Typography Worksheet

Typography Worksheet: Use the links below to complete the worksheet. 

Anatomy http://www.nhsdesigns.com/graphic/typography/anatomy.php

Write out the answers to these questions in complete sentences. 

Label and define all of the above numbers:

1. Ascender line: the imaginary line which determines the height of ascenders.
2. Base line: the imaginary line on which all characters rest.
3. Ascender height: the x-height plus the height of the ascending stroke.
4. Cap height: the height of capital letters.
5. Descender: the stroke of a letter which dips below the base line, as in the letters g and j.
6. Ascender: the stroke of a letter which rises above the mean line, as in the letters d, f and k.
7.  X-height: the distance between the flat top and bottom of a lower case letter which has no ascender or descender, such as x.
8. Cap line: the imaginary line which determines the height of capital letters.
9. Mean line: the imaginary line which determines the height of lowercase letters.
10.  Descender line: the imaginary line which defines the bottom reach of descenders.

Type Families:   http://www.nhsdesigns.com/graphic/typography/type-families.php

Define Serif: The serif font below, New Bodoni DT, also has many weight variants.
Define Sans-Serif: The sans-serif font Futura below has a vast type family.
When do you use Antique Fonts? Can be used to evoke a period feel.
At most how many words should be Decorative Fonts at a time? Three words at a time.
What does a script font resemble? Handwriting.
Why use Symbol Fonts? Symbol fonts are composed of graphic icons to provide embellishments to text.

Essentials:  http://freelancefolder.com/typography-essentials-a-getting-started-guide/

Define Typography:
Why do designers need a solid foundation in typography?
Kerning: the space located between individual letters of a word.
Leading: the space between the lines of text.
Tracking: type of alignment creates perfect alignment on both the left and right margins without regard for the actual characters.

When do you use Center Alignment? Used to draw attention and is used a majority of the time for Headlines or Titles.
When do you use Right Alignment? A clean crisp professional look and is used quite a bit for corporate business letters, return address labels, business cards and a variety of other applications where a formal style of alignment is needed.
When do you use Justified Alignment?  usually reserved for newspaper print and body text for textbooks, and is more difficult to work with.

Styling:  http://www.nhsdesigns.com/graphic/typography/styling-formatting.php

What is remembered, good styling, and bad styling?   Why? Good typography, especially within body copy, often passes unnoticed as the information leaps from the page quickly and cleanly. Conversely, bad typography is memorable and intrusive.
What is legibility? The quality of being clear enough to read.
Type size smaller than 7pt is: difficult to read and type
Type size smaller than 3pts is: utterly illegible.
Type range for legible type is: set solid
What size do you use for long passages? Between 8pt and 14pt
What case do we use for Body? Copy forms the main bulk of any text.
What is measure? Means the width of the text column.
What can you tell me about Ranged/Ragged Edges? Which the text is aligned to the left-hand margin, is most common, legible and aesthetically pleasing. Hard to read at speed because the eye struggles to find the start of each new line.

Text as Image: http://www.nhsdesigns.com/graphic/typography/text-as-image.php

What are some ways text can be used as images? Summarize what you see.
Typographic illustration, Christmas Tree, T, Hand-Drawn Letters, Seasonal Moods, The dense texture, A single line of text, and Convincing typographic portraits.

Choosing and Using Type:  http://www.will-harris.com/use-type.htm

**Read ALL of it.  Answer the following:

Why is choosing and using the right font important? So that people won’t read the wrong message

What are the two most important things to remember? 1.Type is on the page to serve the text. It should make the words easy to read and provide a suitable background. 2.   There are no good and bad typefaces, there are appropriate and inappropriate typefaces.

What is appropriate? What do you have to consider?

1. If your business is one that needs to be taken seriously, such as banking, don't choose a whimsical typeface such as University Roman or you'll lose credibility.

2. With that in mind, we get to the key to choosing the best typeface for the job.

Tell me the rules:  (there are 10)

11.       Body text should be between 10 and 12 point, with 11 point best for printing to 300 dot-per-inch printers. Use the same typeface, type size, and leading for all your body copy.

22.       Use enough leading (or line-spacing). Always add at least 1 or 2 points to the type size. Example: If you're using 10 point type, use 12 point leading. Automatic line height will do this for you--never use less than this or your text will be cramped and hard to read.

33.       Don't make your lines too short or too long. Optimum size: Over 30 characters and under 70 characters.

44.       Make paragraph beginnings clear. Use either an indent or block style for paragraphs. Don't use both. Don't use neither, either.

55.       Use only one space after a period, not two.

66.       Don't justify text unless you have to. If you justify text you must use hyphenation.

77.       Don't underline anything, especially not headlines or subheads since lines separate them from the text with which they belong.

88.       Use italics instead of underlines.

99.       Don't set long blocks of text in italics, bold, or all caps because they're harder to read.

110.   Leave more space above headlines and subheads than below them, and avoid setting them in all caps. Use subheads liberally to help readers find what they're looking for.