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Why care about typography?

The following guest article was written by Elliot Jay Stocks*

When you think of the word “typography”, what comes to mind?

Most likely, it’s fonts or typefaces. And that’s a good start! We can’t help but look at type any time we read text (unless we’re reading handwriting, calligraphy, or lettering), but the act of choosing typefaces isn’t actually part of the practice of typography. Typography is the decisions we make with how type is applied to text—no matter what the typeface is—to offer a comfortable reading experience and a stylistic expression. In many projects, the typeface has already been chosen (such as when working with existing brands), so being able to get the most of any typeface is a useful skill to have.

One of the most important truths about typography is that it’s possible to do great design work with a poor quality typeface, just as it’s possible to create something awful with a good typeface—a bit like how it’s possible to ruin a meal if we have great ingredients but don’t know how best to cook them.

In many scenarios, the default settings in our design apps—or even word processing apps—can get us quite far, but an understanding of how to use different weights, styles, spacing, and font technology allows us to do a much better job as designers. Well considered typographic choices enhance the meaning of text in branding work, aid the user’s intent in wayfinding, and allow our readers to read better.

A selection of typographic considerations: using OpenType to render correct fractions, using typefaces with multiple widths, and aligning type to a baseline grid.

Like all aspects of design, typography has the power to work on an emotional and subliminal level—guiding the end user down a certain path and providing context for the content they’re absorbing and the message the brand is trying to send. Is it playful? Edgy? Authoritative? Convention-challenging?

Type is meant to be read, so the reader’s concentration is focussed on reading the words themselves. Therefore, typography often works in the background more so than any other aspect of visual design. Deliberate typeface choices and thoughtful typographic decisions serve to honor the content, whether it’s an entire book, a portfolio website, an e-commerce app, a resume, an annual report, or even just a one-word logo.

On the flip side, lazy or clumsy typography can ruin the reading experience for the reader and can very easily cause them to disconnect from the content. Imagine seeing a crooked painting in an art gallery—we might doubt how seriously the gallery takes the art if they haven’t made the effort to present it in the best possible way.

How often have you been distracted by overly wide columns in a magazine article that make it hard for your eye to find the next line?

Paragraph text using line lengths that are too long, resulting in poor readability.

Or a blog post that suddenly looks inexplicably different when there’s the occasional character from another language?

A heading with a missing character from a different language.

Or a vertical spacing gap that leaves a heading detached from its content?

A heading sitting equally between two paragraphs, making it unclear about whether it’s a heading for the second paragraph or a standalone piece of text.

If time isn’t taken to consider the way our message is presented to our readers, we run the risk of sending the wrong message, or suggesting to our readers that we don’t really care about the message at all.

In fact, poor typographic practice—or poor knowledge of typographic control—can have some pretty serious consequences. Consider the “Flash of Invisible Text” that can make headlines on newspaper websites completely false, or what happens when the use—or lack—of an italic style can radically change the meaning of a sentence:

The sentence “I didn’t say we should kill him!” set seven times, with a different word italicized each time. Changing which word is emphasized in the sentence changes its meaning entirely.

Changing which word is emphasized in the sentence changes its meaning entirely.

The purpose of Google Fonts Knowledge is to equip you with the knowledge you’ll need to choose and use type with purpose. Start exploring with the “Further reading” links below.

* Content is owned by Google. Thank you to Erik Spiekermann, Gerry Leonidas, Jessica Hische, John Boardley, Matthew Smith, Micah Rich, Thomas Jockin, Viviana Monsalve, and Yves Peters for reviewing this content.

Why care about typography? – Fonts Knowledge - Google Fonts