There
are many details of print design that separate the professional from the
amateur. Understanding the rules of type is one of them. While headings,
graphics, and logos can push the boundaries, body copy should follow some basic
rules. Let’s look at five of them.
1. Eliminate widows and
orphans.
Widows
and orphans are when small words or parts of words fall by themselves on their
own line. These should be eliminated through editing or tracking.
2. Fix floating lines.
Every
paragraph should have at least three lines. If a column or page break divides a
paragraph so that only one or two lines fall on the next column or page, adjust
the spacing.
3. Don’t stack words or hyphens.
Sometimes
strange things happen in paragraphs. Hyphen will occasionally fall at the end
of the line, and even more occasionally, this will happen on two lines in a
row. The result is visually uncomfortable. (Designers often call this “pig
bristles.”) A similar thing can occur when two identical words fall at the end
of a line right above and below one another. When these anomalies happen, tweak
the spacing to shift things around.
4. Fix rivers and loose
lines.
Justified
spacing works well in most cases, but occasionally, it creates giant gaps and awkward
spaces in the middle of lines. “Rivers” are visual gaps that run down a
paragraph of text as a result of these gaps. “Loose lines” are individual lines
containing poorly spaced elements.
5. Pretty up the rags.
When
you have left aligned text, the right-hand margin of the paragraph will have
uneven line spacing that can either be visually attractive or highly
unappealing. You want the rag pattern to be attractive to the eye, but not with
giant differences between line lengths, sloping alignment of lines, or with
rags that create diagonal shapes.
These
typography no-nos can be fixed using simple tracking, light editing, or
resizing of elements. When you take the extra time and effort, it can make the
difference between a piece that looks professional and one that doesn’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment