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Putting All the Font Pieces Together
onts are one of the least utilized and understood areas of design. This is a shame because type choices can have a significant impact on a page layout. This section of My Design Primer is one of the smallest on the site but, as any designer knows, the importance of font choices are undeniable.

To begin with, there are several different classifications of fonts. Each of these classifications is made up of individual typefaces. Once you understand what makes up a particular classification, you'll be able to tell what kind of font is being used in a particular design.

Oldstyle is the oldest classification and dates back to the earliest days of printing.

Modern typefaces started around the time of the industrial revolution and were designed primarily for display uses.

Slab Serif fonts are less aesthetic than their predecessor styles.

Sans Serif fonts have been around since the 1800s and differ from their predecessors in that there are no serifs (sans) attached to the characters.

Decorative fonts are used primarily for headlines and other display uses because they are difficult to read when used at a small size.

Script fonts imitate script handwriting and are commonly used for invitations.

Since we entered the computer age and gained the ability to become typographers through programs like QuarkXPress, it has become necessary for designers to become well-acquainted with a variety of computer terms that affect fonts. Subjects include font styling, screen & printer fonts, jagged fonts, standard characters, expert font sets, font sizes, points & picas, TrueType and PostScript.

The transition from typewriters to computers has not been without it's challenges. Most of us were trained using typewriters or were trained by people who taught the rules of typewriting. Because of the finesse of modern computer applications, many of the standard typewriter rules no longer apply to our work. These areas include the use of capitals, spaces between sentences, different kinds of dashes, underlining and quotation marks to name but a few. You can always spot a true professional communicator or designer by his/her use of a single space after a period in a piece of correspondence.

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