If we agree that information is the communication or acquisition of knowledge which allows us to increase or specify what we know about a certain subject, we will agree that the role typography plays in this process is fundamental.
Everyday, we find ourselves dealing with different kinds of information: journalistic (graphics and audiovisual media), instructive (handbooks, user instructions, installation guides, interactive screens), touristic (maps, guides and information booths), for events (screens, billboards), depending on the function each of them performs.
Likewise, the kind of information may be categorized depending on the media used to broadcast it: these could be audible (radio, loudspeakers), audiovisual (cinema, television, and internet) or printed (newspapers, magazines, leaflets). In the last years, we witnessed an outstanding growth of the media (internet, games, touch screens, control panels) where the users or intended audience can select from a repertoire of more or less limited possibilities.
Based on this, it is important to be aware that a very same message, when broadcasted through different kinds of media, changes depending on the corresponding communication technique, and thus the way it is perceived and decoded by the audience will also change.
Though information campaigns involve a wide media repertoire (many times combining different means), we will now focus on printed means and study some of its performance characteristics, especially those related to how information is treated based on typographic criteria.
Following the example we will practice in the workshop, the textual content of the informative leaflet is divided in three parts.
The first one is common to the rest of the pieces: name and identity of the event, basic information about place and date, together with sponsors’ identification. The visual arrangement and hierarchy criteria for each of these will be common to the rest of the pieces and will be part of one of the typographic programs that will result in the final system.
The second part is made up by general descriptions, i.e.: the description of the event and its topic treated and arranged according to its importance in the leaflet.
The third part is a group of twenty texts of the activities that will take place as part of the event. In each of them, we will also find four different levels of information: a) Subtopic, lecturer or speaker, b) Date and time, c) Room or specific place, d) A brief description of the activity. The first three should be completed and the specific characteristics of the event will be defined based on them. The forth is a text with a number of characters which cannot be changed.
As we have already mentioned, the first two parts (the texts as to the identity of the event and the general descriptions) will be sorted out by following concepts which have already been practiced and the method for doing so will be left to each student’s own discretion. But the organization of the information provided in the third group of texts deserves a separate consideration.
First, we will distinguish the specific data for each activity (a, b and c), its description (d), however brief this may be. Here it is necessary to put ourselves in our audience’s shoes. To analyze whether it is convenient or not to delete repetitive textual information (the words «place», «date», «time», etc.) and to look for the most adequate manner of organizing the elements in such a way that access to the information will be as easy as possible.
The criteria for organizing these data are basically two: the organized succession of pieces of texts or the making up of a multiple-entry schedule where the data must be short and will make reference to the descriptions, which will be placed in a different part of the leaflet.
If we decide on a succession of blocks of text, these will be organized and grouped according to the information they have in common (for example, the day the event will take place) and within them each element that composes them will be given a hierarchical position (as we have said: subtopic, lecturer or speaker; date and time; room or specific place; brief description of the activity.) Once the audience has read and decoded how hierarchies are defined in one of the blocks of text, he will understand how this criterion works for the rest.
If we choose the combination of timetable group of descriptions, we will once again get two elements: a chart with short data (the schedule) and a succession of pieces of variable length. This succession will have less «accidents» than the succession in the previous option, but at the expenses of the need to be combined with a schedule.
In order to solve the schedule, before working with a huge number of blocks of text, it is convenient to use the tabulation tools and to apply them to the whole group of elements. Thus, by changing a variable in tabulation, this will apply to all the elements it affects.
The purpose of the descriptive leaflet can be improved by combining the typographic resources that we’ve just described with other elements and resources, such as the use of pictograms, miscellanies and chromatic codes.
]]>Karl Gerstner understands a program as a system in which the set of its formal configuration components are organized according to a law that regulates its combinations, and thus, its possible meanings.
A general definition will let us know which system is a set of interrelated elements which contribute to a specific purpose. It might be useful to define the concepts that are part of this definition.
As we are talking about typography, design and communication, we will say that the set of elements is a group of graphic and non-graphic blocks which conform a communication campaign (posters, leaflets, graphic and audiovisual signals, stationery, tickets, promotional items, to name a few); by interrelated we mean that they share stylistic, syntactic and semantic criteria which articulate them and the specific purpose they pursue is what is expected from the campaign: to inform, to persuade, to identify, or several of these at the same time.
A system, then, will be conformed by a few variable and constant characteristics in the elements which make it up. Among others, the choice and typographic treatment, the presence or absence of images, the style, the format, the proportions (between the formats of each element, between its components and between the blocks of text and the margins), its chromatic characteristics, the type of information, the reading type and conditions, the printing quality, the writing tone.
A closed system is one in which the constant characteristics predominate in the different pieces or elements that make up the system. It is often more monotonous, lacking the surprise effect and, many times, predictable. One of the advantages of a closed system is that it is easily recognized.
An open system is that in which the pieces or elements that conform it show more variable characteristics than constant ones. Given its diversity, it is visually richer, but it might be difficult to recognize some of its elements as belonging to that system.
There are people who maintain that a program is the function that relates the different graphic pieces of the system. It is an operation that should achieve that its element, in spite of their differences, be perceived as part of the very same system. However, as shown by the definition of the word, program refers to a list of instructions previously designed to fulfill this or that purpose.
So we can talk about the program when a number of possibilities or applications (instructions) suited to different situations, and which allow for coherence within diversity is established beforehand.
Thus, the program defines constant criteria that help us arrange the diversity both for formal as for conceptual aspects (conceptual breaking up of the pieces.)
Programmatic thought can be applied to different axis: programs can be developed based on typographic criteria (combinations, line breaks or relations between type sizes and leading, etc. —see examples at the end—), photographic criteria (shooting range, framing), chromatic criteria (tint, saturation) or we may create a program that organizes a complex operation where several programs are combined at the same time, i.e., a program of programs or a logic plan.
Thus, a system may be simultaneously guided by one or more programs. But not necessarily every system will be guided by one or several programs. That is to say, a system may consist of elements with constant characteristics that had not been planned as a program.
In an article published some time ago in the tipoGráfica magazine, Norberto Chavez states that a graphic message, is not, but is useful for. “…The graphics message shows (…) its character of machine, of tool, of technical wit useful for producing some specific practical results.” And these results are, as we have already mentioned: to inform, to persuade, to communicate. Further on, he asserts that the message must fulfill six functions: (1) getting the sender in touch with the recipient; (2) informing the recipient about what the sender wants; (3) persuading the recipient about what it is said; (4) showing the sender and his attributes so as to let the origin be known; (5) explaining how that should be read and (6) pleasing the recipient. That is to say: contact, information, persuasion, identification, conventionality and esthetic.
