The Non-Designers Design Book, Chapters 9, 10, 11, 14

Chapter 9 - Type (& Life)

Upon starting my reading of this set of chapters, I could tell just how serious Ms. Williams was with this topic of type as she starts out with the comment, "Type is the basic building block of any printed page."  I completely agree with her though and have often wished that I better knew how to apply different fonts/typefaces, rather than just picking by what "looks cool."

I was interested to learn about the different types of relationships between fonts:

• Concordant - Which is the safe route; it can be dull or it can be okay, depending on its use.  I find that this is what I often use (i.e., one type face with different fonts (bold, italic, etc.)
• Conflicting - The wimpy method!  This must be what keeps people scared of moving away from concordant--the take so little risk in their attempts at contrast, that their creation conflicts with itself, and scares them right back to concordant!
• Contrasting - This can very well be the ideal, when it is appropriate (it may not be appropriate in some formal places, like the pages of a novel) as long as it is done well, as in the quote that is "full of sound and fury" (I really liked this) or Popeye and Olive Oyl's wedding invitation.

The discussion of Popeye & Olive Oyl's Wedding invitation made me worry about the invitation that I designed for my wife & my wedding last summer.  As I look back at it, I realize that I used way too little contrast, and a little bit of unsuccessful conflict (though not a deal-breaking amount) and too much centering!  Aside from changing the centering to something a a bit more creative, I wish that I could change the conflict to contrast.  I put our names (my wife and mine) in a different bolder font, that is definitely in the same general section of text (script, see chapter 10).  Because of the changes in weight and color that I used, there is some contrast, but because I did not make enough changes in structure and size, there is a bit of conflict, though, as I said before, not a deal-breaker.

Chapter 10 - Categories of Type

My only experience in comparing categories of type came in my Distance Education course this past spring.  We discussed why sans serif fonts can be better than serif fonts in Distance Education, as the serifs may not come out clear when the text is "transmitted" through the distance.

Here I got to get a little more experience with the categories of type, which I found interesting.  The 6 categories were:

• Oldstyle - Which is a serif category of fonts that replicates lines that would be made by a pen in writing the letters.  This font is good for reading mass amounts.
• Modern - This serif category of fonts is a very vertical font, which has a strong thick/thin transition in contrast to Oldstyle's diagonal stress.  These characteristics made Modern fonts not quite as good for reading long passages as Oldstyle is.  As I read about Modern, I wondered if this was a result of the manner in which the type faces were made for the printing machines.  It seems that these would be easier to make typefaces for than Oldstyle.
• Slab Serif -  This serif category of fonts is one in which all parts of the letters are thick, including the serifs.  There is no thick/thin transition or diagonal stress shown here.  This category includes my most-used typeface, American Typewriter.  I was relieved to find out that they ". . .  are very high on the readability scale, meaning they can easily be used in extensive text." which made me feel good about my frequent use of American Typewriter in worksheets and the like.
• Sans Serif -  This category of fonts has no serifs and typically have no thick/thin transition.  The best known of these fonts is Arial, which implies to me that sans serif fonts must be good for reading (if Arial is so often used).
  
• Script -  This broad category of fonts is, as Williams says, "like cheescake" in that it should not be "consumed" in large amounts.  She also insists that you do not use these in caps.  *Here is one of my mistakes on our wedding invite, it was all script!  Not only that, but when I tried to contrast our names, I was smart enough to change weight and color, but stuck with another font of the same structure, script!
  
• Decorative -  The fun stuff!  Chiller!  Fajita!  Although she phrased it surprisingly, I was not surprised by the concept of Williams' quote on Decorative fonts, "If the thought of reading an entire book in that font makes you want to throw up, you can probably put it in the Decorative pot."  I agree whole-heartedly with this sentiment in that these fonts, which can be serif (i.e., Blue Island) or sans serif (i.e., The Wall), are not good for reading in large amounts.  I discovered my new favorite font, FlySwim, here!

Chapter 11 - Type Contrasts

In this chapter, Williams helps the reader work with contrasting (not conflicting) through the following types of contrast:

• Size
  
• Weight
  
• Structure -  Williams recommends utilizing 2 families with different structures (i.e., Slab Serif vs. Sans Serif) in order to assure contrast, not conflict.
  
• Form -  Williams discusses contrasting between caps & lower case, while keeping in mind that TEXT WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS IS OFTEN HARDER TO READ.  This is something that I have to look out for, as when I write by hand, I use what a computer would call "small caps" and what I call, "engineer's handwriting."  She also discusses the difference between Roman text (a new term to me, it stands up straight) and Italic text (along with the difference between "true" and "fake" italic fonts.
  
• Direction - Williams discusses the difference between positive (up to the right) and negative (down to the right) direction, and its use.  She also discusses how vertical and horizontal directions can be created in a sense of perception.
• Color - Here, Williams discusses the difference between warm and cool colors in writing.  The effects that they have on the way that we process information is impressive.  She also discusses how black & white color contrast can be utilized.  I also learned about the "leading" of a block of text, which gives the text a lighter color.

I was surprised to find in these chapters that Ms. Williams was not following the rules between the difference of the terms typeface and font.  I suspected this from early in these readings, but it was confirmed on Pg. 180 when she stated at the end of the 3rd paragraph, "both lines use the same font."  According to the wikipedia readings about typeface and font, I believe that she should have stated, "both lines use the same typeface."

Chapter 14 - Typefaces in this Book

Chapter 14 managed to do two things for me:

1. Confirm for me that Mr. Miller's font of choice, American Typewriter, is a Slab Serif, and therefore okay for "reading."
2. Make me want to get more typefaces/fonts off of the internet!