Named after the first Roman typefaces that appeared in Venice around 1470, Venetian typefaces were initially designed to imitate the handwriting of Italian Renaissance scholars. Distinguishing features:

Garalde typefaces include some of the most popular roman styles in use today. Distinguishing features:

Script typefaces mimic handwriting by joining letters with connecting lines. For this reason, scripts require extra attention to the kerning of their letters. Also, you never want to set a script typeface in all caps.

Figure 3.3. Venetian Oldstyle.

Figure 3.4. Garalde Oldstyle.

Figure 3.5. Script.

Representing a move away from letter shapes based on handwriting, transitional types were the first typefaces to be drawn as shapes in their own right. They represent a transition between Garalde and Modern (Didone) typefaces, and contain aspects of both. Distinguishing features:

Named after Firmin Didot and Giambattista Bodoni, Didone typefaces were a response to improvements in late 18th Century paper production, composition, printing and binding, which made it possible to develop typefaces with strong vertical emphasis and fine hairlines. Distinguishing features:

With the Industrial Revolution came the increased use of posters, billboards, and other forms of advertising, and the need for bolder, more in-your-face typefaces. Slab serif typefaces were originally called “Egyptians,” reflecting the public’s enthusiasm for the archeological discoveries of the time. Distinguishing features:

The first sans serif typeface was issued in 1816, but it wasn’t until the 1920s, with the influence of the Bauhaus and de Stijl art movements, that sans serifs became popular. Within the broad category of sans serif, there are four sub categories: Grotesque, Neo-Grotesque, Geometric, and Humanist.

Figure 3.6. Transitional.

Figure 3.7. Didone (Modern).

Figure 3.8. Slab Serif.

Figure 3.9. Sans Serif.

The following classes of type all play a supporting role:

While typefaces in this group incorporate elements from many styles, they are most effective when used in large sizes for display purposes, such as headlines and titles.

These typefaces are sometimes referred to as Old English or Gothic. They were used for text in Germany until World War II, but are now primarily used as display type.

All of the characters in a monospaced typeface have the same width. Most typefaces have proportionally spaced characters, but monospaced characters may be required when setting text on forms, financial statements and other documents where exact spacing is required.

Ornamental typefaces contain decorative ornaments or symbols and can be used to embellish or decorate documents. Some OpenType fonts include ornaments as part of their extended character set.

Symbol or picture typefaces fulfill a number of nontext functions: musical notation, map making, mathematics, crossword, and puzzle publishing.

Figure 3.10. Decorative and Display.

Figure 3.11. Blackletter.

Figure 3.12. Monospaced.

Figure 3.13. Ornamentals.

Figure 3.14. Symbol.

Type Selection and Navigation Shortcuts

Move to start or end of story: Cmd+Home or End (Ctrl+Home or End)

Select start or end of story: Shift+Cmd+Home or End (Shift+Ctrl+Home or End)

Select one word: Double-click word

Select one line: Triple-click line (depending on Text Preferences setting)

Figure 3.15. Text Preferences.

Select one paragraph: Quadruple click

Select whole story: Cmd+A (Ctrl+A)

Select to the beginning of the line: Cmd+Shift+Up Arrow (Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow)

Select to the end of the line: Cmd+Shift+Down Arrow (Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow)

Move to the beginning of the line: Cmd+Up Arrow (Ctrl+Up Arrow)

Move to the end of the line: Cmd+Down Arrow (Ctrl+Down Arrow)

Access the Control Palette: Cmd+6 (Ctrl+6)

Toggle between Character/Paragraph Formatting Controls in the Control Palette (if the Type tool is selected): Cmd+Option+7 (Ctrl+Alt+7)

Double click a text frame with the Selection Tool to switch to the Type Tool. You can toggle back to the Selection Tool from the Type Tool (or any tool) by holding down Cmd (Ctrl).

Figure 3.16A and 3.16B. Hidden Characters Shown.