A poster is a specific piece of communication: its message is transmitted throughout distance and many times the recipient is in motion. The recipient cannot take it with him to read it later (as he may do with a newspaper or a magazine), and that is why the poster should transmit its whole message in the place where it is seen.
If we may sum it up even more, we can say that the nucleus of the message a poster should transmit is constituted by the classic functions of visual communication: to communicate the what (in this case, an event), the when (the period of time when it will take place, and if necessary, the date and time), the where (place or places) and the who (the event organizer.) In order for this piece to meet this goal (to transmit the content, to inform the recipient), the proportions of its components, the treatment of color, the images and the text should be displayed in such a way that (as Chaves says) «they produce some effect on the recipient which is favorable to the intentions of the sender: to pay more attention to it, to understand it as it is intended, to make it personal, to feel oneself identified with the ideas transmitted, to feel joy at contemplating the message…»
No doubt that apart from the rhetoric and significant resources to which we resort to, a poster is a graphic piece characterized by its shortness. Minimun, clear, quick, shocking. Other attributes are: clarity, impact, good form. A poster for an event should inform the name of the event (if necessary, a description), date and time of the event (pay special attention in the case of periods of time, that is, when the event includes different activities) and the place of the event (again, we should pay attention to the fact mentioned above: one or several places.) An of course, we must identify the event and its organizer, our client.
An informative leaflet is a complex element. It does not behave neither as a piece of art, nor as a poster. It shares many of their goals, but its content is different. And so are the conditions under which the recipient gets access to it. He will certainly have time to read it, and he can take it with him. Going back to the analysis made by Norberto Chaves, we may see that out of the six functions the message should fulfill (contact, information, persuasion, identification, conventionality an esthetic), in the case of the informative leaflet, special care should be put in the treatment of the second one (information).
Information in the leaflet is transmitted by means of texts with different characteristics, with different levels of complexity and development. In order to guide our practice, we will mention some of the most frequent types of text in this piece of communication.
It has to do with the subject or purpose which is the reason for the event. It defines and delimits it; it explains the organizer’s approach, their points of view, the selection criteria for the participants. It is a text where ideological and technical contents predominate.
It is basic information, data for the potential audience to know where and when something will happen.
Sometimes a small specific explanation may be included in the information. For a better reading of this data, they are usually processed and arranged in such so as to make it more accessible and easier to perceive within all the information regarding the event.
Thus, the reader is simultaneously informed about more than a single piece of information, reading it in a manner that is not linear. That is to say, charts and graphics with double and sometimes triple entries are produced.
Se trata de información básica, datos para que el potencial asistente se entere dónde y cuándo sucede qué cosa. A veces puede incluirse entre los datos alguna explicación específica menor. Para una mejor lectura de estos datos, se los suele procesar y ordenar de forma tal que sea más fácil acceder a ellos y percibirlos dentro de la totalidad de la información del evento. Así, el lector se informa simultáneamente de más de un dato, en un tipo de lectura que no es lineal. Para ello, se confeccionan cuadros y gráficos de doble y a veces de triple entrada.
A ticket for an event has a specific function which is not that neither of informing nor of persuading, but it will be used as an element that allows access to the event. However, it should be somehow related to the other elements in the system that allow for it to be identified with the event. It requires special care in order to avoid falsifications or adulterations if the access is not free; thus we resort to special colors, security marks (stamps, tags) and sometimes they are even printed with non-conventional procedures, which are supposed to be of difficult access for counterfeits.
The information contained in it is similar to that in the poster: it will inform about the event, date and time (in general or about the specific activity) and place where the activity will take place. It is also numbered for internal control and it includes specific information such as row, seat, etc.
The receiver gets a promotion leaflet in the position of figure 1. When he opens it, he gets image 2, and thus, with each new foldout, 3 and 4, the format is duplicated, the text becomes persistent and the type sizes get bigger. After the dramatic climax which is shown in «…sell, sell, sell!» (image 4) it is rounded off with an advertising text inviting to advertise in the magazine (image 5: the purpose of the piece.)
Reading is affected by a rhythmical intensification and remains incorporated into a typographic composition. It consists of a sequence where the text (its content) and the typography (its shape) are simultaneously developed on each paper foldout. At the same time, in each instance there are parts hierarchically organized over other by adequate treatment of space and type size growth.
In this second example we will see pieces belonging to a music store, integrated by means of a very peculiar typographic program. From the store brand (image 6) a structure was designed (image 7) where the constants of the brand (boîte à musique) are maintained and a typographic miscellany frame (rules with a width related to the stroke of the type that makes up the brand). Taking as guidelines the directions created by the brand, a structure which considers a few variations in format, proportions and possible configurations was built.
Each of these configurations allows for the brand to adapt to the specific characteristics of the pieces on which it is applied, be them advertisements (8 and 10) or stationary (9).
This identity program answers the following questions: who? (Bech, the owner), what? (Electronic, the goods), how? (Centre, how it is offered.)
The coincidence with the initials of the brand (bec) is exploited in a crossword puzzle. Different letter combinations to combine the company’s name are practiced, with horizontal predominance in one case, and with vertical predominance in the other.
The presence of these combinations, adapted to the different proportions and formats of each piece (advertisement, promotional material, stationary) identifies the sender and unifies the system, based mainly on typographic resources.
Bibliography
Apart from capitals and lower case, numbers, punctuation marks and commercial signs, there are other non alphabetic typographic signs: miscellanies. By miscellany we refer not only to dingbats and decorative elements, but also to any graphic element related to the composition.
As regards typography, a text is a set of letters grouped in words; one horizontally placed after the other from left to right forming lines grouped one above the other. This grey stain has its own color, as a result of the family and type size in which it is composed, the chosen variable and the letter-space and leading.
We use the term miscellany to designate those other elements that may be part of a composition or a of certain piece, coexisting with the text and images and which, as regards composition, play an essential role in the organization of information. That is to say, there is no direct referent for the term miscellany (it is not something physical or material), but it will actually be its function what defines when an element may be considered miscellany or not.
