20 Mar, 2023

Typography? Is that the science of spelling mistakes?

No, typography has nothing to do with typos. Typography isn’t a science either, it’s an art. Specifically, the art of arranging words and/or letters to create a text that is both readable and pleasing to look at. It is a careful curation of font type, colour, size, spacing et cetera into the most visually appealing form. It is one of the fundamentals of graphic design. The right typography can communicate more than just the words to the audience. Typography catches the attention of a viewer so that they actually read the text instead of skipping everything.

Every poster, commercial, book cover et cetera you see today involves some form of typography. Just using a completely new font is a basic form of typography. It can give even a three letter word a lasting impact that gives it a unique place in the customer’s mind. A unique typography can become an identifiable part of the Brand’s identity, so customers will immediately associate anything written in that style to the specific brand. The first target of typography however, is to make text easy to read so a designer should make sure the typography has clear hierarchy.

Hierarchy is the importance of each text, which text the reader should notice first, then second and so on. For more elaborate typographies, hierarchy is very important as the reader might not understand which word to read first otherwise. The easiest way to define hierarchy is to use different sizes. The viewer will read the biggest words first, like headlines in a newspaper. There are usually three levels of hierarchy. The first is the title or headline. The second will be words that define different groups of text, such as paragraph titles. And the final level is the heavy text itself, the meat of the content.

The easier something is to read, the more attention it gets. In today’s world of short content, consumers have attention spans of less than a minute so a typography that catches their eye but also lets them read the message quickly is crucial to gaining their intrigue. Using the right font and size can allow a viewer to read the whole text in a moment. Typography is also not constrained to the four alignments of Left, Center, Right and Justified as designers can use image editing tools to place the text in any position they see fit.

A typography doesn’t just display text, with the right setting, it can even be used to display a personality. The look of a logo or message can indicate whether the Brand is being Trendy, Serious, Playful, Professional, Warm etc. For example, Serif fonts are considered traditional, serious, mature etc. Sans Serif is considered elegant and sleek. Giving your typography a round shape and Bold letters can make it look playful or friendly. There are many other ways the right font and arrangement can convey the personality you want.