FUNDAMENTALS & TIPS COMING TO TERMS MAKING CHOICES Centered rarely, perhaps only in centerpiece headlines. Fonts Serif vs. sans serif? Serif, sans serif & novelty For text — serif. Headline alignment For display — serif and/or Flush left or center? Typography Styles, weights & widths sans serif, in multiple Your call, but have a plan, and be Light weights. consistent. Ron Johnson Regular or roman For graphics — sans serif. Associated Collegiate Press • National Scholastic Press Association Bold & semibold My suggestion? Flush left Black, ultra or slab all headlines, but center for [email protected] • @ronjohn77 Use regular or text — centerpieces. ronjohnson77.tumblr.com Extended (semi- & extra-) for text and graphics text. Condensed (semi- & extra-) Display Use compressed or display — for headlines and subheads only. THE RIGHT SPECS Terms Never for text, graphics text or X-height & baseline small subheads. Optimum text width is 14p0 to Baseline grid 18p0. Anything wider? Break it Ascenders & descenders Use black or expanded — into columns. Letterspacing & wordspacing for labels and kickers. Stick to the grid. Linespacing Novelty type Apply a column grid to your Justification & alignment page — and stick with it. Grids (columns) It’s OK in advertising, but almost never anywhere else. For centerpiece text, use the Uses same column width, even if it’s Definitely not OK when chosen at off the grid. Text random to match a headline font Display / headlines to a particular story. Suggested sizes Subheads or decks Captions or cutlines Keep these rare — 9.5 for text. Graphics heads Italics (ital) 8.5 for graphics text. Graphics text All caps (UC) 18-24 for subheads. Small caps 30-36-48-60 for heads. Sizes: picas & points All lowercase (lc) 6 picas to an inch. Dingbats, including bullets 72-96-120 for the big news. 12 points to a pica. Try not to use — 12p0 = 12 picas wide 0p9 = 9 points wide Horizontal scaling (97% max) 1p3 = 1 pica & 3 points wide Kerning Tracking 72p0 = 1 inch Vertical scaling Navigation Display typography with sans serif and serif as lead headlines. Flag (the nameplate) ALIGNMENT Indiana Daily Student, Dec. 12, 2011 Masthead (the staff list) Folios & page folios Justified for text. Bylines & jump lines Flush left for captions Standing heads and graphics text, but no Kickers & labels hyphenation. Teasers & indexes Flush right rarely, if ever. Maybe that caption on the left of the photo. SPACING PUNCTUATION Quotation marks CONTROL Storybook lead-ins Set your software to use If you introduce a story with Linespacing (leading) Dashes are bigger. smart quotes, which curl, not Keep text rectangular. special type, make it larger. Wider. 9.5 text on 10.25 (+.75) They separate — like this — with straight quotes, which don’t. It’s simpler. It’s cleaner. It’s easier Deeper. Maybe italics. a single space before and after. “These” are smart quotes. Yes. to read. Hyphenation & justification Always flush left. (letterspacing & wordspacing) Hyphens are smaller. "These" are straight quotes. No. Keep the graphics and pull Wider indentions. No hyphens. quotes outside the rectangular Don’t rely on the default They link words, with no spaces How would they look in serif? text box, to the right or below. Try 14p0 on 24p0 italic. specifications. On the next pages before and after. Not "these," but “these.” are suggestions that can make a Use them for compound And don’t be afraid of big chunks Drop caps / initial caps big difference. adjectives (like of text. Resist “breaking them up” Consider using one with an high-school student). with pull quotes or graphics. You occasional centerpiece. But never Indentions CONSISTENCY might render the text unreadable. And use them to split words at use a drop cap on a short word. Not too narrow (0p6). the end of a line. All text the same, all the time. Text on color or gray Keep the baseline horizontal. Not too wide (1p6-2p0). All graphics heads and text Hyphenation It’s risky, and likely unnecessary. Don’t curve it. Don’t break it. Just right (1p3). the same, all the time. Quite OK with justified text, Reversed text, such as white text Don’t stack letters. but use the suggested settings, All headlines in the same font/s, on a black background, is always Text insets Package