The term miscellaneous (adjective) is used to categorize those things composed of different elements or different genres. It is a synonymous of mixed, varied. Miscellany is then a broad, comprehensive, sometimes ambiguous term. This is why we can exemplify this concept with different kinds of elements.
Examples of miscellany are rules, with several uses: underlining, separation of blocks of text, column division, table composition, etc. Just as characters of a typeface have a typographic color (weight) and a certain stroke, rules also have different thickness and strokes (continuous, dotted). It is important to make this aspect compatible with the font family being used.
We can add other groups of signs to the miscellany group, such as vignettes, ornaments and borders, which are formally and significantly related to certain artistic periods. Though the most frequent function of miscellany is to emphasize parts of the text without dominating it all, its use is supplemented by merely decorative applications.
Another example is those fonts especially designed to be used as miscellany or complements of other families: it is the case of Fella Parts, by Emigré, with many such alternatives in its catalogue. There are also other groups of characters that represent various symbols (zodiac, business, travelling, sports, etc.), such as the Communications group of the Agfatype catalogue. But these characters are sometimes so figurative that, again, only their use will determine if they are miscellaneous in nature.
Miscellanies have their antecedents in the initials and borders with which medieval scribes illuminated their manuscripts. Producing a manuscript was expensive and time demanding, values and lifestyle in those times were very different from nowadays. It is a coincidence that those initials and frames were so elaborated. Anyhow, illustration and ornamentation were not mere decorations. There was a concern for the educational value of illustrations and the ability of ornaments to create mystic and spiritual touches.
Historically, alphabetic and non alphabetic typographic elements were formally similar, as a result of using the same means of reproduction (xylography, stone carving, etc.).
Technological development and the forthcoming of more modern procedures (wood and lead types, first; hot-type composition and photocomposition later; desktop publishing nowadays) enriched the scene and brought about new situations. In the XIXth century, for example, miscellanies were complex, as they were used in highly elaborated pages, with a lot of Victorian style decoration; the 20th century avant-gardes (Futurism, Constructivism, De Stijl, Dadá, Bauhaus) used them for more functional purposes. They incorporated geometric criteria, simply and powerfully enhancing concepts like dynamism, direction, speed and chaos.
As the amount of printed material grew larger, their form began to change. Visual impact began to play an essential role, reading was not done line by line but at a glance, and only that which caught one’s attention was read in detail.
Text, image and miscellany often coexist, in different pieces, somehow relating with one another. Depending on the harmony or the contrast one wants to generate, these relations can be based on: formal (color, representation form, etc), significant (in reference to styles and certain historic movements) or strictly typographic, (typeface family weight, type size and type of stroke) features.
In some occasions, the function of each element (alphabetic and non alphabetic) begins to mingle, giving place to different possibilities, among which we can describe the most important ones:
1. Miscellany as image: Increasing their size, miscellany, ornaments and vignettes stress their command in the composition (see example). The disruptions caused by increasing the size may become significant.
2. Images as miscellany: With today’s technology we can reduce an image’s size, reproduce it with a simplified structure and adjust it to typographic criteria, to make it work as miscellany. The signs thus obtained, sometimes compiled and commercialized as typographic fonts, propose non traditional situations, in which opposite relations may come up.
3. Letters as images: A single letter, a word or a group of words may become an image, moving away from their primary function.
In the 20th century, the avant-gardes played with these possibilities, destroying regularity and the inertia of traditional composition. An example of these possibilities is calligrams (poems where the text smear adopts a certain form, trying to represent the content of the poem) and futurist compositions with their “words in freedom”.
4. Letters as miscellany: A letter can loose its main textual function or complement it with an ornamental function.
Thus, miscellany becomes an interesting decorative accessory. The readability of this type of compositions will depend on the designer’s intentions. We can include capitular initials in this group (see examples: capital letters in Minion Swash Expert Italic).
In these cases it is very useful to become familiar with the criteria for the selection and combination of typeface families described in the article: Family classification, selection, and combination.
]]>A rational approach to the study of the great variety of existing families implies minimal notions of classification systems. First it is necessary to know the characteristics of the families available in detail. It is not convenient to indiscriminately collect a large number of families with an origin or quality difficult for us to define. Once we have observed them and know them in detail, we can arrange them in our file, keeping in mind some of the best known classification systems. In the Design, Typography and Graphic Arts Dictionary, José Martínez de Sousa mentions twenty three different typographic classification systems. Among them, we can mention:
Each system adopts classification criteria that unfortunately are not homogeneous: historic criteria (oldstyle, transitional, modern) coexists with formal criteria (serif, sans serif, geometric), functional (text, fantasy, labeling) or with those referred to production technology (incised, script, handwritten, calligraphic). Problems in nomenclature and weakness to include newly designed families, experimental families, or multi-style families into the system’s categories, to mention some of the most outstanding cases, make the classification task more complex, and let us conclude that there is not an efficient system to classify all the existing families. It is important to bear in mind that the most important systems (Thibaudeau, 1924; Vox-ATypI, 1964) were elaborated before the irruption of the desktop publishing software, i.e., before the design and development of a large part of contemporary families.
So what criteria should we follow?) Why should we learn these concepts? Knowing the systems and the criteria that regulate them allows us to put some order in the search, selection and filing of the available families. It helps us find similar families to replace those for which we have no fonts available. It is also important to know the systems because some of the criteria used in classification systems constitute cultural and historic traditions shared by readers from all times.
The typographic choice is a fundamental decision in any piece of communication design. It must adjust itself to the characteristics of the contact (both in meaning and in structure) and to the intention with which the project is devised. Before choosing a family, we can ask ourselves some questions in order to direct the work:
From the point of view of meaning, an adequate choice of typeface family can help express states of mind, emotions, or associations to certain institutions, products, lifestyles, or historic periods, as needed. We should not let only our personal taste lead us, it is important to imagine the effect the chosen family will have on the reader.
We can also choose a family based on the relation it establishes with the images that will surround it, or if it is a long text, based on its performance, i.e., the number of characters that fit in a page. We should not forget that not only the typeface selection but also the kind of typographic composition of the piece will have an influence on the result.
In order to combine families it is necessary to define guidelines, criteria and arguments, as there are no too precise recipes as to this. An intuitive typeface combination frequently offers surprising and novel solutions.
Some criteria to bear in mind:
Bibliography
The purpose of this essay is to provide the student with the basic information necessary for the adequate treatment of texts, a task that will bring together most of the activities from the level 2 workshop.