Because InDesign is a type snob (in a good way), it won’t allow you to make “faux” type styles. There’s no I or B icon you can click to make your text italic or bold. Instead you need to choose the real italic or real bold weights of that font from the Type Style pull down. Alternatively, the shortcuts: Cmd+Shift+I (Ctrl+Shift+I) or Cmd+Shift+B (Ctrl+Shift+B) will select the real italic or bold weights for you—so long as you have the real italic or bold weight of the font installed.

Italic types—so named because they evolved in Italy (in early 16th Century Venice)—are designed to complement their roman siblings. They are distinct fonts in their own right and not just slanted versions of the roman. Italics are typically used to clarify a word, differentiating it from the rest of the text. Italics are commonly used for the titles of films, book, magazines, or for foreign phrases or terms, and often to indicate emphasis.

Figure 3.18. Real italics vs. slanted type. A is Minion Pro italic; B is Minion Regular slanted to 12°. Note the difference between the a, e, and f.

Italics are lighter than their roman counterparts, and their slant can make the type look hurried. Because the characters are more decorative, they can also draw too much attention to themselves. For these reasons, avoid long passages set in italics. Italics are unique but if overused that uniqueness is lost.

Bold weights are typically applied to headings, subheads, and running heads to establish hierarchy. In many books—this one, for example—bold is also used for referring to figures. If you are using bold weights for emphasis in body text, do so sparingly. Bold text can attract too much attention, breaking up the continuity of your text.

Figure 3.19. Different ways to add emphasis. Clockwise from top: Italic, Bold, Highlight (In Underline Options an 11 pt yellow “underline” offset –2.5pt to sit behind the type), and using color.

Small caps have the following uses:

The problem with Small Caps is that unless you are using an OpenType font or an Expert Set (a font of supplementary characters), you’ll end up with fake small caps. Fake small caps are regular caps that have been scaled down in size, rather than redrawn characters designed to work in proportion with the regular caps. Because all their proportions are reduced, their weight tends to look too light and spindly and their strokes will not be the same thickness when set alongside regular caps.

Figure 3.20A and 3.20B. Small Caps. A has the abbreviations in small caps—slightly higher than the x-height; B has them at full-caps size.

Figure 3.21. Small Caps: real vs. fake. Example A uses real small caps—the weight of the character strokes is uniform. Example B uses “fake” small caps—regular caps sized at 70 percent.

You know those people who type their emails in ALL CAPS? Annoying, aren’t they? Continuous text set in all caps is hard to read because the shapes of the words all look alike and are differentiated only by their length. We recognize words as shapes—the descenders and the ascenders of upper and lowercase text are essential to our ability to identify letters. Also, text set in all caps within body text tends to look disproportionately large when set among upper and lowercase text; hence the need for Small Caps. Just as shouting doesn’t make your message any clearer, setting text in all caps doesn’t make your message any more compelling.

None of this is to say don’t use All Caps—just use them thoughtfully. All Caps can be effective in headlines and subheads. Because there are no descenders, you should tighten the leading. Depending on the typeface, you may want to loosen the tracking for a sophisticated and understated look or tighten the tracking for a more solid, contrasty look.

Figure 3.22. All Caps Treatments. The lack of serifs in the sans serif examples allows tighter tracking of the letters, which, in combination with the blockiness of the letter shapes, gives a more solid look, suitable in some instances but not in others. Loose tracking makes the serif versions more elegant. Context is everything.

Figure 3.22A. Text set in ALL CAPS is more difficult to read because, without ascenders and descenders, all of the word shapes are the same. Compare the more interesting word shapes created by upper and lowercase to the rectangles created by using ALL CAPS.

Superscript is typically used for ordinals in numbers or for footnotes. Subscript is used in chemical formulae. In Text Preferences, you can change the size of both relative to the point size of your text. You can also changetheir position relative to the baseline of the text. For best results set the Super/Subscript size to 60 percent, the Superscript position to 33 percent and the Subscript position to 0 percent.

Figure 3.23. Superscript/Subscript Preferences.

Figure 3.24. Uses of Superscript and Subscript.

