Disadvantage: Relatively few characters to a line so the type size
will have to be small and the text set flush left.
Most suited to indexes, dictionaries, and other lists of this type.
Can be combined with a 2 column grid for magazine and broadsheet
(newspaper size) layout.
Typical Proportions for an 8-1/2 X 11" page:
Text area - 7-5/16 X 9-1/8, 4 cols of 1-11/16" + 3/16" gutters
Margins - head 5/8, foot 1-1/4, inside 1/2, outside 11/16
**NOTE** A column is considered a vertical grid
HORIZONTAL GRIDS
The advantage of a horizontal grid is that it imposes discipline on
what may otherwise appear to be a random and unrelated layout.
Horizontal grids are particularly valuable when illustrations are to be
used. But too rigid an adherence to the grid can also cause
difficulties. You may find yourself trying to force an illustration
into a certain grid only to find out that by cropping to fit, the
illustration loses meaning. If illustrations can be sized sensibly to
the same heights as your grid divisions, this will make things look
better and make it easier to swap them around if you change their
order.
SAMPLES OF HORIZONTAL GRIDS with VERTICAL GRIDS
+---------------------------+ +---------------------------+
ª +---------+ ª +---------+ ª ª +---------+ ª +---------+ ª
ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ªXX ª ª ªXX ª ª
ª ª----+----ª ª ª----+----ª ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª ªxxxx +--+ª ª
ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª ªxxxx ª ªª ª
ª ª----+----ª ª ª----+----ª ª ª ª+-------+ª ª ªxxxx +--+ª ª
ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ªª ªª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª
ª ª----+----ª ª ª----+----ª ª ª ªªPHOTO ªª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª
ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ªª ªª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª
ª ª----+----ª ª ª----+----ª ª ª ª+-------+ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª
ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª
ª ª----+----ª ª ª----+----ª ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª ª+-------+ª ª
ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª ªª ªª ª
ª ª----+----ª ª ª----+----ª ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª ªªIllus. ªª ª
ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ª ªxxxx xxxxª ª ª+-------+ª ª
ª +---------+ ª +---------+ ª ª +---------+ ª +---------+ ª
ª ª ª ª 2 ª 3 ª
+---------------------------+ +---------------------------+
GRID LAYOUT 2 COLUMN SPREAD ACTUAL PAGE
This illustration is based on a page depth of 62 lines of 10 point
type on a 12 point body. The page is divided horizontally into 7
panels of 8 lines of text each with one line space between each panel.
(7 X 8) + 6 = 62 (this is where you use your line counter you made).
First a few definitions.
Typography - The design of the characters that make up text and
display type, and the way they are configured on the page.
Typeface - Refers to the actual design of the letters, numbers, and
other characters in a piece of type.
Type Style - refers to the modifications that lend contrast or
emphasis to each typeface. ( E.g. Bold, Italic, Bold Italic, etc.)
Type Weight - refers to letter widths and stroke thickness.
(E.g. Black, Light, Heavy, Condensed, Expanded, etc.)
Stress - refers to variations in the thickness of the strokes that
make up a letter. Serif type tends to have more stress than
sans-serif; that is, it usually contains vertical and horizontal
strokes of varying thickness.
Type Size - measured in points. (appx 72 to the inch).
X-Height - refers to the height of the lowercase letters that don't
have ascenders or descenders. (E.g. a, e, o, x). X-height plays a
major role in the density (color), or "greyness", of pages containing
a lot of text. Alphabets with a low x-height increase word density
while preserving lightness, this is due to the extra white space
between the top of the ascender and the main body of the letter.
(Please note, this is different than actually measuring the x-height
of a particular face. The actual measurement of an x-height is defined
as the square of the em-dash for a particular type size)
Font - refers to one typeface, in one size, weight, and style.
(E.g. Times Roman 12 pt. bold, book (or normal) weight)
The style of a typeface can greatly affect the appearance of a
document. Each different face can evoke a different emotional response
to your document. There are literally thousands of typefaces available
and this can make your choices seem complicated. You must choose your
faces carefully to get the emotional response you want and to ensure
that your document is legible.
Many of the typefaces available may seem superficially similar but
there are some basic distinctions which clearly differentiate one
group from another. For many years printers and typographers have been
trying to come up with a system of classifying faces, with not much
success. The problem is that very few typefaces fit comfortably in any
one category without having some characteristics which give them a
partial place in another.
Very broadly there are four basic features which are fundamental to
the character of a typeface:
- Whether or not it has finishing strokes (serifs) at the end of the
stems, arms, and tails of the letterforms. (serified or sanserif)
- The form of the serifs if it has them. (Full bracket, fine bracket,
slab, hairline, or wedge)
- The amount of change from thick to thin in the strokes of the
letter and how abrupt this change is.
- The stress of the heavy part of the letter from vertical to
oblique.
One may also classify type, VERY BROADLY, into three distinct styles;
- Serif
- Sanserif
- Ornamental (That type of face used primarily for headlines or
ornamental use in that it is not important to convey a message. These
faces should never be used for body text except in a very short
message such as a script face for invitations.)
Apart from their technical differences typefaces have aesthetic
qualities which can make them more or less congenial to your reader,
and also make them more or less legible. Some typefaces are more
suited to one text rather than another. For instance a long legal
document does not lend itself to a sans or slab-serif typeface.
One reason a serified typeface is better for long lengths of text is
that the serifs actually lead your eye from one letter to the next
making reading easier.
My own view is that layout and the use of space is just as important
to clarity and readability as the use of a particular typeface.