A typeface family is a set of alphabetic and non alphabetic signs with common structural and stylistic characteristics, which allow them to be recognized as belonging to one system.
The alphabetic signs that compose the typeface family are capitals letters, accented capitals letters, lowercase letters, accented lowercase letters, and capitals and lowercase ligatures. Non alphabetic signs are numbers, punctuation marks and commercial signs.
There are families that have a third system, small caps, capital signs of a smaller size which maintain the lowercase typographic color (unlike a capitals letter reduced to the x height).
The concept of type size has to do with the printing technique in which movable types are used. It is the vertical size of the type’s face, considering the whole lead block.
This measure includes ascenders, x height, descenders and a small space (called shoulder) for the descender of a line not to touch the ascenders of the line below.
When composing different typeface families with a same type size, the x heights, the capitals heights and the ascenders and descenders may not coincide. The reason for this is that though the original lead type has the same type size for all of them, each family was designed based on different criteria.
Measurement units more frequently used in typography are based on two systems: the Anglo-American one, widely known in the whole world because most desktop publishing programs take it as master system, and Didot one, used in many European countries.
In both systems the measurement unit is called point, abbreviated as pt. Thus, as we may mistake different measurement systems, we need to make clear which we one are referring to: 12 Anglo-American pt conform 1 pica, while 12 Didot pt, conform 1 Cicero. The Anglo-American point is slightly smaller than the Didot one.
The line gauge is used to measure type size; it is a metallic or celluloid ruler with series of slots or lines repeated several times, with a fixed distance between them. It is used to measure lead types, but it can also be placed on the lines of text until finding the distance between lines by comparison and coincidence.
Another possibility is to use a celluloid sheet with groups of letters of different type size printed on it (usually capitals, lowercase with ascenders, descenders and without them) as indicated under each group. Placing the ruler on the texts to be measured, its approximate type size may be obtained (this varies depending on the family to be measured).
Nowadays layout and illustration programs measure typeface with a tool that looks like a frame or a palette. It is very easy to use: the text to be measured or modified is selected and the desired value is entered in the corresponding box.
Typographic variables are alternative alphabets within a same family, because they maintain the structural and stylistic relation. These variables allows us to solve hierarchy problems and reading levels within a text, generating different rhythms or weights within a same sign system.
First, variables affect letters in three basic axes:
Weight modifies the letter stroke and thus its color and that of the text, the axis affects the structure producing variations in rhythm, while width modifies structure and produces changes in text performance.
With the upcoming of typeface systems such as Rotis and Stone (multi-style families that overcome the boundaries of classification groups) a new variable emerged that we may call style variable. The style variable can vary, for example, from a sans serif to a roman, maintaining basic essential features.
Today there are families that allow changing the sign width and weight while maintaining its optical corrections, thus creating the variable needed for the piece to be performed.
These measures are part of the font characteristics, that is, the typographic designer defines these measures following the stylistic criteria of the typeface he created.
The interletter space is the space between one letter and the next within the same word: it must be wide enough for each sign to be perceived as different from the next one and be easily read. If the interletter space is too narrow, the signs will touch with each other; but if it is wide, the word may break up.
Interletter space must be regular in order to establish a smooth reading rhythm. For this purpose, the distance between characters must have a relation with the internal space in each sign (counterform). Interword space is the space between words in a line of text. It must be wide enough to differentiate a word from the next one, but not to wide for the line to break into words.
Leading is the space between each line of text. It is measured from the line where letters rest on (baseline) to the next baseline. If this space is too narrow, the block of text smudges, but if it is too wide it breaks into separate lines.
If the line has too many words (wide column), the leading should be a little wider than usual, to make it easier for the reader to find the beginning of the next line.
Obviously, interletter, interword spaces and leading are closely related. Interword space should be wider than interletter space in order to differentiate a word from the next one, but not too wide so as to loose line unity, and it should be narrower than the leading so that reader may see horizontal lines instead of rivers.
Due to these interrelations, it may be said that there is not an optimal interletter or interword space but that it is the relation between them and their relation with leading, which allows for the adequate smoothness of a block of text.
It is the gray smear perceived when looking at blocks of text. As we have seen, it is easy to deduce that the interletter, interword spaces and leading are closely related with typographic color.
If the interletter, the interword spaces and the leading are narrow, the block will look darker. On the contrary, if the interletter space and the leading are wide, the block of text will look lighter. As we said, the leading and the interletter space are related to letter counterform: in open and big counterforms, typography must have an open interletter space, which will result the right color.
Typographic color will also depend on other factors such as the typeface family chosen and the variables used, which should be taken into consideration by the designer at the moment of choosing a family.
Before we begin to design, the text of the communication piece we are going to work on has to be analyzed. With this we may be able to discover a more or less complex organization, being the paragraph its minimal unit of meaning. The paragraph is a visual unit important enough as to be present in isolation from the rest of the discourse. Thus, from an editorial point of view, we can say that the paragraph is the essential unit of a piece.
El párrafo es una unidad visual con una importancia suficiente como para presentarse aislado del resto del discurso. Por lo tanto, desde el punto de vista editorial, podemos afirmar que el párrafo es la unidad fundamental de una obra.
In most cases, regulations express criteria which are common to most people. But, this does not prevent us from experimenting with them or challenging their limits The text’s visual attributes must respect its contents, take into consideration literary codes, etc. But the designer’s experience, together with his knowledge of regulations, makes a novel and functional treatment possible.
A text set flush left is formed by lines of irregular length that begin in an axis set to the left and a fray (lateral profile) to the right, that must be controlled to avoid lines being too even, too uneven or dissonant words from forming.
This type of alignment is easy to read because upon finishing a line, the eye quickly finds the beginning of the next one, always on the same axis. This is due to the occidental direction of reading: from left to right and from top to bottom.
A text set flush right is formed by lines of irregular length that end at an axis set to the right and a fray to the left. These texts are more difficult to read, because the fray affects the beginning of each line, and it is no easy to find its beginning.
A centered text is formed by lines of irregular length symmetrically placed upon a central axis. The text has a fray to each side, and must be controlled in order to look harmonic. This is not advisable for a long text.
