It’s important to format typography before printing anything. When you’ve selected a font for a project, there might be little nuances to the type that make it hard to read in print or on a screen. Letters too tight, lines of type too long. Editing surrounding elements can change typography as well in a way you don’t mean. Beyond that, every medium has a different purpose. A book is formatted differently than a social media post or a poster. There’s a few terms when it comes to formatting type that can help ensure your work is legible no matter the medium.
I use these terms a lot, despite no one in my family knowing what they mean. Getting to talk about them is my pleasure, especially when I can prevent typographic mishaps. There could be more, but these are common formatting elements.
Justification
Justification is the alignment of type. Usually when you write a paper, type is justified to the left side while the right looks more ragged. Sort of like this post. That’s flush left, ragged right. Flush right, ragged left is the opposite of our usual typing mode, where the ragged end is on the left while everything’s aligned on the right. Center justified is where both sides are ragged but every line is lined up for the center.
These next four have a similar concept to the above three, but automatically cause problems. Force-justified is when the type aligns along both sides of the page, leaving no ragged sides. The last three are force-justified right, force-justified left, and force-justified center, where the last line aligns with either the right side, left side, or center. These cause problems because in order to fit a line within a certain alignment, software counts characters and adjusts spacing based on what will fill the line. Hyphens, extreme tracking, squished type. This is particularly frustrating in books, which is why a designer is needed to check all the pages and make sure nothing looks off.
Hyphens are the easiest prevention method, but can throw off a reader. Hyphens are usually automatic, though some software allows you to change the rules of hyphen usage. The fewer, the better. Breaking up words 6+ is my preferred method, cutting after 3-4 letters in the word and leaving 3+ on the next line. It’s much easier to turn off hyphenation, but then you have to adjust the typography by hand.
Tracking, Kerning, Leading
These three terms are super important in type format. Tracking is the spacing between letters in a line of text. Kerning is the spacing between letters in a word. Leading is the spacing between two lines of text. We mess with leading a lot more than tracking on a regular basis. Ever heard of double-spaced type? That’s changing the leading. Normally, auto leading will be about 5 points higher than the font size (e.g. 10 pt font has 15 pt leading).
Microsoft Word makes the process easy by creating estimations for these point values, but programs like InDesign allow you to tweak the leading and tracking in increments. General rule of thumb: digital type needs more spacing than printed type. There is a difference between reading on a computer and reading in a book. Our eyes judge space differently, and digital is normally the hardest to read when it comes to small type. I adjust tracking and leading to give more breathing room between letters. I only do it by a few points because too much space can disconnect words or paragraphs. These methods can also be used to create less legibility, like decreasing leading so words overlap. Designers do this to evoke different moods or feelings in a viewer.
Condense, Stretch
Now these should never be done in typography unless you’re creating a design with warped type. Some typefaces have condensed or stretched features built in, but compressing or stretching type changes the feel of a typeface and is noticeable. Some designers, like my history professor, take great offense to warped type. Typographers spend a lot of time finessing the proportions of letters and to condense or stretch that is sort of an insult. If you need larger letters, look for another typeface. Otherwise, keep the dimensions of the type at 100% on all sides.
Final Thoughts on Formatting Typography
Before doing a final print, make a “dumbie copy.” If you have an inkjet printer, make a print on regular paper and see how the type looks. Is it legible? Is there too much spacing? Or is it just the right amount of confusing? Digital could be harder to test, but exporting to a PDF could help get away from the software to see the overall look at full scale. Decreasing the size proportionally and printing could give that effect as well so you can pay attention to the spacing portion. Either way, it’s better to get test run copies than to go right to the real thing. If tweaks need to be made, then you haven’t wasted your money on a bad product.
