Typographic Reading Notes by Jason Le

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 07:11:57 UTC

I never took notes but I promised I read the text :C Time to do it retroactively :D

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:06:42 UTC

It's interesting seeing these different ways to create texture. Playing with scale and overlap seems to abstract text to be more about imagery than about content.

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:06:54 UTC

I love these explorations of spacing. There is so much expression in a couple nudges in the kerning.

History

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:10:41 UTC

First fonts mimicked calligraphy because we were moving from handmade lettering to printing presses

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:29:18 UTC

The oldest printed book was the Diamond Sutra in Chinese

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:30:41 UTC

Italics were meant to mimick a more casual writing style. They add a lot of movement and can be used to add emphasis.

Humanist

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:32:27 UTC

Mimick calligraphic writing of the Renaissance.

Monster Fonts

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:33:54 UTC

Bodoni and Didot broke text away from representations of calligraphy to being able to push letter forms to abstraction

Monospace

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:37:14 UTC

Every character is the same width with the same space between them. Typically used for mechanical/basic interfaces.

Uniwidth

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:38:22 UTC

Every character has its own width but different fonts retain these character sizes throughout the typeface.

Proportional

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:38:51 UTC

Every character has its own width.

Transitional/Modern

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:40:26 UTC

Sharp and higher contrast.

Slab Serif

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:41:13 UTC

Thick bars as terminals / Good for display

"Classification is a tool, not a science."

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:41:46 UTC

Punctuation

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:45:04 UTC

Designers have more freedom to play with punctuation than any other character. They are the last layer of personality that a typeface shows off and will change the vibe of the font despite the base alphabet.

Text

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:48:04 UTC

"a continuous sequence of words"

Body

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:48:35 UTC

"The main text of a document"

"Good typography enhances readability"

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:50:12 UTC

Alignment

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:52:19 UTC

Improves readability by controlling the movement of the eye through the text. Too long, won't read. Too short and I'm jumping around too much.

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:53:58 UTC

Longer text is more digestible when the leading is increased.

Legibility

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:55:45 UTC

Identifying what you are reading

Readability

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:56:04 UTC

Comprehending what you are reading

Hierarchy

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:57:39 UTC

Differences in size/styles/weight to visually represent the relative importance of each piece of information.

.

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 08:57:55 UTC

Type Scale

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 09:00:00 UTC

Type sizes picked through history or mathematics

ie.

Golden Ratio (1.68)

Major Thirds (4:5 or 1.25)

jasonle5 — 2024-09-19 09:00:04 UTC

jasonle5 — 2024-09-24 08:49:35 UTC

Typography has roots in writing

jasonle5 — 2024-09-24 08:50:42 UTC

jasonle5 — 2024-09-24 08:52:46 UTC

Using prime marks is a crime against typography

never letterspace lowercase

jasonle5 — 2024-09-24 08:54:21 UTC

jasonle5 — 2024-09-24 08:57:08 UTC

"The margin's primary function is to define the boundaries of text as a complete and comprehensible entity."

jasonle5 — 2024-09-24 08:58:19 UTC

The grid can inform alignment, hierarchy, almost everything when it comes to text.