A justified or blocked text is formed by lines that fill the whole width of the type page. In this type of composition, extreme care must be put on leading and letter spacing. Nowadays, desktop publishing has very much simplified this heavy task. It is advisable to practice different configurations to solve different situations within a same text. To do this, the designer must have a deep knowledge of desktop publishing programs.
Desktop publishing programs justify block of texts by proportionally separating or adjusting the space between letters and between words, thus obtaining lines of the same length. To avoid «rivers» or forced spacing that affect the uniform block color, programs put a hyphen at the point where the final word of each line is divided, which makes it easier to distribute regular spaces.
In computers, the mechanism of automatic word splitting (automatic hyphenation) is usually configured to English. It is necessary to adapt it to our language’s syllabification, depending on the program we are working with.
In some programs this adaptation is automatic, like Spanish Hyphenation in QuarkXPress before version 6. In some other cases one has to create the document and click on «Spanish».
As hyphenation rules are different in each language, it is essential to learn which rules apply for the syllabification of our language. In Spanish (or better said: Castilian Spanish) there are two types of hyphenation, each one with its defenders and detractors: 1) syllabic division and 2) etymologic division, where words formed by [prefix+root] are divided following the syllabic method as if they were separate words.
Legibility must be one of the main goals of a designer. A legible text does not have to be boring, schematic or just like everything we know. First, it is essential to bear in mind the meaning of the text we are going to work with and the author’s intentions. It is also convenient to know the interests of the target or potential audience for the piece we will design.
One of the most frequent mistakes unskilled designers make is to put their own esthetic intentions or expressive needs before the interests of the author or of the reader. In general, a text is easy to read when it «becomes transparent» to the eyes of the reader and allows the piece to flow with no interferences.
In his Design, Typography and Graphic Arts Dictionary (DETAG for its initials in Spanish), the Spanish typographer and lexicographer José Martinez de Sousa defines the concepts of legibility and readability:
Legibility (s. Legibilidad) Quality a printed text has of being easily read. The word legibility (unlike readability) refers mainly to personal features of somatic nature (vision sharpness, ability, etc) and it is judged by characteristics which are external to the publication: type of paper, printing ink, size, type and type size, line length, leading, illustrations size, etc (i.e. refers to the forms, not to the content). […]
Readability (fr. aptitude à la lecture; s. lecturabilidad) Easy understanding and interpretation of a text, related to style and the argument (i.e., the content). […]
Un buen diseñador (sobre todo si piensa dedicarse al diseño editorial) tiene que estar interesado por la gramática y especialmente por la ortografía, pues tiene la obligación de presentar sus textos con la mayor pureza y precisión, es decir de acuerdo con las reglas del lenguaje escrito. Además de estudiar y practicar estas reglas con frecuencia, es recomendable tener a mano diccionarios y manuales de consulta.
Orthography Set of rules and exceptions that regulate the writing of a language.
Orthotypography Set of orthographic and typographic rules and exceptions that regulate the writing and presentation of graphic elements.
Bibliology Science of the written text and written communication.
Lexicography Scientific technique for the study and creation of dictionaries.
Style correction A specialist intervention in a text written by somebody else to correct those grammatical uses that do not adjust to a normative institution’s rules.
Typographic correction Intervention of an orthotypographist in a composed text to correct the mistakes it may have.akes it may have.
Bibliography
«Independent of what is said, a discourse can be analyzed in terms of some typical formal categories, of its order and specific function, and in its canonical structure. These schematic structures perform an important function, both in discourse production and comprehension, as well as in its storing and reproduction.» Aznar, E. y otros. Coherencia textual y lectura. Barcelona. ICE Horsori. 1991
Magazine design falls in a field between graphics journalism and journalistic communication. It is an integration process between individuals and social groups, and the message is its mediated form. Journalists, or editors, have the socially legitimated role to build social reality as a socially significant reality.
The production of journalistic messages is part of their daily work and the media are the ones in charge of broadcasting those messages and of bringing together an audience and a text in what some authors call a media agreement or reading agreement (a new social agreement.)
The production, circulation and acknowledgment process implies the consensus that society provides to the media as a support which builds and broadcasts meaning over the world, and which is actually a specific case of human communication beyond the reductionist model S > M > R. Though journalism may be included within the basic canons of communication, considering it only the act of “communicating information”, would be minimizing its function, significance and importance. “Journalism is history’s minute hand”, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer used to say.
The industry of information does not build a structurally homogeneous discourse but a complex group of genres and discursive modes. It is actually a systemic model, made up of a group of interacting elements in which a variation in any of them affects the whole group.
The journalistic communication is subjective: Apart from the each person’s subjectivity (based on his rules, values, experiences and impressions), the second essential fact that makes the journalism subjective is choice. On the one hand, the choice of certain words and specific syntax: for instance, it is not the same to say “The police crushed the demonstrators” than to say “The demonstrators were crushed by the police”. The first example is an active voice sentence, it is clear who the responsible agent of the actions is and who the recipient of the action is. The second example is a passive voice sentence, where the presence of the agent is relegated, diminished… and the direct object becomes the new subject of the sentence.
Another instance which accentuates subjectivity is that from the moment it is decided which information will be included in a medium and which one will be excluded, there is a journalist’s personal opinion as to where this information will be placed in the medium, which space it will occupy, whether or not it will include a picture, and if, what the picture will look like, what its title will be, aspects that will be stressed in it and from which point of view, among other elements. All these are choices made based on some subjective criteria and which show the journalist’s position as regards the event he is trying to inform about.
It is mediated: what is published is not a reflection of reality. It is a construction made in the publishing offices based on the little or much information obtained, on a data obtained by the journalist after Consulting the sources and on the editorial line of the company. The journalist works in a very limited space: the publication’s frame.
Then, there is the interpretation each reader makes based on his own perception. Every journalistic creation may be considered as a global word, which the reader fills with meaning, based on his knowledge of language and personal experience. There is double subjectivity: that of the journalist when writing and that of the reader when reading.
It is intentional: each medium’s purposes are countless. Its intentions may be varied, going from informative to recreational purposes, from suggestive to clearly commercial ones. They usually express explicit intentions but also implicit ones: ideological transmission is usually a common aspect to all types of edition. The journalistic message, apart from being a communicable fact, fulfills the formative function given the value judgments it presents.
It is not forced: that is to say, it presupposes the reader’s participation and acceptance, which allows for different degrees of specification. This gives the publications freedom to move within different types of subject areas or with different degrees of commitment within one topic, and thus be able to satisfy more delimited audiences.
