To start thinking about typography again, I read this article from Nielson Norman Group about how users read on the web. There was a lot of really useful information in the article especially for me starting to consider typography in this module project. One of the points I found particularly interesting was about credibility of the content. Using sub-headings, bullets, and proper punctuation can all make typography more legible individually, but it’s only when all are used together does the typographic content becomes credible. Users don’t know who has written text on the web, so making sure content appears as a credible source is really important for gaining user trust and engagement, and makes for a better reading experience. I found this really interesting as it highlights just how important good typography is, as it is more than just making the text easy to read, but actually goes beyond that and can help the user trust what they are reading. As my project involves telling a real-life story, making sure the user trusts what they are reading to be true is an important factor I’ll make sure to consider when deciding on typographic layouts.
The topic of Macro Typography came up this week and was something I wanted to explore further as it will be important to my project. I feel when creating an immersive website it may be more difficult to consistently structure typography like you would with a normal website, so I wanted to think now about how macro typography will fit into this project.
I started by revisiting Joseph Müller-Brockmann’s “Grid Systems”, which I had first looked at back in IxD101. Having much more design experience now, a lot more of this book makes sense to me, and I feel I understand how to better utilise grids in my work. The point in the book I find to be really interesting is that grids are not causal to good design, but rather are a platform for good design to built off. This made me consider how the design world has changed since the book’s publication and the fact that the book is written for a graphic design, paper-based design world.
When continuing to explore this, I found an interesting article titled “How to effectively break out of the grid” which explored how the grid systems don’t have to be the be-all and end-all of design these days. There’s a big push in web design towards the layering of content, whether that be images, type, or shapes, as it makes for a more dynamic and energetic style of design. What I found interesting about this however was that while a lot of modern design is breaking away from the grid, typographic layouts still tend to be grid-based, as it’s simply good practice to have a clean and organised type.
How to effectively break out of the grid | Secret Stache
I found that while larger content layouts are escaping the grid typographic layouts are sticking firmly to the grid. I wanted to explore a bit further and think about how typography can still be dynamic and expressive while sticking to grid layouts for clarity and readability. I found these examples in a typography book I’ve been looking at for the Apollo project, and they have some really interesting uses of hybrid grid systems. What I mean by “hybrid grid systems” is that they are unconventionally expressive typography within the loose bounds of a grid. I really like these styles of typography and think they could be really interesting for an immersive website experience and are something I will explore further for the project.
What I’ve learnt from all of this is that macro typography is really important and that using grids can help organise and arrange content, but you also shouldn’t be scared to break the grids and be more expressive. In conclusion, macro grid based typography is important, but as long as the content is legible, readable, and effectively delivers the content there is no reason to force yourself to stick only to the grid.
Lettering Artistry is a form of typography that focuses on designing letters with unique shapes and forms for specific circumstances. I had been aware of lettering artistry prior to this week but wanted to explore it more as this was a really interesting topic to me.
Jamie Clarke
Jamie Clarke Type is a UK-based Lettering Artist who focuses on both illustrative lettering and type design. I find Clarke’s work really amazing due to the amount of detail he can fit into a single letter. His work seems to focus on containing the illustrative and detailed elements within the letterforms, creating extremely beautiful and elegant forms. I really like it when his work is contrasted with more standard typography, as I think the decorated letter forms stand out more when they have room to breathe. A lot of his work does feature illustrative elements around the letters, and while this is still incredible to look at, I feel his work really shines when the stand-out part of the page is the letters.