Digitized Type
Most of todays typesetters and laser and dot matrix printers produce
type in digital form. Each character is made up of very fine dots or
"pixels" which are stored in your computers memory. Because the dots
are on a rectangular raster or grid, the curved and diagonal lines
are made up of very fine steps.
Conventional typesetting machines use a raster of as many as 3000
lines to the inch (3000 DPI). This reproduces characters with great
fidelity, particularly in larger sizes. There are variations on this
basic technique. Some methods use vertical lines only; others trace
the outline of a letter by a series of straight-line "vectors" before
filling it in. For the personal computer user these differences are
academic. It is the quality of the image as judged by the human eye
that is important.
Most laser printers use a resolution of 2-300 lines to the inch. The
laser output cannot be as sharp as that of the commercial typesetter.
Nevertheless it can give a reasonable approximation of the original
type design.
One question I am asked over and over is about the quality of the
public domain and shareware fonts versus their commercial
counterparts.
Adobe, Bitstream and other commercial houses, when digitizing their
type, use the original type specs and use a raster grid of appx 2000
lines. Most of the PD faces do not have access to the original design
and use a raster of 300 lines per inch. If your document is to be
published at home on your laser, you can probably get away with using
the PD fonts. Just watch out for type sizes larger than 24 pt. as
their quality will degrade. If however you will be using a commercial
printer for your work in anything above 1200 DPI, then the PD type
will just not be of a sufficient quality for a professional looking
document.
Typeface design is an extremely skilled and subtle art. Very slight
differences in a curve or weight of line can change the entire
character of a letterform and profoundly affect its legibility.
Question - Where did the terms uppercase and lowercase
come from?
In the beginning years of printing with movable type, printers
used wooden cases to store and categorize their type. The cases
consisted of two drawers one above the other. The uppercase contained
the capital letterforms and numbers, the lower case contained all the
other forms including the non-capital letters. Eventually these words
moved into our vocabulary to mean uppercase as capital letters and
lowercase as non-capitals.
*** Type and other forms of measurement ***
Traditionally type sizes and all typographical specifications have
been measured in "points". (actually since 1789). This part of
printing terminology has been carried over into the technology of the
personal computer. Originally the point size referred to the size of
the type "body"; that is, the depth of the piece of metal type on
which the "face" of the type was fitted. So the size of the printed
"face" depends on its proportion on the "body". For example 12 pt.
Helvetica looks bigger than 12 pt. Times, even though they occupy the
same depth from line to line.
On personal computers typeface sizes relate approximately to the
traditional type sizes. But it is quite common for a 10 pt type to be
on the same body size as 12 pt. This is not a serious problem
providing that you are aware of it. Always run off a few lines of the
type size that you are going to use to see what you are going to get
and how much space it takes up.
The units of measurement used to specify column widths, margins, etc.
vary from one program to another. It will usually be available in
inches, metric, and sometimes points. Inches are conveniently close to
the British American point system. 1 pica (or 12 pt. em) is 0.166 of
an inch (appx 1/6 inch) so 6 picas are only very slightly less than 1
inch. Unless you are preparing specs for a commercial printer, it
doesn't really matter which system you use as long as you are
comfortable with it.
Interline Space
The size of a typeface is defined by its body. If additional space is
added between the lines, it is usually referred to as "leading" (after
the strips of lead that printers used to space out the lines of type)
or "line feed".
A type set on its own body size without additional line feed is said
to be "set solid". A 10 pt. type with 2 pts. of additional space
between the lines is specified as "10 on 12 pt." Printers will often
refer to this as "2 pt. leaded" or "2 pt. line feed". On some programs
it is possible to reduce the leading to less than the body size. This
may save space but the loss in legibility will be intolerable, so
don't do it.
The Point System
There are two point systems used in the printing industry: the
British American System and the Didot System. The Didot system is used
almost exclusively in continental Europe. Personal computers
approximate to the British American system.
The units of measurement are:
The POINT, the EN (half the square of the body size), and the EM ( the
square of the body size).
The units of measurement in personal computers are based on the 12
point body or PICA EM. 12 points = 1 pica or EM
So a column 15 picas wide will contain 180 points. A column 15-1/2
picas wide is said to be 15 picas 6 points.
Since many commercial printers use this measurement system, you should
be familiar with it in case your printer demands his specs in point
sizes for your document.
** A Little History Lesson on Measurement Systems **
The origin of the point system as is used today.
In the years previous to 1737 there was no standard as to the
different sizes of type. Each country's foundries made up its own
rules and names for the different sizes of type being used by their
printers.
In 1737, a printer (also operated a type foundry) by the name of
Pierre Simon Fournier published a paper on standardizing the sizes of
type. He proposed a "point" system whereby the body of the type could
be divided into equal measurements. He took as his standard his own
Pica type as 12 pt. in his new system. He further refined his system
over the years and finally offered to the printing public in 1764 a
"prototype". This was a metal ruler with 240 points engraved on it so
that all printers would use the same measurements. A few years later
Ambroise Didot decided the basis for Fournier's measurement was not
really a standard and used as a standard the French inch. In this
system 72 points equalled 1 French inch. This system is still in use
in Continental Europe today.
Up until 1886 North American printers used this system. Then the
United States Type-Founders Association decided to change their
standards to the Metric system. They chose a pica body (12 pt.) and
changed its dimension to equal the new standard of 83 picas = to 35
centimeters. This was then divided into 12 equal parts called points.
In 1898 England adopted this system and it has been called the British
American System since then.
Now, back to our regular lesson.
Type Families
Most typefaces, both for text setting or display, have a family of
weights and widths. These are usually derived from the original
medium-weight design. There are some faces for which a complete family
has not been developed beyond an italic, but the minimum expected of
any new typeface today would be a medium and bold weight, both with
italics.
