Lesson 11

Typography

In this lesson, we learnt about typography. Typography is the art of arranging text, so that language is visible. My opinion of Typography is font, size and placement of words used to make the ad more interesting and help to emphasise the purpose of the ad. The basics of typography consists of the Bar, counter, bowl, shoulder, ascender, Serif, stem, descender and X-height. 

We also have to watch our kerning as bad kerning can make a word very annoying to read. Here is an example of different kernings. 

Font selection is also important. Different fonts conveys different types of messages and feelings. 

We have to align our text properly. If you have many lines to put, you shouldn't align your text in the center as it makes that is the weakest and hardest to read. You should put it to the left side. However, if you have only a short sentence to put, you can align it in the center to make it more attention-getting.

Choose a good secondary font. Choose a font that goes well with your primary font, not one that goes against it. This way, the secondary font will compliment the primary font and the text will be pleasing to the eye.

Next, Size Matters. Big text are more effectively at grabbing a reader's attention. Making certain words bigger also emphasises those words and helps attract the attention of readers. Here, 'YOUTUBE' is made bigger than the rest of the words to emphasis it and catch attention.

Use typography as an art so that it is enjoyable to look at and people will stop and admire it, making it effective as it captures the readers' attention. 

Lastly, find good inspiration for your typography and people will get what you're trying to tell them more easily.

Here are examples of a good and bad Typography in Adverts:

This is an example of good typography. I like the typography in this ad as it shows not only the name of the country, Paris, but also the Eiffel Tower, which is an iconic building of Paris. It is able to get its idea of ‘Travel with words, meet the world.’ to the audience easily just with this simple word by showing the Effiel Tower in the word ‘Paris’. It is well aligned in the center of the ad, making it very eye-catching. The letters are well kerned to have fitting spacing between each letter, making the word easy to read and pleasant to the eye. Lastly, the letter ‘A’ is bigger than the rest of the letters and of a different colour, making the imagery of the Effiel Tower easy to spot. 

This is an example of bad typography. Its words are aligned in the center and fills the whole space, making the whole ad look crammed. And we can see the kerning is not done well as well. The letters in ‘Thrill show’ are too close to each other as compared to the ‘Dare Devil’ above it. There is no art or inspiration in the typography and it is very plain and overloading with information.

This is it for this entry. Thank you.