Communication with an appropriate typographic choice matters

Every day, we have the opportunity to interact with one communication media or the other and these carry undoubtedly information with letters. A letter commonly defined as a unit of the alphabet springs from what is called a TYPEFACE. 

A typeface refers to a particular type of letter category which can be Roman, Italic, Gothic etc. Talking about a typeface, examples of typefaces are Roboto, Arial, Courier, Georgia, and Helvetica among many others and for a specific typeface is a font. The font is at times used interchangeably with a typeface but there is a difference between the two terms.

A font refers to variations in size, look, style or form of a particular typeface. It follows that a typeface has font styles that include: italic, bold, regular, condensed among many others. 

Typography is a study or field that has to do with the use of texts in communicating a message and not just a mere communication but one that is effective in achieving the aim of the communication.

One major medium of communication that which makes use of visuals is Graphic Design and some of the products include flyers, posters, billboards, labels or package information, signages etc. 

Characteristics of texts

There are distinct features that every typeface carries which defers from another typeface and it is these differences that inform the use of a particular typeface. Let's look at only two features of a typeface:

Form and structure

The form defines how a typeface looks and these alone can be broken down into several components. Gothic letters have a characteristic appearance of being bold with equal sizes of strokes, bowls and other features.

Structure deals with the underlying rules or compositions that create a text. Gothic kind of letter for instance are constructed differently from grids and even though other kinds of letters can as well be constructed from grids, the basis or rules for the construction is never the same. This accounts for differences in the structure and even the form of a particular typeface.  Roman letters have serifs but Gothic letters do not and all these discrepancies inform the purposes of all these letters.

Appropriate Use of Letters

Specific to every letter is its purpose that it best suits or fits and in a the case of exchanging this purpose with another there appears to be something missing. 

At times letters are chosen for distinct uses like a birthday card design, poster, billboard and every use with what kind of letter that will be proper. Writing a quote for instance, one can arrange letters in a fashion that does not only send an information but also express aesthetics, catch and sustain attention. The image shown below is a typographic work that makes use of two different typeface and also different font styles to write the quote. Layout of the text was also a strategic one in order to create a directional flow in the work. Graphic designers decide how an information they present to audience is viewed by the way images or graphical elements and texts are arranged.

Keys for effective use of typography

Avoid stretching texts improperly.

In design software especially, when typing a text, the bounding box can be used to stretch a text but resizing should be done in a good manner to avoid distortion to the text. To do this, either drag from the corners or resize using the values rather than resizing by dragging from the middle. Improper resizing can result in distortion of a typeface and it can result in change in form or the typeface.

Ensure emphasis 

Ranks are created in a design in that there are some elements to be seen first before the others so that meaning can be read into the viewed work. The same way in typography, a kind of hierarchy is created to make sure the text is able to send a meaningful message to the viewers.

Create contrast in the use of texts

Texts should always be clearly visible no matter what background is used in a design work because if this isn't achieved, the work has already failed and no one can actually understand what it says. Many people have become visually literate and can confidently different between a good design and a poor one and one the basis for this differentiation is contrast. Contrast is very important in design and it is a principle that ensures that an element of design is clearly visible in a work of design.