THINKING WITH TYPE

I came across a website whilst researching into type and grid, however it is also relevant to previous tasks we have undertaken. Taken from Ellen Lupton's book 'Thinking With Type', it looks at a wide ranging area of type, text and grid, which has proved to be extremely helpful, easy to read and full to the brim of brilliant examples. It is a great resource for the majority of the 404 tasks we have been given.
The use of humour and a large collection of images has made things a lot more manageable and I have gained a lot of information from this website alone. 


The contents of each section are as follows:

Type

Anatomy

Size

Scale

Type Classification

Type Families

Superfamilies

Caps and Small Caps

Mixing Typefaces

Numerals

Punctuation

Typeface Design

Font Formats


Text
Kerning
Tracking
Line Spacing
Alignment
Vertical Text
Making Paragraphs
Enlarged Capitals
Hierarchy


Grid
Golden Section
Single-Column Grid
Multicolumn Grid
Modular Grid

There are some brilliant examples shown in each section showing how each area works, or in some cases doesn't work.

Although we haven't directly looked at this subject, what I actually took a lot of interest in from this website was the section on mixing typefaces. On certain projects, sometimes mixing typefaces may be necessary, however, you have to do it in a way where you don't get feedback saying "are there too many typefaces being used?" or "do these typefaces work well with each other?" It always seems quite difficult to make the decision about whether or not they gel and sit next to each other well. After spending ages looking at them, sometimes you just don't know. Sometimes contrast can work, sometimes it can't.

Whilst comparing the combining of typefaces to making a salad is a bit of an annoying analogy, it gets the point across.

'Combining typefaces is like making a salad. Start with a small number of elements representing different colors, tastes, and textures. Strive for contrast rather than harmony, looking for emphatic differences rather than mushy transitions. Give each ingredient a role to play: sweet tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and the pungent shock of an occasional anchovy. When mixing typefaces on the same line, designers usually adjust the point size so that the x-heights align. When placing typefaces on separate lines, it often makes sense to create contrast in scale as well as style or weight. Try mixing big, light type with small, dark type for a criss-cross of contrasting flavors and textures.'

Mixing Typefaces: Single-Family and Multi-Family

Furthermore, What Ellen also includes, is a selection of 'projects'. There is one particular project under 'Text' that focuses directly on hierarchy. 


'Choose a text that has a recurring structure, such as a table of contents, a news aggregator, or a calendar of events. Analyze the structure of the content (main title, subtitles, time, location, body text, and so on) and create a visual hierarchy that expresses this structure. Make it easy for readers to find the information they want. For example, in a crime report some readers might scan for location, looking for data about their neighborhood, while others might be more drawn to the lurid details of particular crimes. Use changes in size, weight, leading, style, and column structure to distinguish the levels of the hierarchy. Make a style sheet (in a page layout program for print or in CSS for the web) in order to create several variations quickly.'

This was in fact one of our tasks, however, with new knowledge, I plan to revisit it and improve upon it - looking further into the content and the different changes.


(source)