1. Font & Typeface
Principles of Information Technology
Making good design choices in formatting options for font when developing visually appealing publications
The word font and the word typeface are interchangeable
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2. OBJECTIVES Identify categories of font styles
Describe characteristics of font styles
Identify publishing guidelines when choosing font styles
Identify font formatting techniques for printed and electronic publications
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3. FONT CATEGORIES Serif San serif Script Decorative
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4. SERIF
Definition:
In this font category, there are short decorative tips at the end of the stroke for each letter.
The font used for the title of this slide is a serif font – notice the tips at the end of the strokes for the letters.
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5. SANS SERIF Definition:
In this font category, there is an absence of short decorative tips at the end of the stroke for each letter.
The font used for the title of this slide is a sans serif font – notice the absence of tips at the end of the strokes for the letters.
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6. SCRIPT
Definition:
In this font category, the letters appear to be handwritten.
The font used for the title of this slide is a script font – notice how the letters appear to have been handwritten.
Avoid using script lettering for long paragraphs of information. Although it looks hand written, it becomes tiresome when reading long passages of handwritten text.
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7. ORNAMENTAL Definition:
In this font category, the letters have a unique style that sets it apart, having an artistic design element incorporated into the lettering.
The font used for the title of this slide is an ornamental font – notice how the letters have a unique style that obviously sets them apart from the three other categories of font.
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8. u u u S SERIF EXAMPLES S Slab Serif Playbill Modern Bodoni
Style of Font
Name of Font
Tip Design
Slab Serif
Playbill
Straight
Constant thickness
Thick slab
Modern
Bodoni
Thin slab
Oldstyle
Garamond
Slanted
Thick to thin stroke
Straight stroke
Transitional
Baskerville
Latin
Book Antiqua
Curved stroke S S u u
Variations can occur in the tips – but they are all still serif font.
While serif font is a good choice for printed publications – some say it is easier to read in paragraph format due to the serifs on the bottom of the letters creating an unseen connection but giving the reader a visual line to follow when reading.
However, because of the variations in the tips, you should never choose two different font styles within this category for the same page of your publication. It gives the reader a sense of choppiness and prevents good reading flow. u
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9. Arial Tahoma Gil Sans Century Gothic SANS SERIF EXAMPLES
Variations can occur in the thickness of the stroke for the letters, but there are no tips at the end of the strokes.
Some viewers believe that Sans Serif font is easier to view electronically than serif, however, if information is printed from the site, it still needs to be easily read in printed format.
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10. Amienne Bradley Hand Freestyle Script Comic Sans SCRIPT EXAMPLES
Variations can occur in the strokes for the letters, but the letters themselves have the appearance of having been handwritten.
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11. Chiller Earwig Factory Jokerman Planet Benson ORNAMENTAL EXAMPLES
Ornamental fonts are also called “decorative” fonts due to their unique decorativeness. They are used sparingly and for the sake of decoration. You should never choose a decorative font to type a paragraph of information. Use them only for main headings or an attention getter.
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12. Formatting Font Making good design choices
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13. FORMATTING CHOICES Font style of Font style of Font style of 1 3
title on page
significantly
different than
other font on page
Font style of
title on page
significantly
different than
other font on page 1 3
Font style of
title on page
significantly
different than
other font on page
Font style of
title on page
significantly
different than
other font on page
Ask the students to determine which item 1-4 is more visually appealing to them – and tell why.
When the font style is not significantly different than the font style used at other places in the document – it appears to be conflicting rather than contrasting. None of these represent good font style selection.
While #2 and #4 have a title font within the same category as the body font – it still appears to conflict and destroy any effort to unify the document.
Rule of thumb: Do not choose two differing font styles from the SAME category, it conflicts rather than contrasts. 2 4
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14. FORMATTING CHOICES Font style of Font style of 1 3 Font style of
title on page
exactly the
same as
other font on page
Font style of
title on page
exactly the
same as
other font on page 1 3
Font style of
title on page
different category
as the other
font on page
Font style of
title on page
different category
as the other
font on page
Box #1 and #3 show Sans Serif and Serif examples of using the same font style choice for Title and text.
Box #2 and #4 show examples of using opposing font style choices for Title and text.
Ask the students to offer their opinions of which is the most appealing. Ask them to explain why they feel this way. 4 2
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15. Font style of Title Font style of Title FORMATTING CHOICES
Is decorative and while it is pretty and could be used for the names on a formal announcement or invitation, it should never be used for full paragraphs of text as in this example.
Font style of Title
Is script and while it is different and could be used for an attention getter, it should never be used for full paragraphs of text as in this example. 1 2
Box #1: The font style of this text is called Parchment. It is ornamental – used for its decorative value. However, when used to display a full paragraph of text, the reader finds it difficult to read.
Box #2: The font style of this text is called Rage Italic. It is a script font – used also for its emphasis or decorative value. As with the ornamentals, when used to display a full paragraph of text, the reader finds it difficult to read.
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16. FORMATTING CHOICES FONT STYLE OF Font Style Of title on page
exactly the
same as
other font on page
we only changed
the title to appear
in all capital letters
title on page
exactly the
same as
other font on page
we only changed
the title text color
and background shading
Font Style Of 1 2
To create contrast without changing the font style choice, try using all caps for a heading, but you should never use that for a full paragraph of text.
Or you could change the shading of an object as seen in box #2.
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17. REVIEW The four categories of font
Serif—letters having short decorative tips at the end of each stroke
Sans Serif—letters that do not have short decorative tips at the end of each stroke
Script—letters that appear to be handwritten
Ornamental—letters that incorporate a common artistic design element
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18. REVIEW Examples of the four categories of font Serif—Times New Roman—R
Sans Serif—Arial—R
Script—Freestyle Script—R
Ornamental—Chiller—R
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19. REVIEW Use the following sparingly: Script and ornamental
All capital letters
Switching categories of font within the same document
Use serif for written documents
Use sans serif for electronic documents
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20. ACTIVITY #2 Look back at the document you created in Activity #1.
Notice the font styles used on each web page.
Create a textbox next to each screen snapshot.
The textbox should show
1) The number of different font styles on each page
2) The categories of different font styles on each page
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