Using Typography to Shape Text and Tailor Layouts
Something isn’t right and you can’t put your finger on it. You have an underlying feeling of dissatisfaction with the design in front of you that you cannot place. Are you chronically unhappy, or is something else at play here? Don’t waste your money on the psychic hotline. Chances are, it’s the typography.
Typography is more than the font you use — it’s also the way text is sized, the length of lines, the line spacing, margins, and more. From tiny details (like using small caps) to big decisions about layout (like how to size columns in a grid), typography can exact a feeling of satisfaction when done right, or an underlying sense that something feels wrong. Every adjustment a designer makes causes other aspects of the design to feel different.
In this seminar, designer Tim Brown will show us how to improve the look of our designs. He’ll provide step-by-step advice to enhance our typographic decisions. He’ll explain how good typefaces, used in layouts that are well proportioned, can emphasize the feelings the text conveys. And he’ll help us see the differences between an off-the-shelf template and a well-considered layout.
Focus on typesetting
- Prepare text and code for great typography
- Select typefaces that are good and appropriate for body text
Craft compositions around typefaces
- Shape text blocks so they look beautiful
- Tailor layouts to the text by using text-based measurements for widths and breakpoints
Designers, writers, editors, and developers interested in typography will benefit from this seminar. Tim will give us an overview of the elements of typography and how typography, language, and layout play equal parts in communicating the essence of a brand and its message.