the links & fonts. not the default settings. though with differing weights. risky. Even more so with color. Don’t run type against the frame Your printer will need all or box. Allow 1p0 (or from 0p9 to Not OK with flush left or right. Never push sizes upward just If you push the envelope on color, of them. 1p3). Turn it off. to fill space. what works on the screen likely won’t work in newsprint. Talk A sample follows. Bullets & other dingbats When to be creative? to your printer, and know your When to use contrast? • Use them rarely. repro. Space between head & text Stick with the same display If you must do it — kick type up Start with 1p0. • Use them for a list, like this. and text fonts throughout your a point, at least, and maybe No headline descenders? 0p9. publication. • Tab after the bullet to match use bold or semibold. Space between paragraphs your indentions. Don’t use spaces. Use differing sizes and weights Baseline grid If you space between grafs, • Never use bullets on to build contrast between main you need to space between the paragraphs of continued text. head and subhead. This underline simulates the invisible horizontal grid head and text. Same idea for headlines down - No, no. Hyphens (like this) and upon which type rests. the page. Use differing sizes and dashes aren’t dingbats. In InDesign, it can cover Text wraps weights to index the news. a chunk of text or the full Keep them rare. They can make Spaces to remember page. text choppy and tough to read. Where to be simple? After a period, space once. If you apply the baseline However, if you use one, do your (An exception? Initials, like Your flag’s supporting text grid, the software forces your best to design the art on the right R.E. Johnson. No space.) Page folios text onto it — following the and the text on the left. Bylines After a colon, space once. Jump lines grid’s specs, not yours. That way, the text can maintain Masthead Before and after a dash, If you use a baseline grid, set it to its left margin. Mess with space once. match your type specs. that margin, and the text is immediately tough to read. With a hyphen, no spaces. Allow 1p6 of space to wrap, and WRAP ON THE RIGHT widen your indentions. If you must wrap text, try to keep the art on the right and text on the left. This one has a 1p0 inset. 2 • TYPOGRAPHY • Ron Johnson THE RIGHT TOOL SERIF SANS SERIF NOVELTY FOR THE JOB: HOW MANY FONTS? Designers love fonts. Times Helvetica Aachen We love to explore type, to track the latest trends. Times New Roman Helvetica Neue Brush Script We identify publications by their fonts, and the publications that Capitals use typography well often limit Chronicle Display Boomer their typography — Comic Sans One serif for text. Minion Pro Retina Display Likely a serif and a sans serif Cooper Black for headlines, or display type, Whitney usually in narrower forms with Benton Modern Hobo condensed or display in the Myriad Pro font names. When you shop for Bodoni Impact display fonts, look for flexibility — Interstate multiple weights that allow you creativity to match the content. ITC Bookman Rockwell A sans serif for graphics text that Century Schoolbook Franklin Gothic Book is not condensed. Rosewood Futura Book SF Collegiate TOO MANY FONTS? Chronicle Text G3 Speaking of creativity, publication Concorde BE Gill Sans Stencil design is consistent in its typography. You don’t grab a font off the shelf to match a story, like Garamond Optima Stencil for a feature on ROTC. Advertising designers get that Georgia Arial flexibility, but news designers don’t. They must remain creative Hoefler Text Verdana within their font parameters, using size and weight for their Nimrod creativity and contrast. PLAY BY THE RULES Palatino Typographers own their work, Utopia Standard just like artists, musicians and photographers. If you play, you pay. It’s only fair. 3 • TYPOGRAPHY • Ron Johnson THE RIGHT TOOL TIMES Regular TIMES NEW ROMAN Regular ADJUSTING TEXT TYPE: 10 on 11, justified 9.5 on 10.25, justified FOR THE JOB: 14p wide, 1p0 indention 14p wide, 1p3 indention JUSTIFICATION & HYPHENATION SERIF FOR TEXT Default hyphenation & justification 97% horiz scaling Text alignment is traditionally justified. 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