Examining Type Design and Special Characters and Uses

Name: Examining Type Design and Special Characters and Uses
Author: Joseph Tury

Create effective font designs by learning more about the properties of fonts

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 5 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hi, my name is Joe Turry. In this lesson, you will learn about the things to consider when it comes to special character design. Special characters include punctuation, numerals, mathematical characters, such as plus, minus, equals, divide, ampersands, percentage, the at symbol, and others. The more of these characters you have the more your audience will appreciate your font design and hopefully the more it will be used. When considering numerals you will have to decide on lining numerals or old-style numerals. As they suggest, lining numerals sit flush on the baseline. Old-style numerals contain characters that drop below the baseline, including three, four, five, seven, and nine. Old-style numerals are most appropriate for tie faces meant for paragraphs and other body texts. Display fonts don't usually contain old-style numerals unless made specifically for a certain look. The most commonly used punctuation marks are the period and the comma. You can design the period to be the same as the dot of your font's I character. The comma can be the period with the tail added. An apostrophe can look very similar or the same as the comma only placed at the x-height area. Quotation marks can be created from the apostrophe with the open quotes being inverted apostrophe marks. Hyphens can be roughly placed halfway up to the x-height. Dashes can be created by doubling a hyphen. Other punctuation to consider adding are question marks and exclamation points with question marks being the more important. And of course, considered throughout all these decisions that your special characters need to match this same theme and Straying from your main design will look very awkward and out of place. A business style font will need business style punctuation marks and will need to remain proportionately consistent. Numerals and punctuations such as question marks and exclamation points should be the same height as capital letters or ascenders. Weight, angle, and spatial considerations should apply as well. In the next lesson, you will learn about testing and revising your typeface designs. Thanks for watching.

Beginner Provider : Joseph Tury 5 Lessons · 17m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

As a graphic designer, you may eventually consider creating your own typefaces. Typography is a specialized art that can be just as enjoyable as every other art form. Font design is another way to express yourself and share your creativity, but there are things you should research before starting your journal as a font artist. You will need to ask yourself a series of questions regarding who the type is being created for, what style it will be, where it will be used, and why there is a need for it.

In this module, you will learn about the properties of fonts including size, weight, width, and proportion. We will explore the basic type design and factors that you should consider when creating your own unique letterforms. You will also learn tips about what prep work you will need to do before you start designing fonts and what special characters to include along with letterforms.

What You'll Learn

Learn about letterform proportions, including size, weight, and width
Understand the prep work and steps to complete before starting font design
Identify issues with your typeface and correct them through testing and revising
Apply considerations and guidelines for typeface design when creating unique letterforms
Design special characters to include alongside letterforms

Key Takeaways

Typography is a specialized art form, and font design is a way to express creativity and share your work.
Before starting font design, you should ask who the type is being created for, what style it will be, where it will be used, and why there is a need for it.
Fonts have properties including size, weight, width, and proportion that designers must consider.
Prep work and a set of design considerations and guidelines come before creating your own unique letterforms.
Type designs should be tested and revised to identify and correct issues with a typeface.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this course for?

It is aimed at graphic designers who may eventually consider creating their own typefaces and want to explore font design as a way to express their creativity.

What does this module cover?

It covers the properties of fonts including size, weight, width, and proportion; basic type design and factors to consider when creating letterforms; prep work before designing fonts; which special characters to include; and how to identify and correct issues with your typeface.

What will I learn to do?

You will learn about letterform proportions, understand the steps to take before starting font design, and learn to identify issues with your typeface and correct them.

What skills does this course build?

It builds skills in Type Design, Typography, Typesetting, Computer Fonts, Adobe Type Manager, and Microsoft Visual OpenType Layout Tool (VOLT).

What topics do the lessons include?

Lessons cover Typeface Size, Weight, Width, Proportion; Prepping Before Designing Fonts; Considerations and Guidelines For Typeface Design; Designing Special Characters; and Testing and Revising Type Designs.