Does your text layout follow typographic principles?
ĐĄlick the corresponding circle if your workflow meets the requirements
Typography exists to honor content, says renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst. His book, The Elements of Typographic Style, is considered the bible of modern designers. Proceeding from it, we drew up this checklist of tiny but mighty rules, built up from hundreds of years of written English. To apply them holds in place long-established principles that allow your content to communicate with efficiency and beauty. This is easy to do within Readymagâthe Text widget allows you to fine-tune most font parameters and gives direct access to a wide range of typographic symbols.
Typography exists to honor content, says renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst. His book, The Elements of Typographic Style, is considered the bible of modern designers. Proceeding from it, we drew up this checklist of tiny but mighty rules, built up from hundreds of years of written English. To apply them holds in place long-established principles that allow your content to communicate with efficiency and beauty. This is easy to do within Readymagâthe Text widget allows you to fine-tune most font parameters and gives direct access to a wide range of typographic symbols.
Does your text layout follow typographic principles?
ĐĄlick the corresponding circle if your workflow meets the requirements
Replace inaccurate quotes and apostrophes
Replace inaccurate quotes and apostrophes
Make sure all quotation marks and apostrophes are âcurlyâ (eg. â â â â) and not âstraightâ like inch or foot marks (eg. ' ").
Make sure all quotation marks and apostrophes are âcurlyâ (eg. â â â â) and not âstraightâ like inch or foot marks (eg. ' ").
Check for correct use of hyphens and dashes
Check for correct use of hyphens and dashes
Hyphens, en and em dashes may seem visually similar, but they have very different uses.
A hyphen (-) is the shortest of the three. It can be used to hyphenate words that break at the end of a line, as well as to connect compound words, such as mother-in-law and merry-go-round.
An en dash (â) is the most misunderstood of the three. This dash is used for spans between numerals or time, such as 3 pmâ6 pm, MondayâFriday, March 2â7, or pages 20â55. To insert an en dash in Mac use âoption + hyphenâ; to insert in Windows, hold down the Alt key and type 0150, then release the Alt key. There should be no space between the en dash and the adjacent material.
An em dash (â) is most commonly used to indicate a break in thought, or a thought within a thought or a sentence. To insert an em dash in Windows use âalt + 0151â and âshift+option+hyphenâ in Mac. The em dash is typically used without spaces on either side. Some typesetters, however, set the em dash off with a single space on each side. Use your eye to determine the appropriate spaces youâd like to use and follow your style in the piece youâre designing.
Hyphens, en and em dashes may seem visually similar, but they have very different uses.
A hyphen (-) is the shortest of the three. It can be used to hyphenate words that break at the end of a line, as well as to connect compound words, such as mother-in-law and merry-go-round.
An en dash (â) is the most misunderstood of the three. This dash is used for spans between numerals or time, such as 3 pmâ6 pm, MondayâFriday, March 2â7, or pages 20â55. To insert an en dash in Mac use âoption + hyphenâ; to insert in Windows, hold down the Alt key and type 0150, then release the Alt key. There should be no space between the en dash and the adjacent material.
An em dash (â) is most commonly used to indicate a break in thought, or a thought within a thought or a sentence. To insert an em dash in Windows use âalt + 0151â and âshift+option+hyphenâ in Mac. The em dash is typically used without spaces on either side. Some typesetters, however, set the em dash off with a single space on each side. Use your eye to determine the appropriate spaces youâd like to use and follow your style in the piece youâre designing.
Check for correct use of multiplication symbols
When typing measurements, many people automatically type a lowercase x or capital X for the multiply symbol (Ă). To insert in Windows, hold down the Alt key and type 0215, then release the Alt key; to do so in Mac, use the character palette. The multiplication symbol is usually set off with a single space on each side.
Tweak fractions
True fractions not only add elegance to typography, but are more recognizable when reading. Using a slash in your fractions (1 â 2) is not as cool as using the proper fraction bar (½). Many of todayâs OpenType fonts contain a broad assortment of prebuilt true fractions, and can create any fraction on-the-fly. The not-so-good news is that not every OpenType font has this capability. Whatever you use, avoid mixing true and built fractions in the same text. For example, if your font has the fractions for ½, Âź, ž but not â , just use built fractions (eg. 1/2, 1/4, 3/8).Â
Use italics for emphasis
In body copy, italics and bold are tools for adding emphasis. Bringhurst recommends italics as a gentle way to emphasize text. Key occasions to use it include:
Titles of works, such as books and movies.
Vehicle names, like ships.
Technical terms
Words borrowed from foreign languages and unfamiliar words.