4. Text

4 Text ● In addition to images, text is the most important graphic design element. 4.1 History of writing ● Text is a process of development from a mural with artistic and religious colors or an illustration representing the environment derived from daily necessities to a coding system with the help of abstract symbols. ● 4.1.1 Pictographs and epigraphs ○ Egyptian hieroglyphs were one of the most famous scripts in the early writing system, expressing objects through specific graphics. ○ Simplified object images/graphics or abstract symbols with specific meanings are called morpheme words. ■ If the morpheme text is very specific, it is called an epigraph. ○ Ideographs are slightly changed and combined epigraphs, and can be said to be freely formed and created symbols; the concepts it represents are not concrete. ● 4.1.2 Sumerian cuneiform ○ The name of the cuneiform script comes from its artistic shape. ● 4.1.3 Phoenicians and Greeks ○ The English alphabet widely used today can be traced back to the alphabet used by the Phoenicians in the first century BC. ○ "Haleph" became the first letter in Greek. ● 4.1.4 Roman and Latin scripts (fonts) ○ The name of the Roman cuboid is derived from the shape of the Latin alphabet, which is particularly like a square, and includes inscribed capital letters and square capital letters. ○ In the Renaissance, in order to maximize the beauty of the glyphs, Italian printers used glyphs engraved with capital letters as a model for printing fonts. ○ The Romans used a relatively smooth writing style; that is, vulgar capitalization. ● 4.1.5 Medieval font evolution ○ The fonts of the post-classical period and the early rise of the Middle Ages were influenced by the Ansel style. ○ During the reign of Charles the Great, the development of writing began to have unified standards. Under his leadership, Caroline Little Italic was born, which became an important milestone in the evolution of typefaces to modern typefaces. ○ After the Carolingian lowercase appeared in Gothic lowercase, in the 14th century this type of font was divided into two main branches: round and textile. ○ Until the late 20th century, in the German book market, Gothic fonts with angular features were still widely used, such as Schwabacher and Fraktur. ■ At the same time, in other countries outside of Germany, Latin fonts dominated the world, while their close relatives, Gothic fonts, crowded out everywhere. ○ Another important reason for the widespread use of Latin fonts is that they have better readability. ● 4.1.6 The invention of Western movable type printing ○ Johannes Gutenberg was the inventor of Western movable type printing. ■ Before Gutenberg invented movable type printing, Europe used woodcut printing plates for printing. ● 4.1.7 Italian type printing and Latin fonts ○ The main fonts used of the early Latin fonts were Renaissance fonts. In this font, the lowercase letter o and the uppercase letter O are shaped like complete circles, and the letters C, D, b, d, e, etc. are also biased toward a circle. In addition, the width of each capital letter is obviously different. ○ It can be said that the Renaissance and the classicism typefaces constitute the poles of the different design principles of the Latin alphabet. ○ The typical Renaissance fonts are round and square with capital letters that are different in width and have open character. ● 4.1.8 Renaissance fonts in Venice ○ The line at the thinnest part of the character is slanted, which is usually obvious from the letter O. ○ Although the line thickness is different, these differences do not appear abrupt. ○ The line of the lowercase e is always slanted. ● 4.1.9 French Renaissance font ○ The inclination of the line at the thinnest line is not obvious. ○ The difference in line thickness is significantly greater than the Renaissance font in Venice. ○ The horizontal line of the lowercase letter e looks horizontal. ● 4.1.10 Classical font ○ For classic fonts, font designers try to make the width of each letter the same. ○ The first thing to distinguish between Renaissance fonts and classic fonts is to see whether the width of capital letters is different or equal. ○ The second way to distinguish them is to look at the ending lines of round letters. ■ Renaissance fonts are dynamic and open; classicist fonts are more boxed and give a static feeling. ○ Classical fonts are the darling of fashion magazines and lifestyle magazines. ● 4.1.11 Transition font or Baroque font ○ The most famous transition fonts are Caslon font and Baskerville font. ○ Scope of use: Renaissance fonts are the most extensive typefaces in books, and transitional fonts are common in newspapers and magazines. If you choose a usable font for large texts, classical fonts are rarely used. ● 4.1.12 Strong serif font ● 4.1.13 Sans serif font ○ Many sans serif fonts are based on the glyphs of classicist fonts. ● 4.1.14 Geometric font ○ In the 1920s and 1930s, German artists, designers, and Bauhaus architects were all looking for ways to return to simple basic geometric shapes. ■ Fonts also began to pursue the basic principles of geometry. ○ In professional graphic design, these line-type fonts are considered very suitable for use in headlines. Even laymen often choose these fonts because they are attracted to one of the letters. ● 4.1.15 Sans serif fonts based on Renaissance fonts ○ Sans serif fonts such as Helvetica, Univers, and Arial are all based on classic fonts, while geometric fonts