01 Mar ARD 604 – The basics of typography to create a logo

What is typography?

In a narrower sense, this term usually covers the graphic shaping of the text, using the available typefaces. In a broader sense, the slogan “typography” can also be applied to the design of the layout of illustrations, photos, and other graphic elements in various types of publications.

Typography can be divided into two basic areas:

macro typography – developing an idea, a comprehensive concept, including not only the arrangement of individual elements within the whole, but also the selection of the format, appropriate font, and colors of the design, paper, and in the case of multi-page publications, also the composition of individual pages and methods of breaking them

micro typography – working out the details of a given project, details of the composition itself, nuances of what is going on between lines, words, and even the letters themselves

Good typography is not only a matter of personal taste and preferences. For a given project to be good in terms of typography, it must have two key features – meet formal and functional assumptions. An esthetic concept in line with current design trends is unfortunately not enough. Successful typography also meets all its intended functions, technical and economic requirements, and is a response to the expressed demand.
In typography, the transfer of information is extremely important, it is not only decorative. Bad typography can be not only burdensome but also harmful – not only in purely aesthetic terms. Disturbing the legibility of the message can make it difficult or even impossible to communicate it effectively, which in the case of projects such as warning signs can have catastrophic consequences.

The key to good typography is mastering the basic typographic rules that have developed over the years. Thanks to them, the projects implemented are legible, understandable, without unnecessary ambiguities. Any deviation from the rule should result from a conscious will to break the rules, not from their complete ignorance.

Typography is the art and technique of using type; in England, it also means creating a text layout and accompanying graphic elements for the purpose of printing reproduction (the so-called layout). – Ken Garland, 1989.
“Typography is a craft consisting in giving the human language a permanent visual form, and thus an independent existence” – writes Robert Bringhurst in the introduction to his book Style Primer in Typography. on the long common boundary between writing and editing on the one hand, and graphic design on the other. But she herself does not belong to any of these areas, “writes Bringhurst.
In terms of the art of designing the message, typography is designed to allow the recipient to contact the content as much as possible, with a minimum of effort on his part. The attractively designed pages contain both an aesthetic and an artistic aspect.

Source: „WIDZIEĆ/WIEDZIEĆ. Wybór najważniejszych tekstów o dizajnie”, wyd. Karakter, Kraków 2011

„Pierwsza pomoc w typografii”, Friedrich Forssman, Hans Peter Willberg, wyd. Wydawnictwo Słowo/Obraz Terytoria, Gdańsk 2011