In days of yore, when records came on vinyl and people typed on machines called typewriters, underlining was de rigueur for giving emphasis. But that was only because typewriters couldn’t do it any other way. Underlining, as every type manual will tell you, should not, in these days of typographic sophistication, be used for emphasis. The underline collides with the descenders of the word and looks downright ugly. However, underlining has become more sophisticated and is, dare I say it, perhaps making a comeback. These days you can change the weight of the underline and its distance from the baseline. Even so, underlined text—no matter how fancy the underline—is always going to be mutton dressed as lamb. That said, there are some nifty tricks you can do with underlining when applied as part of a style definition. But that’s another story—see Chapter 13, “Stylin’ with Paragraph and Character Styles.”

Figure 3.25. Underlining Options: Example A uses a generic underline; in example B, the type has a 0.75 pt paper-colored stroke, which keeps the underline away from the descender of the “y.” In example C, in addition to the paper-colored stroke, the color and weight of the underline have been adjusted. Choose Underline Options from the Control palette menu in the Character Formats.

You might use strikethrough to indicate which text will be deleted as a document moves through revision cycles, or once in a blue moon if you’re working on a legal document that requires you to indicate revisions. Alternatively, you might want to make a “highlight” character style—see Chapter 13, “Stylin’ with Paragraph and Character Styles.”

What can one say about the humble and oft-misunderstood baseline shift?

First, here’s what it should not be used for: Never, under any circumstances, use Baseline Shift to adjust inter-paragraph spacing—that is the function of leading and/or paragraph spacing.

Baseline shift can be used for the following:

Figure 3.26. Using Baseline Shift to “illustrate” a word.

Get caught using these options, and the Type Police will come knocking on your door. Mess with the proportions of your typeface and you are trampling roughshod over the life’s work of some of the world’s finest artisans. OK, so maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but faking a condensed typeface (one with a narrower horizontal scale) or an expanded typeface (one with a wider horizontal scale) will make the character shapes look spindly and the overall effect look amateurish. It’s better to choose a real condensed or real expanded typeface. It’s like the difference between My Way sung by Frank Sinatra or by some random bloke doing a karaoke version after a few too many pints. Condensed faces include Times Roman and Garamond Condensed. Expanded faces are more typically used for display instead of body type, and are more likely to be sans serif—like Helvetica Neue Expanded or Univers Extended.

Figure 3.27. A real condensed font vs. a fake condensed font. ITC Garamond Light Condensed (A), and ITC Garamond Light (B) with horizontal scale set to 72 percent—note the lighter weight of the letters due to the scaling.

Having said all that in such a dogmatic way, I’ll now put in a disclaimer about retaining the right to contradict myself. For every rule, there will be examples of ways it can be creatively broken, and distorting type is no exception. The point I’m making is if you want to break this or any typographic “rule,” then do so consciously—and carry a big stick.

Readability studies have found that serif typefaces are better for continuous reading. Explanations for this vary. Some experts feel that serifs function like rails, guiding your eye along the line. Others suggest that we respond to serif types better because the transition of their strokes more closely resembles calligraphy. Or perhaps—and my money’s on this one—we read serif type more easily, simply because we’re more used to reading serif type. In the words of Zuzana Licko, cofounder of Émigré digital font foundry: “You read best what you read most.”

Maybe we could get used to anything, but we’ve been reading serif type for centuries and the habit is pretty much in our DNA. Sans serif typefaces are the new kids on the block relatively speaking—not invented until the early 19th Century and not in common usage until the 1920s.

Readability is less of a concern when it comes to display type, which, because it is set in short bursts rather than long passages, can afford to draw much more attention to itself.

It sounds like an overly simplistic formula, but you won’t go far wrong if you use serif faces for your body text and sans serif for your headings and subheads. Because sans serifs tend to be bolder and blockier, they are better at grabbing the reader’s attention. Also, the absence of serifs makes it possible to track sans serif headlines tighter, adding to their solidity. To make a subhead distinct from your body text, it is enough to choose a contrasting typeface; subheads do not necessarily need to be set in a larger point size.

Your choice of font is just one of several factors that work in sync to create—hopefully—readable type. Other factors include—but as they say in legalese—are not limited to: