All posts about
Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language most appealing to learning and recognition. (source: Wikipedia)

Effects of Typography on Reader Mood and Productivity

Added on 26 November 2012 Peter Bogaards
Great typography is like the oxygen of reading.

“The lesson here is twofold. First, good typography has a clear impact on the mood of the reader. People who are reading a well typeset page are more engaged in the experience and find that time flies by faster. Second, research has shown that positive mood improves creative problem solving, and since typography can be used to influence mood, it is possible that good typography also has direct effect on our productivity, at least in the sphere of certain creative tasks. Good typographic design then is not just a way to communicate the character of your text and strengthen reader engagement, it could boost their cognitive performance, too.”

(Dmitry Fadeyev a.k.a. @dfadeyev ~ UsabilityPost)

Designing Engaging And Enjoyable Long-Form Reading Experiences

Added on 9 March 2012 Peter Bogaards
The issue of reading-from-a-screen is slowly fading. It’s about time.

“When you have fantastic and original content, ensuring the best possible reading experience is critical to keeping and building your audience. The following practices will help you design your content in a way that improves the experience for readers.”

(Martha Rotter a.k.a. @martharotter ~ Smashing Magazine)

The Perfect Paragraph

Added on 30 November 2011 Peter Bogaards
Or, what a paragraph can do for you.

“In this article, I’d like to reacquaint you with the humble workhorse of communication that is the paragraph. Paragraphs are everywhere. In fact, at the high risk of stating the obvious, you are reading one now. Despite their ubiquity, we frequently neglect their presentation. This is a mistake. Here, we’ll refer to some time-honored typesetting conventions, with an emphasis on readability, and offer guidance on adapting them effectively for devices and screens.”

(Heydon Pickering a.k.a. @heydonworks ~ Smashing Magazine)

Visual Designers Are Just As Important As UX Designers

Added on 19 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
Always thought perception was an integral part of feeding the experience.

“Conceptually I believe you can break design into tangible and abstract activities. Tangible design typically draws on the artistic skills of the designer and results in some kind of visually pleasing artefact. This is what most people imagine when they think of design and it covers graphic design, typography and visual identity.”

(Andy Budd a.k.a. @andybudd ~ Blogography)

How Print Design is the Future of Interaction

Added on 1 July 2011 Peter Bogaards
“There are three areas that I covered in the talk. First, how the visual language of UI has evolved and been shaped in to what we find in the interfaces we are familiar with today. Second, I’ll discuss why I think a new approach to the visual design of interfaces, influenced by Print Design, is emerging and necessary. And finally, why I think Print Design is an important influence to the next evolution of UI, and what we (as UI and Interaction Designers) can learn from the discipline of Print.”

(Mike Kruzeniski a.k.a. @mkruzeniski)

Effective Use of Typography in Applications for Children

Added on 8 June 2011 Peter Bogaards
“In this installment of my column, I’ll take a look at one of the most important visual design elements for graphic user interfaces: typography. I’ll concentrate on general guidelines for the effective use of typography in the design of applications for children between 3 and 10 years of age. What considerations do we need to take into account when working with digital typography when children are its primary interpreters?”

(Catalina Naranjo-Bock ~ UXmatters)

More Meaningful Typography

Added on 3 May 2011 Peter Bogaards
“Designing with modular scales is one way to make more conscious, meaningful choices about measurement on the web. Modular scales work with – not against – responsive design and grids, provide a sensible alternative to basing our compositions on viewport limitations du jour, and help us achieve a visual harmony not found in compositions that use arbitrary, conventional, or easily divisible numbers. As we’ve seen in this article, though, modular scales are tools – not dogma. The important thing for our readers, our craft, and our culture is that we take responsibility for our design decisions. Because in so doing, we’ll make better ones.” (Tim Brown ~ A List Apart)

Typeface As Programme

Added on 19 April 2011 Peter Bogaards
“Like many disciplines dependent on technology for execution or production, type design has undergone a series of fundamental revolutions and transitions in the past century. Driven by technological advance, this process has completely changed the way people work with type, to the point where someone employed in the field had to adapt to a significantly changing situation multiple times throughout a career. ” (Jürg Lehni ~ Typotheque) courtesy of latebytes

Testing Content

Added on 14 December 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Nobody needs to convince you that it’s important to test your website’s design and interaction with the people who will use it, right? But if that’s all you do, you’re missing out on feedback about the most important part of your site: the content. Whether the purpose of your site is to convince people to do something, to buy something, or simply to inform, testing only whether they can find information or complete transactions is a missed opportunity: Is the content appropriate for the audience? Can they read and understand what you’ve written?” (Angela Colter ~ A List Apart)

Art Direction and Design

Added on 2 November 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Glorifying the supposed arrival of art direction on the web is one of the latest trends in interactive design. (…) Sadly, many designers don’t understand the difference between design and art direction; sadder still, many art directors don’t either: Art direction gives substance to design. Art direction adds humanity to design.” (Dan Mall ~ A List Apart)

Web Fonts at the Crossing

Added on 8 June 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Font designers are very still very much focused on print. By and large, the money is in catering to professional customers in the printing industries: Books, magazines, displays, etc. Prices usually move on a sliding scale based on the number of users. The fear is that once fonts are on the web, they will become a commodity, the current model will break, and a devaluation of fonts, in general, will occur.” (Richard Fink ~ A List Apart)

Typography for Lawyers

Added on 20 April 2010 Peter Bogaards
“Even though the legal profession depends heavily on writing, legal typography is often poor. Some blame lies with the strict typographic constraints that control certain legal documents (e.g. court rules regarding the format of pleadings). But the rest of the blame lies with lawyers. To be fair, I assume this is for lack of information, not lack of will. This website fills that void.” (Matthew Butterick) – courtesy of luctiemessen

Designing for the Web

Added on 24 March 2010 Peter Bogaards
“(…) aims to teach you techniques for designing your website using the principles of graphic design. Featuring five sections, each covering a core aspect of graphic design: Getting Started, Research, Typography, Colour, and Layout. Learn solid graphic design theory that you can simply apply to your designs, making the difference from a good design to a great one. If you’re a designer, developer, or content producer, reading the book will enrich your website design and plug the holes in your design knowledge. Now available online. For free!” (Mark Boulton)

On Web Typography

Added on 17 November 2009 Peter Bogaards
“We’ve been spoiled. Until now, chances are that if you dropped some text onto a webpage in a system font at a reasonable size, it was legible. What’s more, we know the ins and outs of the faces we’ve been forced to use. But many faces to which we’ll soon have access were never meant for screen use, either because they’re aesthetically unsuitable or because they’re just plain illegible.” (Jason Santa Maria – A List Apart) – courtesy of lucraak

History of Graphic Design

Added on 10 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“This site was first launched in 1999 to accompany my lectures on the History of Graphic Design. I devised this unique format of presenting the information by topics because I saw that students were overwhelmed by the scope of the topic or most texts I also saw that they learned more when the discussions included direct links to what is happening in design today. It seems to work well for visual artists who are not interested in a degree in art history.” (Nancy Stock-Allen) – courtesy of AP

In Defense of Readers

Added on 18 February 2009 Peter Bogaards
“Despite the ubiquity of reading on the web, readers remain a neglected audience. Much of our talk about web design revolves around a sense of movement: users are thought to be finding, searching, skimming, looking. We measure how frequently they click but not how long they stay on the page. We concern ourselves with their travel and participation – how they move from page to page, who they talk to when they get there—but forget the needs of those whose purpose is to be still. Readers flourish when they have space – some distance from the hubbub of the crowds – and as web designers, there is yet much we can do to help them carve out that space.” – (Mandy Brown – A List Apart)