During class we reviewed letterspacing/tracking and kerning. We also began to explore the working environment of Adobe InDesign.
Areas covered:
Creating a new document
The InDesign workspace
Working with text boxes, fonts, point sizes, leading alignment
Leading, measurements, kerning
We also discussed increments of measurements:
type is measured in points (pts)
12 pts = 1 pica
6 picas = 1 inch
72 pts = 1 inch
If you missed the class, or need a review, here is a video that might help you with getting started in InDesign. It is a bit long but pretty thorough in helping your get started:
Others Videos Viewed in Class:
Homework — Due Wed, 9/14/16
Reading Assignment in textbook:Grid System pgs 177 -221 (be prepared to answer one quiz question on this topic)
Spend a some time reviewing the articles posted by your classmates and leave comments.
Watch the video: Typography & Design – How Typography Impacts Design below, and be ready to discuss during class.
The main topic of the discussion was kerning, tracking and letterspace. But as a review of the Five Families of Type, here’s a link to an added resource. Navigate through the links highlighted in yellow: Designing with Type
Kerning vs Tracking
Do you know the difference between kerning and tracking? You need to make sure you understand.
kerning = adjustment of the space between two letters to improve the appearance. Kerning is more specific than tracking. Kerning becomes more important with large or display type.
tracking = adjustment of the space between letters for the a whole word, sentence, page or document.
Other Terms We Covered
points – unit of measurement in typography: 72 points = 1 inch. All type is measured in points.
To help with the concept of kerning, we played The Kerning Game online. If you didn’t get a good score during class, give it another try: www.type.method.ac
Video Tutorial – Kerning and Kerning Pairs
We didn’t use this video in class but I think it’s helpful.
Homework Due – (9/12/16)
Reading Assignment in textbook: Tracking: Kerning and Letterspace pgs 90-93; Letters, Words, Sentences pgs 52-79. Also, the reading that was due on Monday should be completed. Be prepared to for a quick one question quiz about the reading assignment.
Finish the Letterform Drawing Worksheet
Complete and submit any assignments that you haven’t finished before.
Let’s review some of the things we learned during our second session:
Introduction to the Five Families of Type
Old Style – Garamond Transitional – Baskerville Modern – Bodoni Egyptian or Slab Serif – Century Expanded Sans Serif – Helvetica
You need to become very familiar with these categories and the characteristics of each. Download class notes
Typographical Anatomy – This document was handed out in class, but if you need a new copy, you may download it. You should study this sheet and refer to it often throughout the course.
During class as we became familiar with the different characteristics between the 5 families of type, some terms were introduced. Make sure you know these and begin using them in your typography references:
leading – refers to the linespace between the lines of type. The term originated in the days of metal type. During hand-typesetting, thin strips of lead were inserted into the lines of type to increase the distance.
sans serif – a typeface that does not have serifs.
font – one weight, width or style of a typeface.
typeface – the letters, numbers and symbols that make up a design of type. A typeface is part of a type family of coordinated designs. For example, Helvetica Bold is the typeface and is a part of the Helvetica family of type (Helvetica is the type family, Helvetica Bold is the typeface).
type family – the full collection of typefaces that were designed together and intended to be used together. For example, Garamond font family consists of roman, italics, semi bold, and bold weights. Combined together, these make up the Garamond type family.
scribes – they were responsible for writing books by hand before the invention of the printing press. They were usually monks who lived in monasteries.
Videos Shown in Class
Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg Printing Press Animation
History of Typography
Here are some videos to help with this lesson on the intro to typography:
Type Anatomy and Terminology
Anatomy: Parts and shapes of Type
Type Classification
Homework – Due Wednesday 9/7/16
Reading Assignment in textbook: Basics pgs 1-15  (If you haven’t been able to get your book yet, a PDF version of the book was discovered and can be found here.) Complete the first reading assignment if you haven’t done so already.
Please bring your tracing pads and pens and other materials for class.
Do the lettering assignment we began in class. Using your tracing paper, trace the letter of the alphabet that you selected. Â First draw a baseline with a pencil, making sure the line is not too dark. When you’re tracing the letter, you are also be coloring it in.
As you’re walking through your neighborhood, commuting to and from school or work, see if you can identify typefaces from the 5 families of type. Take a photo of each. Create a Google Doc and add these photos. One one each page. Write a caption to describe the type family it is from, example Old Style, Transitional, Modern, Slab Serif, Sans Serif. If you can’t find all 5, do as many as you can find.
Since it was our first class of the semester, it was important that we review the class syllabus, class policies and required materials.
We also reviewed the use of this website and its importance to you during this class. It is where you will find a recap of the lesson and additional reading or resource material. It is important that you check here frequently during the week. There are also time when you will be required to contribute to the content here. As mentioned, this and all class participation is part of your grade.
Your Next Steps
Make sure you have access to your City Tech email account. This is where the college and I will communicate with you about college related information.
Read very first post entitled “Welcome” and type your answer to the question in the comments section.
Class Recap: History of Letterform
There are many different typefaces or fonts available for use. As the designer your will be responsible for selecting the typeface or font, the point size, the linespace (also known as leading). Typography is practiced by typesetters, graphic designers, art directors and even graffiti artists.
How is letterform studied? Through epigraphy, paleography, and calligraphy.
Letterform means a letter’s shape. It is also an synonym of the word glyph. Glyph = a specific way a letter or character is drawn. Let’s take a look at the evolution of letterform to understand who we got to our modern day 26 letter alphabet.
Pictographs were used as the earliest known form of writing, examples having been discovered in Egypt and Mesopotamia from before 3000 BC.
Ideographs are symbols that represent an ideal rather than just a word. Eventually, there were so many combinations of symbols that it became a problem to memorize them all. The term “ideogram” is used to describe logographic writing systems such as Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters.
The evolution of our 26 letter alphabet—Phoenician alphabet, Greek alphabet,Roman alphabet.
One of the reasons the capital letters didn’t have curves is because the writings were carved into stone or other hard surfaces.
Originally, alphabets were only written as capital (majuscule) letters. Writing quickly with the pen is caused the letters to take on a curved shape and that is how small (minuscule) letters developed.
The early writings of the Greeks and Romans had no punctuation—the words either ran together or were sometimes separated by a dot or dash.
Punctuation was formalized with the rise of printing in the14th and 15th centuries.
Purchase required materials. (Books should be in the campus bookstore)
Reading from text: Development pgs 16-50; become familiar with content on the class website and read the Welcome article on our website and answer the question in the comments section.
Take a cellphone photo of your nametag that was created in class. Post it on the class website and write 1-2 paragraphs about who you are. Give a credit to the person who created your nametag.