have their own way. ○ British sculptor and panel designer Eric Gill also created a sans serif font called Gill Sans. ○ Sans serifs that use classic fonts as templates convey a more static, refreshing, and elegant feeling, while sans serifs that use Renaissance fonts as templates look more flexible and friendly. ● 4.1.16 Digital Revolution ○ Until the 1980s, the publishing industry used lead to cast fonts for manual typesetting. ○ Virtual typesetting on the display opened up new horizons for designers interested in layout design. ● 4.1.17 Fonts on the display ○ Although the resolution of computer monitors is slowly increasing, Kyoto is getting higher and higher, and the so-called anti-aliasing display technology can enhance the readability of the text on the monitor, the requirements for fonts on the monitor are completely different from those on the printer. ■ For ex., the classical Bodoni font is classified as a strong serif font on a computer monitor, and its fine details and flexible shapes are difficult or almost impossible to present. ○ Widely used screen fonts: Arial, Georgia, MS Trebuchet, Tahoma, Times and Verdana fonts. 4.2 Fonts and nuances ● Classical typefaces are the four typical representatives of sans serif typefaces: Grodesk, Helvetica, Arial, and Univers. ○ The Arial font, which is widely used in various systems, is particularly rejected by most graphic designers. ● To quickly determine the type of font, certain contact and enthusiasm are indispensable. ● The difference between fonts is not the difference in shape between individual letters, but the difference in overall effect when all subtitles are placed on one page. 4.3 Font classification (German standard 16518) ● 4.3.1 Group 1: Renaissance fonts in Venice ○ Venice's Renaissance font is the source of Latin fonts. It is suitable for choosing the typeface of the novel describing the Renaissance period, the typeface for other texts about traditional themes, or the typeface for the web page of an ancient art seller. This set of fonts can also be used in places related to gardening, landscape architecture, vegetable name labeling, cooking recipes and cosmetics. ○ Representative fonts: ITC Beekeley Old Style, Centaur, Golden Type, Adobe Jenson, ITC Legacy Serif, Schneidler ● 4.3.2 Group 2: French Renaissance fonts ○ The printing of books, especially novels, mainly uses the deformed form of the Renaissance font in Venice-the French Renaissance font. This set of fonts is the most commonly used font in our daily lives. ○ Representative fonts: Adobe Garamond, Mendoza, Meridien, Minion, Palatino, Sabon, etc. ● 4.3.3 Group 3: Baroque ○ This font is mainly used in newspapers and periodicals. ○ Representative fonts: ITC New Baskerville, Adobe Calson, ITC Bookman, Linotype Concorde, Times, Utopia ● 4.3.4 Group 4: Classical font ○ Classical fonts are mainly used in layouts related to fashion, especially for those who design classic text. The glyphs of this group of fonts are clear and precise and are also suitable for the layout of precise mechanical texts. ○ Representative fonts: Bitstream Bodoni, Walbaum, Linotype Didot, Linotype Centennial, ITC Century, ITC Zapf Book ● 4.3.5 Group 5: Strong serif font ○ The serif is thicker than the serif in the classicist font. ○ Representative fonts: Clarendon, Linoletter, Officina Serif, Museo Slab, Serifa, Memphis, City, Candida, Courier ● 4.1.6 Group 6: Sans serif font ○ Representative fonts: Helvetica, Univers, Corporate S, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Myriad, Meta, Officina Sans, TheSans, ITC Johnston, Gill Sans, ITCLegacy Sans, Graublau Sans, Stainless, Museo Sans, Avenir, Futura, Avant Garde ● 4.3.7 Group 7: Other Latin fonts ○ All non-Gothic fonts, non-Latin fonts, and fonts that do not belong to the other eight groups are classified as "Other Latin fonts". ○ Representative fonts:Copperplate, Diavlo, Lithos, Ruthless, Moby, Handel Gothic ● 4.3.8 Group 8: Writing ○ Derived from smooth handwriting, mostly connected to each other. ○ Representative fonts: Amazone, Monterey, Shelley Allegra Script, Arcana, Caflisch, Zapfino ● 4.3.9 Group 9: Handwritten Latin font ○ Representative fonts: Chauncy Decaf, ITC Clover, ITC Humana Script, ITC Kristen, Marker Felt, ITC Skylark 4.4 Font matrix ● 4.4.1 Main font groups ○ Latin fonts can be roughly divided into five main font groups: serif fonts, strong serif fonts, sans serif fonts, handwriting, and Gothic. ○ Serif fonts: From Renaissance fonts in Venice to classicist fonts, all serif fonts fall into this group, including modern versions of all classical fonts and fonts that do not emphasize serifs. ○ Strong serif font: Based on the 19th-century font trend, it includes classic and modern font versions, and new fonts have been added. ○ Sans serif (Sans): The word "Sans" comes from the French word meaning "no", and is a common name for sans serif fonts. ○ Writing fonts: The first three groups are called "typesetting fonts", and the writing is indeed written by people. ● 4.4.2 Subdivision according to shape ○ Fonts generally have two shapes: dynamic fonts and static fonts. Geometric fonts were also added in the 20th century, as well as "other fonts" that could not be clearly categorized. ○ Dynamic font: The shape of this font is generally more free and open, where the capital letters are generally square or square, and the width of each letter is obviously different. ○ Static font: The capital letters in this font are almost the same width, and the ends are arc-shaped letters (such as C, G, S, a, c, e, and s). The ends of the strokes of these letters almost form a closed circle. ○ Geometric fonts: Bauhaus font designers follow geometric principles. ○ Other fonts: italic, artistic, handwritten and others. ● 4.4.3 Text font or decorative font? ○ Text font: Text font refers to the fonts that use the public reading habits. ○ Decorative fonts: Decorative fonts either do not include all Latin letters or add more decorative elements. 