise a wrong font, you must know what the variables are, because differences amongst the thousands of type faces available today can be minute. Since an untrained eye cannot distinguish even gross differences, you should become familiar with the fundamental features of type.
Magnik, John. Typography First. Design>Document Design>Typography
#29484
Typography and Page Layout: Typesetting
Typing or setting text lines to the same length so that they line up on the left and the right is known as 'justification.' The information that you are now reading has been typeset using this method. The practice originated with Mediaeval scribes who ruled margins and text lines so as to speed writing and fit as many characters on a line as possible.
Magnik, John. Typography First. Design>Document Design>Typography
#29487
Typography and Page Layout: Typesetting Terminology
A glossary of typographers' terms.
Magnik, John. Typography First. Design>Document Design>Typography>Glossary
#29562
Typography and the Aging Eye: Typeface Legibility for Older Viewers with Vision Problems
The population is rapidly aging and becoming a larger share of the marketplace. The demands of the aging eye require typefaces that function well under low-vision conditions. Can signage display useful information that is accessible to all ages?
Nini, Paul. AIGA (2006). Design>Typography>Accessibility>Elderly
#20231
It's a style thing. It's a usability thing. It's a tricky thing for large content sites and a step up for independents. It's typographically correct punctuation on the web, and ALA's associate editor makes the case for it.
Kissane, Erin. List Apart, A (2001). Design>Typography>CSS>Web Design
#27475
Peter Hall explores the changing role of typography in the news media.
Hall, Peter. Font Magazine (2003). Design>Typography>Journalism>Web Design
#20402
We all see it in advertisements and publications--potentially worthy designed pieces that suffer from a lack of good typography. Text matter is handled with little attention to hyphenation, line breaks, paragraph endings, kerning, and word spacing. Sometimes even headlines catch your attention with their bad spacing or straight quote marks.
Kjolby, Bent. NALC (1997). Design>Typography
#22489
Typography, Layout and Graphic Design
Typography may be defined as the theory and practice of letter and typeface design. In other words, it is an art concerned with design elements that can be applied to the letters and text (as opposed to, say, images, tables, or other visual enhancements) on a printed page.
Simpson, David L. Collaboratory Project, The. Design>Typography
#27943
Weblog van Gerard Voshaar over typografie.
Voshaar, Gerard. Typolog. (Dutch) Resources>Graphic Design>Typography>Blogs
#30212
Typologia: Studies in Type Design and Type Making
Describes from start to finish the designing of a type and the details of making that type--beginning with the designer's mental attitude and ending with the printed sheet, illustrating each step as graphically as possible.
Goudy, Frederic. Type Art (1940). Books>Publishing>Typography
#14929
Authors accustomed to controlling every aspect of their document's presentation are often frustrated by their inability to control document presentation on the Web. There is a Web Uncertainty Principle that says you cannot simultaneously determine the presentation of a document to all viewers and maintain its 'webness.' It is impossible, and it is a good thing. What appear to be problems controlling typography are the result of permitting users to control how information is presented to them. Modern web browsers provide many opportunities for users to change an author's intended presentation. To some this is a problem — possibly, a threat — while to others it is liberating.
Linderman, R. Ivan. Silicon Valley Connection (2002). Design>Typography>Web Design
#20404
U&lc Online is ITC’s international journal of graphic design and digital media.
Upper and lowercase Magazine. Journals>Graphic Design>Typography
#29800
This article considers various notions of 'beauty' and how these have informed the creative and critical processes of graphic design, specifically typography. The author considers how the Renaissance revival of Greek mathematics to support a 'universal beauty' was gradually unpicked by Enlightenment thinkers such as Descartes, Kant and Hume, and how this process has subsequently shaped modernist and postmodernist attitudes towards 'beauty'. From our current vantage point it could be argued that 'beauty' should now be considered a redundant concept; however, design schools and studios continue to make value judgments dividing the 'beautiful' from the 'ugly'. On what basis are these judgements made and are they still valid in a pluralistic society? Is it possible that we now have a new sensibility, a different notion of beauty? Reflecting upon important questions raised by the American designer and writer Steven Heller in his controversial essay 'The Cult of the Ugly' in _Eye_ magazine in 1993, the author proposes that 14 years on from the article, we can indeed witness a new aesthetic sensibility, shared but not universal, rooted in loss yet also 'found'.
Rigley, Steve. Visual Communication (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Typography>History