It is contextual: ljournalistic texts result from a news event and share certain objective data, values and interpretation rules with their audience. This store of information they share is the context and it will allow for a specific text to get a unique interpretation among the several possibilities, or at least the one closest to the addresser’s original intention.
Generally speaking, in a magazine the following factors participate in communication:
Journalistically speaking, we may classify texts according to some of its own characteristics –discursive forms- which allow them to be framed within a specific genre.
Though some journalistic theorists show some differences in classification, the most characteristic types are:
Basically, magazines work with two types of codes: the linguistic or editorial one, related to the purpose of discourse (vocabulary and syntax used) and the graphic-typographic one which includes the typography(ies) with which the edition will be composed, whether it has images or not and if so, what kind of images, colors, etc.
The selection of the code is closely related to the characteristics of the magazine’s most devoted readers. To their values and expressions. Both codes coexist in the same medium thus conforming a graphic-textual unit which interacts in an efficient way.
It is the “objective” information about an event, without any kind of comment. It must be brief, concise and impersonal. When is an event considered a piece of news? When it is interesting for a large number of people, it is current and not usual, apart from other aspects, such as emotion, conflict, use or personality of the protagonist.
Structurally, the interest in a piece of news decreases. The most important fact is shown at the beginning. Usually, it is described as having an inverted pyramidal structure: decreasing order as regards the importance of the information.
The text of a piece of news consists of the following elements:
The interview is the genre in which the journalist gets in touch with a public figure, the interviewee, on whom there is journalistic interest, due to his statements, to some event, to his position or just to his personality. Its purpose is to inform about a situation, an event, etc. An interview is not only the conversational moment between two speakers, but also the final text the journalist writes after that meeting.
The interview may be written following a chronological order and respecting the basic structure of questions and answers and it may also be written in as an account, in which case the order of questions and answers is not followed exactly as they occurred, and they are also not included in the text. We can find informative interviews and creative interviews. The informative interview is that which focuses on the statements of the celebrities, as they are the ones that contribute their grain to current affairs and justify its publication. The creative interview is that where the personal talents of the interviewer are involved: observation, environment, creation and recreation, world of repercussions and suggestions, more personal prose than foreign one.
As regards its structure, it may be variable, but the most frequent form is the one beginning with an indirect quotation, an interpretative assertion, a summary or, sometimes, a direct quotation. At the beginning of the article, generally in the first or second paragraph, the interviewee is revealed, its skills or authority in the subject matter of the interview are shown and its occasion and its importance are clarified. The body of the interview is a combination of direct and indirect quotations, mixed with transitional explanatory phrases or paragraphs.
Another technique for interview writing is to transcribe the questions and answers in the sequence they were made, or to select the opinion which is considered the most important one, beginning with it and then following the questions and answers order.
In any case, the structure of the interview has three basic parts:
The story is information about events that take place over a period of time told from the very place or near the place where they occurred by informant who was a protagonist, witness or investigator and who knows the circumstances around them.
One of the characteristics of the chronicle is its regularity which allows a same author, a same topic or a same space of reference to be frequently repeated. This repetition ends up giving the reader of the story a feeling of familiarity between the writer and its audience.
We can differentiate chronicles which cover a place and chronicles which cover a topic. Within the chronicles written to inform about everything happening at a specific place are correspondent’s chronicles and special correspondent’s chronicles. Among them are those which are written according to the level of specialization the correspondent has about a specific topic, that is, legal, sports, events, society, parliamentary chronicles.
The length of the chronicle is a fixed one. It usually presents amazing variations and its limit may be established, as a last resort, by the space given by the newspaper. The structure of the chronicle the following:
In short, the importance of knowing the macrostructures of each type of text lies in the possibility of being able to graphically encode such structures, by giving its different parts a hierarchical order, to make its reading and interpretation visually more comprehensible.
Bibliography
Referencias
Graphic resources (newspapers, magazines, fascicles) are partial records of our culture with a certain degree of temporal and spatial relativity. These publications reproduce renewable information and content: they are updated in a specified period of time (daily, weekly, bimonthly, monthly, etc.).
Thus, regular publications must have an initial layout when the time for launching it comes. This layout will be a pattern, a base structure in which the graphic constants that will characterize the publication will be defined.
These graphic constants are: typographic palette, text color, type size, leading, capitulars, miscellanies, frames, margins. When these graphics, typographic and, eventually, photographic elements, are brought together and combined in a certain way so as to meet specific functions, they help define a distinctive code.
An initial layout is designed at the beginning of the project, and all decisions are taken based on it. In most cases, layouts experience changes throughout time: the application of the elements constantly redefines it.
Journalistic sections (world, country, general information, society, sports, etc.) are spatially organized in the publication based on a structure, which is usually another publication constant. Articles that do not belong to a specific section must have a relation with the rest, but setting themselves apart from it at the same time. As it may be seen, a subtle game of constants and variables is put to test in each case.
Regular publications have a constant structure that allows the reader to follow his own reading itinerary. Certain graphic elements allow the reader different quick entries to the page: the title, the pictures, the epigraphs. Also the banner, the section headline, the highlights in the body of the article. They are elements that catch the reader’s eye before the text itself and which suggest different navigations depending on the user’s interests.
Navigation resources make reading smoother and contribute to establishing the hierarchy of the content. This meets the needs specific to regular publications, which, given their dimensions, topic diversity and number of pages require a type of organization suggesting different paths for reading, depending on the interests of each reader. Thus, a reader will only search for general ideas, and other may stop and go deep into the news.
Titling resources are: the opening strip, the banner, the title or headline, and the sub header, lead or summary. Apart from how each reader navigates the piece, the combination banner/title/sub header is articulated as an informative unit. That is, all three together state, place and develop the essential article data. For this, every element in this unit must be seen as an essential complement to the other two: they must not repeat information. At the same time, titling criteria must be coherent throughout the whole publication: they constitute a style.
Heading (1)
Element which unifies a topic when its development demands more than one page. Brief statement that anticipates the kind of event specified in the other events of the titling.
Title (2)
It must clearly state the event, even in the case of topics that are subject to monitoring over certain periods of time. Its originality and clarity establish its quality.
Banner (3)
It places, anticipates and/or contextualizes the information in the title. It is a thematic definition which in many cases adds information. It may be read right after the title, but it is not mandatory to have it. Its main attributions are: accuracy and clarity. Several newspapers give priority to essential information, use short sentences, and avoid subordinations and allusions.
