Visual Rhetoric: Headers and Typography Professor Stevens Amidon Department of English and Linguistics, IPFW

Typography: A definition The design of the characters that make up text: –A

Design Philosophy No matter how fashionable or clever, if copy that is meant to be read is difficult to read -it is badly designed. Integrate type with other design elements and develop the composition as a whole. Type communicates on several levels: –Content: the word’s written meaning –Visual impact: use of type as a design element –Context: the content and visual impact of text in relationship with entire composition

Basic Type Anatomy

The effects of x-height dx dx dx dx All 48 point type! (Times New Roman, Bookman, Humanst, Arial Black)

Relation between x-height and ascenders/descenders pty ptypty Palatino Avante-Garde Arial 48 pt48 pt48 pt

So What is a “Point” 1 point=1/72 inch Therefore, a 72 point font is one-inch high from top of ascender to bottom of descender

Points: Example B B 72 point, 36 point, 18 point, 12 point Times New Roman

Type Width Type widths vary. The letters following the typeface names are all in 44 point fonts. Times New Roman qwertyuiop Palatino qwertyuiop Avante Garde qwertyuiop

Treatments ALL CAPS Italic Bold Bold Italic ShadowShadow

Major Typeface Classifications Old Style: serifs, medium stroke contrast, ascenders rise above stroke height (Garamond) Transition: serifs, greater stroke contrast, high legibility (Times New Roman) Modern: flat serifs, extreme stroke contrast (Bodoni MT Black) Sans Serif: All strokes of nearly equal height (Arial) Script: flowing, resembles handwriting (Edeardian Script ITC) Special: decorative or novelty type. Often difficult to read. (CurlzMT )