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How to Use Typography to Im Table of Contents Introduction 3 Pay Attention to Size 28 What’s the Perfect Size for 29 Typography Matters 6 your Type? Put a Face to Your Type 9 Throw Your Weight Around 30 Set the Mood with a Good 11 Set Leading to Control 32 Typeface Scanning Is Your Typeface Easy to Read? 13 Apply a Good (Medium) 34 Line Length The Difference Between 14 Typeface and Font 5 Tried-and-True Follow the “Rule of Three” 15 Typography Tips 36 Are Your Typefaces Doing 16 Create a Visual Hierarchy 37 Their Jobs? Left Align Your Text 39 The Art of Take the Guesswork out 40 Selecting a Typeface 18 of Design with a Grid Stick with What Your Learners 19 Already Know Use Your Best Judgment 41 Familiarize Yourself with Serif 19 and Sans Serif Pay Attention to the 21 Little Details When it comes to your online courses, can you think of anything more important than your learner’s attention? When you have it, you can teach any topic under the sun. But when you lose it, well, you don’t have a learner anymore. You’ve probably heard that the key to getting—and keeping—a learner’s attention is the engaging, meaningful, and utterly fascinating content in your courses. This is very true. But you might be missing an important piece of the puzzle. The way you present that content also makes a big difference. Enter typography—a valuable e-learning tool. 4 Typography is really just a fancy term that describes how we make our words look good. Good typography captures your learner’s attention and makes them want to read all your awesome content. Bad typography makes them suddenly remember that they forgot to check Facebook or their favorite news site this morning—and that they need to go do that right now. The truth is, while it’s highly unlikely your learners will ever notice your awesome fonts and great spacing, they probably won’t get past your welcome message if you don’t pay attention to these details. Typography is one way you can create an inviting learning experience for your learners. If you’re publishing an online course next week and just realized you don’t know a thing about typography, don’t panic. You don’t need to be a font geek or professional typographer to get learners to read your content. While mastering typography is indeed an art, it’s easy to learn the basics, such as how to use different fonts and styles to highlight important text. And these seemingly little things can have a surprisingly big impact on your course’s success. So let’s go ahead and get started. You’ll learn why typography matters and how to: • Select the right typefaces for your projects • Use typography to set the right mood for your learners • Properly size and set your type • Make your content legible, readable, and engaging • Help your learners navigate your courses 5 There’s a poster that reads, “Good typography is invisible. Bad typography is everywhere.” This rings true. If you’ve ever spent time on a website with fantastic typography, chances are you didn’t notice it. You might have found the site easy to read and might have lingered there a bit longer than you’d planned, but you probably didn’t go home and marvel about the amazing typography to your family. Now consider this: What if that same site had truly awful typography? It would have stuck out like a sore thumb. How long could you tolerate a long article written in tiny font with chunks of text in all caps? Or a funeral announcement in a comic book font? Such typographic sins might have inspired you to instant message the link to your coworkers. 7 Before you even read the words on a page, you subconsciously notice the way they’re displayed. Different styles evoke different tones, moods, and emotions and alter the way you feel about the messages you’re reading. When done well, typography can make the whole process of understanding and comprehending information seem effortless. It can keep people focused on your content, rather than on the effort it takes to read it. And, most importantly, it can help your learners learn. If you study how humans read on the web, you’ll see that people learn more when they’re given well-organized, scannable, and concise content. It’s a fact that’s supported by human memory and message design studies, and it makes a lot of sense. After all, most people would prefer clear, legible, and well-organized content over a bunch of gobbledy-gook on a page. 8 Put a Face to Your Type First impressions are lasting impressions. You wouldn’t wear a ratty old tank top to a job interview, so why dress your online course in a typeface that’s not right for your course’s material? Your typefaces and fonts are your first chance to make a good impression, so it’s important to get them right. The first thing you need to know about typefaces and fonts is that they’re sort of like your crazy, wonderful, and quirky family. They all have unique personalities that set them apart from the pack. Let’s take a look at how this works. This quick Articulate demo shows how different fonts match different images. Your job is to match the font to the picture. There are no right or wrong answers here. Just take a look at the images and assign a specific font to each of them. You’ll see how fonts can set the stage for your messages. 9 A study in The New York Times demonstrated that typeface had a big impact on credibility. About 45,000 people looked at identical words in six different typefaces and rated how convincing the words were to them. Despite the fact that the words are true regardless of the typeface, people were more likely to believe them when they were written in subtle and serious typefaces such as Georgia but took them far less seriously when displayed in a typeface such as Comic Sans. The moral of the story? Your typefaces reflect your personality type, mood, attitude, and even your credibility. So it’s important to take care when choosing them. 10 Set the Mood with a Good Typeface You’ll probably never hear anyone say, “Next Valentine’s Day, let’s crack open a bottle of wine and look at some great typography.” But typography does help set the mood. Before learners even read a word or click a link, your typefaces influence the way they feel as they explore your course. It’s safe to say that a typeface doesn’t really have the power to move people to tears or convince your learners that they should quit their jobs and join the Peace Corps. But typography goes far beyond merely telling a story—it shows learners what they can expect to get out of your course and convinces them that your course is indeed worth their time. So when selecting a typeface, a good rule of thumb is to choose one that matches your learners’ expectations. Let’s say you’re creating a course on financial security. You’ll probably want your typeface to convey a sense of security and protection. In other words, you don’t want to use a fun, silly font such as Taco Modern. For serious content, a formal, traditional typeface such as Georgia is a far better choice. 11 Here are some helpful tips. When you’re browsing through different typefaces, ask yourself two important questions: • What are you trying to teach your learners? Something serious? Something fun? • How do you want your learners to feel when they’re on your course site? Excited? Studious? Relaxed? There’s a font for all those things! Then look closely at each individual typeface and ask yourself the most important question: Does this typeface accomplish your goals? If it doesn’t, don’t sweat it. You have countless others from which to choose. 12 It’s a good idea to find several different typefaces that work well for the mood and tone you’d like to create. Because once you do, you’ll need to consider a few general guidelines to narrow down that list to the perfect typefaces for your course. Is Your Typeface Easy to Read? First and foremost, consider legibility and readability. If your text is hard to read, whether it’s because of tiny fonts or an overcrowded line of words, your learners will just skip it. This might sound harsh, but it’s true. And you won’t get a second chance to win them back. The good news is that if you simply select a typeface that’s legible, odds are good that your learners will stick around. So before we get into the nitty gritty of what makes one typeface better than another, make a pact with yourself right now. If a typeface makes your text hard to read, you’ll get rid of it. No questions asked. Just part ways as quickly as possible. 13 The Difference Between Typeface and Font Now, when we talk about typeface, we’re not talking about font (although many of the same rules apply to both elements). While the two terms are often used interchangeably, they’re not the same. A typeface, also known as a font family, is a group of characters (including letters, numbers, and punctuation) that share a common design or style.
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