Sub header (4)
It develops the essential information and, thus, it has a relation of reading continuity with the title, regardless of how the reader navigates the piece. In several newspapers it consists of short statements, not necessarily related with each other. These statements allow for syntactic continuity even though phrases are separated by a period. The function of the sub header is to support and feed the title. To contextualize, to arrange the information, to break it down into specific data. In some cases it becomes a summary of what is offered to the reader in the text of the main article. We must avoid sub headers that refer to secondary elements or that draw attention away and affect reading direction.
Apart from the resources we have already explained, there are other types of elements that help process the information of a regular publication. These are the epigraph, highlights, subordinated notes, tables and summaries.
Epigraph (5)
It may be one of the first things the reader sees in the page and its importance is the same as that of the titling elements. It must be clear and accurate. It refers to the picture and adds information; it must not repeat the information in the title, banner or subheading. It must not say what is obvious in the picture.
Instead, it provides the data necessary to clarify what is shown in the picture. These data include names, or information about the people in the picture, a description of the recorded events, or an explanation of anything that is not clear in the picture and any relevant information that may improve that provided by the image (date, place…).
Highlight
It is an element located in the middle of the article, and its main function is to make reading smooth and to highlight information nuclei. Keeping in mind that the reader may superficially scan the article and read only the highlights, their production requires attention and care.
Subordinated notes, tables and summaries
The content of these resources requires in many cases a subsequent elaboration from the basic text. The soundness of its information allows the publisher or editor to extract this text from the main article and adjust its dimension as needed. The presence of these resources and the coherence of their graphic aspect allow them to be used for balancing the design, for compensating empty spaces. Thus, the goal is that their height or width mach the elements they accompany: pictures, other tables, boxes, etc.
In spite of these elements, the editorial structure will be empty if it is not referenced to a specific code. Let’s keep in mind that it will be not only a graphic code: On one hand, the formal representation system requires specific and appealing strategies and answers, which grant identity to each publication. On the other hand, journalistic criteria, ideological approach and language used to get to the reader will also shape that identity.
s designers, we may act as a link between the parties at stake: we may suggest how to read the articles. We can design based on the pictures, the illustrations, or a mixture of both, by associating content in a specific context and reflecting it trough visual image. The department of design contributes to the balance of the editorial project. It is our task to focus on making information simple for the reader and making the structure of the publication he has in his hands as clear as possible. Once he is about to read it, we must help him go further into each article and catch his interest in its content by using clear presentations, with parts in a proper hierarchical order. Editorial design and the typography are indivisible from the information they present and organize. To think of design as a pure form, dissociated from content, is nonsensical.
Bibliography
«Order is the logic of design and it is controlled by space. The organization of this space is a key for both legibility and visual aspect of a graphic piece». Martin Solomon
During the process of building and receiving a message, relations between time and space are established. In a composition, ordering the elements on the plane based on rules of proportion gives the piece a specific rhythm and coherence. This is used by the designer as a tool for establishing visual hierarchies and to clearly express his communicative intention. Modulating the space has nothing to do with an esthetic or stylistic whim. Modulation is a resource of smart and useful design which allows for solving complex communication problems in a multiple and diverse way. And which also assures the unity and the harmonious behavior of the elements used.
When we think about a printed edition, be it is a newspaper, magazine, annual report, or other publication to be read, space must be modulated bearing in mind that most of the times we will be working with texts, thus, we will build a reticle or grid on the basis of typographic criteria.
To that end, the basic element to consider is the leading with which the main text will be composed.
This leading will be the structural unit of our typographic reticle or grid.
To begin with the task of modulating space according to typographic criteria, there are two different procedures that may be tried out:
a. One, we may consider a preconceived idea or a draft showing the characteristics of the printed area and its position on the page. So as to be able to make this draft, we must know all the information as to the text and images to be included in the piece. Besides, we must have a clear idea about how we want to organize this information so it is well received. Thus, taking the draft as a starting point, we perform a modulation that allows adjusting its proportions.
b. We may make a modular structure without any preconceived idea. This means that, previously, we will divide the working space to the most, trying to get a rich enough and versatile grid so as to allow different alternatives for its use. Then, we will perform the page layout.
There is not a single method for designing a grid, since, as we have already said, this depends on each designer’s experience and needs and on each specific piece. However, in order to explain the problem, we will resort to a basic system.
To that end, we have to divide the page vertically – division by fields from top to bottom- as follows:
1. First, we must decide the basic leading we will use in our work, based on what the main text requires. Then, we will find out how many lines fit in the height of the format using that leading.
2. Once we have obtained that number, we will in turn divide the page into 2, 3, 4 fields, etc., subtracting in each case the river that separates them.
For instance:
47 – 1 = 46 / 2 = 23 lines
47 – 2 = 45 / 3 = 15 lines
47 – 3 = 44 / 4 = 11 lines
47 – 4 = 43 / 5 = does not allow an exact division
47 – 5 = 42 / 6 = 7 lines
47 – 6 = 41 / 7 = does not allow an exact division
47 – 7 = 40 / 8 = 5 lines
47 – 5 = 42 / 9 = does not allow an exact division
We understand, then, that the first number corresponds to the whole number of lines in the length to be divided, the second to the subtracted rivers, the fourth to the number of fields and the last one to the result or number of lines per field.
3. Once we have analyzed the modulation possibilities given the leading we have chosen, we will use the result of the division that is most convenient for the purposes of the design (a).
As regards the head and bottom margins, they will be determined taking into consideration one or more fields of the division traced, bearing in mind the concepts developed in previous lessons (b). Once the partition has been made, we will define horizontal modulation based on the requirements of the design. If apart from the main text (how many columns will compose it?) we have other ancillary texts – notes, references, quotes, etc. – this should be considered when making this division.
To move on to horizontal modulation—division by fields from left to right- we will measure the whole page and we will proceed in the same way as we did for vertical division. Once we achieve field division, we will take full advantage of it, so as to obtain a dynamic work, which may contribute to communication by arranging its elements inside a coherent unit (c).
Once we have defined the basic modulation, we may need to include even smaller spatial subdivisions, an issue which is quite frequent when working with columns and tables, thus it is usual to resort to tabulation.
