Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Mac is Not A Typewriter

_ What are the advantages of a multiple column grid?
Grids are all about control. They establish a system for arranging content within the space of a page, screen, or built environment. Consistency is key!

_ How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?
The average characters in a line range between 45-75 (65) Long column? add a little extra leading.
words: on average 10-12 words.

_ Why is the baseline grid used in design?
It is an imaginary grid upon which type sits. The baseline of a piece of type can be forced to 'snap' t this grid to maintain continuity across the pages of a design. 12 points long, use for horizontal alignment.

_ What is a typographic river?
are visually unattractive gaps appearing to run down a paragraph of text. They can occur with any spacing, though they are most noticeable with wide inter-word spaces caused by either full text justification or monospaced fonts.

_ From the readings what does clothesline or flow line mean?
A flow line is the horizontal line that guides your eyes through text.

_ How can you incorporate white space into your designs?
You use white space in the outer areas of the layout. You shouldn't trap white space between columns of text. White space help organize and clean up a layout.

_ What is type color/texture mean?
It is the non-white parts of the layout. Increase leading or tracking to make texture.

_ What is x-height, how does it effect type color?
It is the height of the lowercase 'x' in a typeface. It deals with the space of the type. It affects type color through the spacing with the type. If the type has a tall x-height it will look darker, smaller x height lighter.

_ In justification or H&J terms what do the numbers: minimum, optimum, maximum mean?
Minimum- the least amount of space between words
Maximum- the most amount of space between words
Optimum- the right amount of space between words.
_ What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?
There are very many ways to indicate a new paragraph: indent second line, tracking, hang indent, all caps, etc. Do not indent the first line of a paragraph
_ What are some things to look out for when hyphenating text.
Mainly hyphens are used for hyphenating words and line breaks, but En dashes are used for time like hours, days, or years and Em dashes are changes in thought or where a period is strong and a comma is too weak.
_ What is a literature?
"acquaintance with letters"
_ What does CMYK and RGB mean?
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Red Green Blue
_ What does hanging punctuation mean?
is a way of typesetting punctuation marks and bullet points, most commonly quotation marks and hyphens, so that they do not disrupt the ‘flow’ of a body of text or ‘break’ the margin of alignment.
_ What is the difference between a foot mark and an apostrophe?
An apostrophe and quote mark have a similar circle and curve that make it present the quote or word ("" '). To make apostrophes and smart quotes you have to hit the the option +[ (left bracket is quote, right bracket is apostrophe). to make them go the other direction and add shift.
_ What is a hyphen, en dash and em dashes, what are the differences and when are they used.
A hyphen is used for hyphenating words or line breaks like previously stated, it is found next to the equal sign on the keyboard. An En dash is used between words to indicate a duration of time like hours, days, months or years (there is a space en dash space). The short cut is option+hyphen. An Em dash is twice as long as the En dash, it is used in a similar manner to colon and parentheses, it indicates an abrupt change in thought.
_ What are ligatures, why are they used, when are they not used, what are common ligatures
Two or more letters that are grouped or 'tied' together, for example in some typefaces the 'fi' and 'oe' sequences overlapped which looks terrible.