4.5 Font mixing ● Certain fonts with rich styles (standard, italic, bold, bold italic, semi-bold) can basically be used in all situations. In addition, we can also mix different fonts. ● The most frequently mixed fonts are the so-called serif and sans-serif fonts, which are used for titles and text. ● There must be sufficient differences between the two mixed fonts. ● 4.5.1 Can I mix more than two fonts? o The answer is yes, provided that the effect is better. o Appropriate font size differences can alleviate the conflicts that may arise when fonts are mixed. ● 4.5.2 Mixing fonts according to matrix o A dynamic serif font can be perfectly used with another dynamic strong serif font, such as Adobe Garamond or Chaparral. o Static fonts work better with each other. o Because geometric fonts consist of simple and well-balanced basic shapes, many of them can be mixed with other fonts. ● 4.5.3 The fonts in the same row in the matrix must not be mixed! ● 4.5.4 Mixed text fonts and decorative fonts o Many variations of many standard fonts include decorative fonts, which can perfectly match the original standard fonts. ● 4.5.5 Clan of fonts o All fonts in the same clan can be mixed, which is very suitable for creating harmonious visual effects. 4.6 Graphic designer as a typesetting worker ● Before the popularity of personal computers, the typesetting of printed materials was done in the workshop by so-called typesetting workers. ● 4.6.1 Phototypesetting ○ With the aid of optical principles, there are techniques for shooting text onto photosensitive film or photo paper. ● 4.6.2 Computer typesetting ○ Computers cannot automatically create pleasing articles ● 4.6.3 Important professional concepts ○ Latin font is one of the most widely used fonts in the world today. ○ Word width: The width of the entire letter including the front and back spaces. ○ Handwriting: The concept of handwriting originated from the field of calligraphy and represents the shape of written symbols. ○ Line space: The space between the lines. If you want to set a 12-point line spacing for a 10-point font, fill in a 2-point line space. ○ Whole word space: The width of the whole word space isn’t fixed, but depends on font size; the font size and width of the whole word space are both 10 points. ○ Baseline: For example, the horizontal line at the bottom of the capital letter H. ○ Small capital letters: refers to capital letters with the same height as the small letters. ○ Italics: This concept comes from the Latin word "currere", which originally meant "running". ○ Ligature: Connects two or more letters together. The most common ligatures are fl, ffl, fi, ffi. ○ Lowercase numbers or medieval numbers: the height of lowercase numbers is almost the same as lowercase letters. In addition, arrays like 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 have descending parts. ○ Ascending part: The ascending part refers to where letters like b, d, f, h are higher than the height of x. ○ Proportional numbers: The digital forms of general fonts are used for table layout. ■ Shu Zezeng, with different word widths and balanced character spacing, is called a proportional number. Such a number will be very beautiful when used in text. ○ Font family: A collection of various font styles that match each other. There are generally four types of font styles in font families: whole, italic, bold, and bold italic. ○ Font size: corresponds to the height of the font. ○ Font style: Another classification standard of font style is character width extremely narrow font becomes compressed, narrower is condensed, wider is extended or wide. ○ Serif: The so-called serif is the decorative detail at the end of the letter strokes. ○ Character spacing: Expand the distance between letters to the extreme to become sparse. In general, thinning is more suitable for sentences composed of capital letters because there are often unsightly gaps between capital letters. ○ Table numbers: Different from proportional numbers, in table numbers, all numbers have the same width. Strictly speaking, it is not the width of the number itself, but the width of the position it occupies. ○ Lower part: The lower part refers to the part where the letters highlight the baseline; we can see the lower part in the letters g, j, p, q and italic f. ○ Word spacing: In the simplified word "Tom", there is a gap between T and o due to the shape of the letter. If you let o cut in from below T, you can visually balance the distance between the characters. The distance adjusted in this way is called kerning. ○ Uppercase numbers: The height of uppercase numbers is generally the same as uppercase letters. ○ X height: it is the height of the lowercase letters. ○ Characters: In text layout, characters can be any shape that can be printed, including all letters (upper and lower case), numbers, punctuation, symbols, and illustrations. ○ Line spacing: The distance between the baseline of a text line and the baseline of an adjacent text line.