Tabulation is an operation that affects at least a whole paragraph and consists of the following steps: a) select paragraph/s for tabulation, b) select «tabulation attributes» from the corresponding program menu, c) in the dialog box, select the tabulation type needed, d) indicate the spatial location of the tabulation in the width of the line and e) if necessary, a «filling» character for the tabulation space may be indicated.
So as to maintain coherence with the rest of the publication, tabulation should respect the modulation criteria already presented. Thus, a good method is to tabulate keeping the minimal structural unit from our grid: the leading in the main text.
From the moment we chose the leading we are going to work with, we must know which type size works better with that leading. When deciding the column width we will work with, we must keep in mind that type sizes that are too big (over 12 pt, depending on the family) or too small (less than 9 pt, depending on the family) are difficult to read and that a line of text must contain around ten words (depending on the editorial.)
The length of a line of text must be such that when we are done reading it, the beginning of the next line may be found. If excessively short, the change of line interrupts the regular reading rhythm and ends up tiring the reader.
Titles, subtitles, notes, etc., will act as multiples or submultiples of the type size used in the main reading text, either keeping the same leading or adopting a multiple of the previous one.
Bibliography
A book is a block (or book-block) bound with endpapers to covers which are separately produced. The book pages may be printed or not and the method used for binding them may be sewing or gluing them. The type of binding and the materials used for it and the thickness of the book in relation to the size and proportions of the page, will most certainly affect the qualities of the object and, thus, the global impression it will produce.
The «packaging» of the text, will also modify how it will be read. The substrate affects the relation the reader will establish with the text. A newspaper is not read the same way as a book. A novel in newspaper format would make its reading less pleasant.
As regards typography, these aspects are not irrelevant. For instance, whether the publication is glued or sewed will influence the size of the gutter margin, and this will influence the correct or difficult visualization of the block of text.
The book, as a useful object, is determined by the human touch and sight. This sets certain basic parameters as regards its format, thickness and weight. Besides, the book format is defined by the traditions or trends in each period, by paper formats and by the printer, but fundamentally by its nature or purpose.
What is the purpose of classifying books? The following categories described, which are by no means absolute nor the only ones, help us divide a broad field of knowledge as to proportions which are easily handled and provide us with a criteria for analysis, to deal with book design.
In these cases, the format should be easy to handle, relative small and narrow (it should be possible to hold them with only one hand) The paper should be soft, flexible and not too heavy. Also, the color should not be blindingly white. A legible fond type and wide enough interword space and leading (neither too narrow, nor too wide) should be chosen. As to the number of characters per line, 45 to 60 is an ideal quantity. It is advisable to use indentation so that paragraphs may be easily differentiated. As to page layout, avoid widows and orphans. Space may be gained or lost when lines are rearranged. We must try to avoid register from being altered by this, i.e., the lines should be consistent throughout the pages.
They behave the same way straight texts do, as regards handling and legibility, but its distribution per pages is more complex as poetry favors a visually fragmented textuality.
Usually, the space left between the title and the poem itself should have slight variations. To achieve a balance in double-page spread, the poem is usually optically centered in relation to the midfield of the type page. The more uneven the poem verses are, the more complicated this is to achieve. In such case, the book designer must respect line breaks, indentations and lines that begin with capitals and lower case as stipulated by its author.
They will have to be treated differently depending on whether they are plays for classical or experimental theater. In any case, clarity must be maintained using typographic resources to mark the hierarchies and sequences of the reading and thus avoid interpretation ambiguities.
They demand a close cooperation between the illustrator and the typographer. It is necessary for image and text to be conceived as a single entity. Frequently, typography must be fitted into the illustrations and vice versa. They must relate to each other in the best possible way. Some resources to achieve this are: harmony, contrast, size, position, color value.
The sizes and proportions of the reproductions must be big enough so as to be able to appreciate their details. Thus, this type of books is usually considerably big. A reader, sitting in a chair with the book on the table, should be able to see the whole image at a glance. Whichever the book format is, the size of the text should adjust to the reading distance.
They have pictures, sketches, diagrams. They have the same problems text and illustration books have. It usually happens that the text and the image have the same importance. However, images should neither be as big as those in art books nor as small as those in a text book.
The learned work, aimed at readers whose time is precious, has multiple tabular references: division in volumes, chapters, sections, explanatorily pages, introductory summaries, analytical table of contents, proper names index, appendixes, bibliography. Inside there are paragraphs, tables, formulas, color and black-and-white illustrations (pictures, drawings, maps, diagrams), epigraphs, footnotes, etc. In these books it is highly important to achieve the distinction between different parts and different elements by means of different visual resources.
It is the case of dictionaries, encyclopedia, travel guides, museum guides, etc. The user looks for a specific key word. Typography must be adapted so that he may find what he is looking for when scanning the page (generally in a vertical direction.) They are not non-stop reading materials, though there are cases where an entry can take up several columns or pages. Thus, special attention must be paid to text details and appeal once again to every resource available to achieve differentiation.
As this is reading for kids and it is also compulsory, it has to be specially clear and it requires special care as to typography so as to make it attractive and motivational to read. Appealing to the use of shapes, colors, typography, images, miscellany, grid areas and spaces, we may make reading more enjoyable and interesting. All these elements must be in line with each other and be solidly applied so that different text levels can be perceived and differentiated at a quick glance: main text, highlights, comments, exercises.
They could consist of only illustrations, with very little or just some text, depending on whether they are for beginners or advanced readers, pre-adolescents, etc. Usually, it is illustration what predominates, and the text is worked as visual material, with blocks that are linked to the illustrations, along the surface of the page. Big type sizes are used, as they are sources of good legibility (good separation between characters, good leading.) As the reader becomes more skilled, the type size may be reduced.
Frequently, children’s books do not have pagination: the child would not know what to do with it, considering that these books are aimed to be looked at from end to end or contemplated for its images.
Frequently they are no longer functional objects and become pieces of art. In them, text and image coexists. The main difference with other types of books is the use of luxury materials and procedures (papers, binding, special inks, printing methods) and the generous use of space. Very few copies are printed and the price is often high.
Whatever the design principle followed may be, all the components of the book must equitably rest on an unified plan, so that elements which are the same may be treated in the same way from the first to the last page.
Titles and subtitles, the space below the beginning of the chapter, leading, among other aspects, are signs which inform and help transmit the desired atmosphere, while performing specific functions (indicate hierarchy) within the book.
Bibliography