Font Tips

    Every designer should be aware of these 10 typography tips.

It's crucial to understand the fundamentals of typography before diving into the intricacies of establishing type in programmes like InDesign CC. Check out our important terms any graphic designer should know if you need a reminder on type terms.

The most crucial thing to understand for this typography course is the difference between kerning and tracking. Tracking works throughout a range of characters, or even entire paragraphs or papers, whereas kerning works between individual pairs of letters.

01. Kern is turned upside down.

Why would you want to reverse the kerning of character pairs? Because you can see your letterforms and the space between them without having to read the words, you may give them meaning. Of course, if you're doing something fancy with the kerning based on the meaning, this won't work, but it's a tried-and-true strategy that you should attempt if you're having trouble with kerning.

02. Make it hazy.

Another tried and true method is to blur the type, which may be done by taking a screenshot and blurring it in Photoshop... or by simply squinting a little. As Brian Hoff puts it: "By squinting or crossing my eyes, I like to distort my vision a little. This allows me to concentrate on the letterforms' contrast and white space without being distracted by the characters themselves." It's a fantastic technique.

03. Kern with a bunch of balloons.

Another, maybe more abstract kerning technique is to visualise balloons of equal size and volume between each letter, driving the letters apart. "Aim to place the letters such that the balloons fit exactly between them without being stretched out above and below," advises designer Tom Sewell. It's an intriguing technique that could come in helpful in the future.

04. Use the letter 'o' to separate words.

Another advice is to think about the spaces before and after the word you're working on and make sure they're visually balanced. Imagine the character 'o' sitting between each word as a good rule of thumb (thanks again to Sewell for that one).

05. Make a rough draught of the headlines.

Kerning and tracking are most visible in headlines, so doing it properly is critical. Sans-serif typefaces, on the other hand, can exaggerate your errors.

If you're dealing with sans-serif headlines, acquire a preliminary tracking before kerning. If practically every character combination requires -10 kerning, you should use tracking at -10 before doing your individual character spacing.

This also applies to numbers. A tighter kern will always benefit the numeral 1 with anything before or after it (213, for example, or simply a space). More than one 1 (for example, 11) necessitates extremely tight kerning.

06. Don't bother with little caps.

Never call full-size caps little caps simply because they've been shrunk down. If you're going to the trouble of utilising true small capitals, make sure you letter-space them appropriately — that is, somewhat looser than lowercase.

07. Limit the number of fonts used.

In your project, it's critical to consider your type as a whole. When you employ more than three fonts in a project — for example, a slab, a serif, and a display – it can be difficult to read and understand, and the project can become disorganised.

Typically, one font has multiple weights, and when used correctly, you can produce a spectacular and straightforward design solution. Cleaner and crisper will be the end outcome. Consider whether you need many typefaces or if varying weights of a single font will suffice. That one is thanks to Hey Studio.

08. Rental revolution.

The trouble with font shopping is that you generally can't fully test typefaces before making a purchase. Monotype's Skyfonts addresses this by allowing you to try any font from its library for free for five minutes.

Although many foundries allow you to check out characters on their websites, it's not the same as trying them out in your favourite layout/design tool. After all, it's difficult to get a sense of a font until you start putting words together.

09. Don't overdo it (unless you really have to).

Unless you're looking for a specific effect (or working on an illustrated piece), don't stretch, skew, or otherwise alter fonts by adjusting their dimensions after they've been converted to outlines.

You wouldn't extend a photo or a sophisticated vector piece, and the effect is often unsightly and amateurish. If you're going to change a font, make sure you're doing so for a good cause. You don't want to sabotage the type designer's hours of effort.

10. Consider typography to be a voice.

Hoon Kim of Why Not Smile gave us this interesting piece of advice: "Controlling type is similar to controlling one's voice: think of typeface selection as voice quality, having a relationship with type in size, amount, and degrees as vocal tone, and arranging type layouts as voices in space and time." The use of typographic design is both visual and auditory. If you have a fantastic situation, now is the time to tell me about it.