What is typography?

Modern typography is generally thought to begin with Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press and the development of moveable type, but its roots lie further back in handwritten letterforms which are the basis of type design.

In common usage, typography is the practical and artistic arrangement of type and printing with type. Although the term typography can also refer to the design and use of typefaces, from calligraphy to the use of digital type, as a means of visually communicating language through a series of characters. Typography in graphic design also involves the selection

of appropriate typefaces and their arrangement on the page.

Typography is sometimes seen as encompassing many separate fields from the type designer who creates letterforms to the graphic designer who selects typefaces and arranges them on the page.

Type is an ‘unconscious’ persuader. It attracts attention, sets the tone and feel of a document, and effects how
the reader interprets the document. Type has an effect on you even if you don’t notice it. You can use type to attract attention, strengthen a message and improve the way your message in interpreted.

Understanding principles of typography enable you to lay out text so that it can be read and understood easily.

Terminology

The term typeface is frequently confused with font.

The two terms used to have more clearly differentiated meanings before desktop publishing became common-place and with it, the proliferation of ‘font’ files on the internet.

In professional typography, the two terms are not interchangeable.

Typeface

The typeface designates a consistent visual style or appearance, which can be a “family” or related set of fonts.

Font

A font designates a specific member of a type family such as roman, boldface, or italic. Font can also include the size of the face.

For example, a given typeface such as Arial may include roman, bold, and italic fonts.

A typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each typeface is designed and there are thousands of different ones in existence, with new ones being constantly developed.