18 Rules For Using Text In Your Work

[JR's]

this is good stuff
https://theultralinx.com/2015/07/18-rules-for-using-text-in-your-work/

 

[Ken M. Klein]

A good review for an oldtimer!

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

Thank you. I'm actually working on an article about font selection for our next newsletter here at the shop. This is awesome as a reference.

 

[Bobby H]

This rules list applies more to setting type for the printed page. There are exceptions to those rules in sign design. And then there are other rules in sign design that don't come up with design for the printed page. Someone doing sign design work should at least have some demonstrable level of artistic talent, graphic design sense and an ability to objectively see if a layout looks stupid or not.

"Rule #7": Don't use all caps."
In sign design some pieces require all caps treatment for a variety of reasons. Or there's the practice of setting a top line of lettering in mixed case and using all caps for a second line of copy to eliminate unwanted negative space between the two lines of lettering. The treatment is common in a lot of branding.

"Rule #13: Make correct use of small caps."
Aside from the rules of using small caps in body copy, there needs to be an addition to that: do not use fake small capitals. Use a typeface that has a built-in small capitals character set. I really hate faked small capitals. Unfortunately they used faked small capitals for the graphic in that list. The only exception I can see for faked small capitals is if the designer went to the trouble of balancing the strokes in the large cap letters to make them look consistent with the small cap characters. In the end it's just easier grabbing an OpenType typeface with the small capitals already present in the glyphs table.

One rule they didn't add: at least try to avoid squeezing or stretching type.
Their "Rule 2" rightly condemns over-use of default fonts like Arial. But the thing that is a hallmark of garbage-quality sign design is some hack grabbing Arial Bold or Arial Black and then squeezing or stretching the hell out of it to fit a given space. Jerks who do that need to go find something else to do for a living rather than designing signs. It's as bad a graphic design sin as setting script in all capitals.

With thousands upon thousands of fonts available and loads of natively condensed, compressed, extended or wide weights available there is really no good excuse for the fun house mirror stretching of type. Hacks grab Arial because it's near the top of the font menu, basically the first sans face they find. Lazy. And then they stretch/squeeze it to fit the space. Lazy.

 

[Moosehead Signs]

This rules list applies more to setting type for the printed page. There are exceptions to those rules in sign design. And then there are other rules in sign design that don't come up with design for the printed page. Someone doing sign design work should at least have some demonstrable level of artistic talent, graphic design sense and an ability to objectively see if a layout looks stupid or not.

"Rule #7": Don't use all caps."
In sign design some pieces require all caps treatment for a variety of reasons. Or there's the practice of setting a top line of lettering in mixed case and using all caps for a second line of copy to eliminate unwanted negative space between the two lines of lettering. The treatment is common in a lot of branding.

"Rule #13: Make correct use of small caps."
Aside from the rules of using small caps in body copy, there needs to be an addition to that: do not use fake small capitals. Use a typeface that has a built-in small capitals character set. I really hate faked small capitals. Unfortunately they used faked small capitals for the graphic in that list. The only exception I can see for faked small capitals is if the designer went to the trouble of balancing the strokes in the large cap letters to make them look consistent with the small cap characters. In the end it's just easier grabbing an OpenType typeface with the small capitals already present in the glyphs table.

One rule they didn't add: at least try to avoid squeezing or stretching type.
Their "Rule 2" rightly condemns over-use of default fonts like Arial. But the thing that is a hallmark of garbage-quality sign design is some hack grabbing Arial Bold or Arial Black and then squeezing or stretching the hell out of it to fit a given space. Jerks who do that need to go find something else to do for a living rather than designing signs. It's as bad a graphic design sin as setting script in all capitals.

With thousands upon thousands of fonts available and loads of natively condensed, compressed, extended or wide weights available there is really no good excuse for the fun house mirror stretching of type. Hacks grab Arial because it's near the top of the font menu, basically the first sans face they find. Lazy. And then they stretch/squeeze it to fit the space. Lazy.

This rules list applies more to setting type for the printed page. There are exceptions to those rules in sign design. And then there are other rules in sign design that don't come up with design for the printed page. Someone doing sign design work should at least have some demonstrable level of artistic talent, graphic design sense and an ability to objectively see if a layout looks stupid or not.

"Rule #7": Don't use all caps."
In sign design some pieces require all caps treatment for a variety of reasons. Or there's the practice of setting a top line of lettering in mixed case and using all caps for a second line of copy to eliminate unwanted negative space between the two lines of lettering. The treatment is common in a lot of branding.

"Rule #13: Make correct use of small caps."
Aside from the rules of using small caps in body copy, there needs to be an addition to that: do not use fake small capitals. Use a typeface that has a built-in small capitals character set. I really hate faked small capitals. Unfortunately they used faked small capitals for the graphic in that list. The only exception I can see for faked small capitals is if the designer went to the trouble of balancing the strokes in the large cap letters to make them look consistent with the small cap characters. In the end it's just easier grabbing an OpenType typeface with the small capitals already present in the glyphs table.

One rule they didn't add: at least try to avoid squeezing or stretching type.
Their "Rule 2" rightly condemns over-use of default fonts like Arial. But the thing that is a hallmark of garbage-quality sign design is some hack grabbing Arial Bold or Arial Black and then squeezing or stretching the hell out of it to fit a given space. Jerks who do that need to go find something else to do for a living rather than designing signs. It's as bad a graphic design sin as setting script in all capitals.

With thousands upon thousands of fonts available and loads of natively condensed, compressed, extended or wide weights available there is really no good excuse for the fun house mirror stretching of type. Hacks grab Arial because it's near the top of the font menu, basically the first sans face they find. Lazy. And then they stretch/squeeze it to fit the space. Lazy.

Signs are a whole different beast...take the article with a grain of salt.

 

[JAY INSTONE]

Thank you!