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Howto » Typography » 5 Tips
Tip 1: Decide how may typefaces to use
Some typography experts say that no piece should use more than two typefaces or families, but you shouldn't feel confined by such an arbitrary rule. There are times when one type family is sufficent and times when more than two typefaces can be useful.
When deciding how many faces to use, remember that the point of using different faces is to achive some differentiation between, for example, text and heads. Different faces can also add some variety to your project, make it look more interesting. If a piece has very little text, you may not need the variety of more than one type, and you may choose to keep it all in one family. If the project has a lot of text or needs to project more than one character you may need more than the usual two faces.
Be careful, though. The use of a mixture of faces in one project is tricky and should be left to seasoned professionals who know how and when to mix faces. Each typeface sends a different message, and you don't want to confuse the reader by sending too many messages - some of which may well be conflicting.
Tip 2: When using two families, don't team similar faces
When you set headlines and text in two differnt faces, make sure they really are different. Don't ever use two faces that look very much alike. If the two faces are so similar that the reader can't tell them apart, why bother using two faces? Since the point of using two different faces is to draw some distinction between type elements, using look-alike faces defeats the purpose.
Instead, try mixing a serif text face and a sans serif head, or vice versa. For example, Helvetica headlines and Palatino text . . . fine. The combination won't confuse the reader and may well add visual liveliness to the printed piece. Palatino headlines and Helvetica text . . . also fine, although we do not read sans serif text as easily as we do a serif face.
Tip 3: Avoid fancy faces
While you want type that is distinctive, don't choose a typeface that's too elaborate. Fancy typefaces can be very hard to read. In some a heading of one or two wods might work, but more can be a disaster. Such faces usually can't be set in all caps.
Tip 4: Set punctuation the same as the word it follows
When a comma, colon, or period follows a word set in italic or boldface, the punctuation mark must also be in bold or italic. Even if the majority or the text is set in roman, the punctation should match the word it follows. The exceptions to this rule are quotation marks, exclamation points, question marks, parentheses and brackets. They should be set in keeping with the type style of the rest of the sentence.
Tip 5: Treat an ellipsis like a word
The ellipsis a grand and useful and is almost always set incorrectly. It must be treated as a word and have word and have word spaces before and between each period, like this . . . and not like this ... and especially not like this...which is pretty terrible.
