Chapter Review 3,4

Chapter 3
The central theme in Chapter 3 was the utilization of specific typefaces to cause the eye follow a certain path. Design is based upon the designers ability to have the typography (when appropriately worked into the product) to be the head spokesman for the design. Proper placement of the text, in accordance with things like margins and lines create a hierarchy within the type, creating the proper atmosphere or evoking the proper emotion in the piece.
The type of line in the design can effect the overall mood of the piece. Dependant on how thick or thin the line is, determines the feel of it. It is necessary for the line’s weight to balance the other elements in the design, so that the design is maximally effective.
Interestingly, for the first time in the reading of this book, I think I personally connected to a portion of this chapter. When the shop keep describes to his apprentice the importance of proper spacing between letters, I connected this to how I sell my art at craft fairs. The spacing between pieces (much like characters in a design) needs to hold the same amount of space optically; things need to be organized and ordered to make the display effective. Even punctuation (the small things –in the analogy about the art show-), effect the alignments of the lines. Proper use of visual punctuation helps to clarify the meaning of the typography, or to better sell my products.


Chapter 4
Being that this class is about Typography, it is obvious to say that chapter 4 focused heavily on the idea of legibility of typographic elements. There are many aspects of typeface that influence the legibility of the writing, including but not limited to weight, condensation, colors, textures, capitals, aliasing, and more.
When discussing elements such as weight, it is fairly obvious that type, too thin, will bleed into the background; unless printing on an extremely high quality printer, a typical print job will cause the colors to bleed, making the type illegible. Too thick, and the text will get lost in the myriad of the counters, making them almost un-readable.
Color is another important aspect, which helps to set or offset the mood for an entire design. If the colors are not right (and again, printers work in mysterious ways) it often becomes difficult to read the text. Successful designs utilize high contrast and possibly textures to achieve the appearance and legibility suitable for a high caliber creation. The book describes how the spacing, kerning, and letting of fonts are a major affecter of textures and tones, but also how different cases of letters (upper vs. lower) and the spacing between those letter forms, can have an effect on legibility. All capitals are typically thought of as a poor choice; the viewer will get lost.
Finally, the book described in more detail the process of anti aliasing. This is particularly important to rid the design of jaggies, or jagged edges around curves. The computer digitally places pixels of a lighter hue than the original text, on a jagged curved edge of a letter form in order to smooth out, and make it render nicely when the image is pulled up for use on the internet.