Typography - My Brief Definition

Typography is the art of generating letters and arranging them in ways that portray messages to the audience. When it comes to typography, artists can manipulate the font (typefaces), the point size, the line length (and the number of lines used), line spacing and letter spacing (tracking) to create text on a media text such as a film or a TV programme.

 

Anyone who creates type in a media text is called a typesetter and there are several jobs in the arts industry who fall under this category: graphic/visual designers, comic book artists (such as the artist who created the title and tag-line in this Spider-Man comic cover) and graffiti artists are just a few examples.

These are some examples of Asian-themed
typefaces.

A media text's typography also expresses emotion and helps the company or editor of that text to categorise themselves into genres. Genres can be distinguished through using codes and conventions of that genre to manipulate the way the writing appears to the audience. For example, an editor of a young girl's magazine may use an informal, fluent font (like this) in a feminine colour such as pink or purple to create a bright, girly atmosphere. Another example would be when a historical TV documentary would use an old-fashioned, plain-coloured typeface (such as this) to appeal to a more mature audience. Typography can also be influenced by elements of a media text, e.g.; location and nationalities, period or era of text's setting and themes like war and super-heroes.

 

HISTORY OF TYPOGRAPHY

Before the global digitalization, typography was a specialised occupation and was an art form. Nowadays, anyone is able to use it. Microsoft's programs allow people of even basic computer skills to use WordArt to create titles and add emphasis to particular words in Word documents and Powerpoint presentations. The Digital Age introduced a new generation of graphic designers and truly revolutionised the media industry.

The earliest forms of typography can be traced back to Ancient Greece when dies were used to make seals and coins. In the 11th Century, China created typography for movable texts (i.e.; TV programmes, films, adverts, etc).

RULES OF TYPOGRAPHY:

Every piece of typography follows these four rules:

 

Repetition - being able to easily reproduce the same typeface.

 

Contrast - the difference in colour between the typeface and image so that an audience can easily distinguish it.

 

Proximity - the size of the typeface and how distinguishable it is for an audience.

 

Alignment - how a type flow is set on a page or a column (sometimes called justification)