95% of web design is typography.
95% of the information on the web is text. It is quite logical that a web designer should receive good training in the main discipline of writing information, in other words: typography.
In 1969, Emil Ruder, the famous Swiss typographer, wrote about modern print materials that we could easily say about our modern websites:
')
Turn on the imagination (replace “print” with “Internet”) and this sounds like a description of the work of the information designer. The task of the information designer is “to divide, organize and interpret this mass of print publications in such a way that the reader will have a chance to find what is interesting to him”.
Macro-typography (the general structure of the text), in contrast to micro-typography (detailed aspects of the font and spacing), covers many aspects of what we call today "information design". If you can put it that way, information designers today do the work that typographers did 30 years ago:
Optimization of typography - optimization of readability, accessibility, ease of use (in the original - usability, approx. Translator), the overall graphic balance. Organizing text blocks and combining them with pictures isn’t this what graphic designers, usability specialists and information architects do? So why not enough attention to the topic?
The main - usually decisive - argument against typographic discipline on the Internet is that only a few fonts are available. The second argument is that the screen resolution is too low, which makes it difficult to read pixel or anti-alias fonts in the first place.
The argument that we don’t have enough fonts is as bad as it’s not relevant: In the era of the Italian Renaissance, the typographers had only one font available, which didn’t stop them from creating brilliant works:
A typographer should not care what type of fonts he has at his disposal. In fact, the choice of fonts should not be his main problem. He must use what he has and do it as best he can.
The second argument is not much better. At the beginning, typed print quality was far worse than what we see on the screen these days. More importantly, if you handle them professionally, the screen fonts will become much more readable.
Information design is not good fonts, but good handling. Feel the difference. Anyone can use fonts, some can choose good fonts, but only a few can use typography.
Yes, it is annoying how different browsers and platforms draw fonts, and yes, low resolution keeps them focused for more than five minutes. But this is the work of the web designer - to make the text look good and readable in most browsers on most platforms. Change the interline, letter spacing and word spacing. Active white space and dosed color will help improve readability. A good designer knows how to work with text. But it is not quite that. Look at this site and you will understand what I mean:
The most famous examples of websites that view text as an interface are google, ebay, craigslist, youtube, Flickr, Digg, reddit, del.icio.us. It is difficult to dispute that viewing text as a user interface is a condition for success. Successful websites were able to create a simple interface and a good identity at the same time. But that is another question.
Information design is typography.
In 1969, Emil Ruder, the famous Swiss typographer, wrote about modern print materials that we could easily say about our modern websites:
Today we are flooded with such a huge flow of publications that the cost of individual work decreases, for our contemporaries it is almost impossible to accept everything that is printed today. The task of the printer is to divide, organize and interpret this mass of print publications in such a way that the reader will have a chance to find what is interesting to him.
')
Turn on the imagination (replace “print” with “Internet”) and this sounds like a description of the work of the information designer. The task of the information designer is “to divide, organize and interpret this mass of print publications in such a way that the reader will have a chance to find what is interesting to him”.
Macro-typography (the general structure of the text), in contrast to micro-typography (detailed aspects of the font and spacing), covers many aspects of what we call today "information design". If you can put it that way, information designers today do the work that typographers did 30 years ago:
Typography has only one duty, it is to convey information in writing. There are no arguments or views on typography that can relieve her of this duty. Printed works that can not be read - a product without a goal.
Optimization of typography - optimization of readability, accessibility, ease of use (in the original - usability, approx. Translator), the overall graphic balance. Organizing text blocks and combining them with pictures isn’t this what graphic designers, usability specialists and information architects do? So why not enough attention to the topic?
Too few fonts? Is the resolution too low?
The main - usually decisive - argument against typographic discipline on the Internet is that only a few fonts are available. The second argument is that the screen resolution is too low, which makes it difficult to read pixel or anti-alias fonts in the first place.
The argument that we don’t have enough fonts is as bad as it’s not relevant: In the era of the Italian Renaissance, the typographers had only one font available, which didn’t stop them from creating brilliant works:
A typographer should not care what type of fonts he has at his disposal. In fact, the choice of fonts should not be his main problem. He must use what he has and do it as best he can.
Font selection - not typography
The second argument is not much better. At the beginning, typed print quality was far worse than what we see on the screen these days. More importantly, if you handle them professionally, the screen fonts will become much more readable.
Information design is not good fonts, but good handling. Feel the difference. Anyone can use fonts, some can choose good fonts, but only a few can use typography.
Present the text as a user interface.
Yes, it is annoying how different browsers and platforms draw fonts, and yes, low resolution keeps them focused for more than five minutes. But this is the work of the web designer - to make the text look good and readable in most browsers on most platforms. Change the interline, letter spacing and word spacing. Active white space and dosed color will help improve readability. A good designer knows how to work with text. But it is not quite that. Look at this site and you will understand what I mean:
The most famous examples of websites that view text as an interface are google, ebay, craigslist, youtube, Flickr, Digg, reddit, del.icio.us. It is difficult to dispute that viewing text as a user interface is a condition for success. Successful websites were able to create a simple interface and a good identity at the same time. But that is another question.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/40056/
All Articles