Typography: Legibility and Readability

Name: Typography: Legibility and Readability
Author: Joseph Tury

Learn about legibility and readability as they relate to typography in graphic design

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Joe Tury. In this lesson, you will learn how to improve legibility in your typography. In InDesign, create a document 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels. This is a digital format layout. Locate the Assets folder and place the image similar in the way I have. Locate the font in the Assets folder and install it. Once installed, in all caps, let's spell, cycling and place it above the handlebars. In the Properties panel, locate the Alignment section, make sure you have it set to the layout and then center the text. In default black, the font legibility is low. Increase the contrast by selecting the word and changing the color to white. The word cycling in this font has a few characters that have spacing issues, so adjust according to make the heading more visually uniform. You can do that by placing your cursor between the characters you wish to adjust, hold Alt, and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to increase or decrease the spacing. In this case, we want to increase the spacing between a few of the characters. Headings nearly always have to be adjusted, so keep this in mind for future layouts. Create a new text box and write the following sentences. Cycling has many health benefits, including lowering risk of heart disease, and cancer. Cycling reduces carbon emissions and has much less impact on the environment. It is a great form of transportation. Choose a sans serif font such as Arial or Helvetica. Be sure to uncheck Hyphenation in the Properties panel. Start with a 24-point font and a 26-point leading. Make sure you don't leave widows, or one or two words in the last sentence. You may have to increase the size of your text box. As an artistic choice, let's make the first word in all caps and move the text box to the lower right of the composition. To summarize, we made our heading in a thick font and in all caps. Kerning was adjusted so that some of the characters didn't look too compressed. To add contrast from the background, the font color was changed to white since the background is relatively dark. The heading size is large, and the first thing that would grab your attention. The paragraph was also written in an appropriate style font, and the text enlarged. The leading was also adjusted to complement the font size. All of these simple practices made this message legible and audience friendly, as well as polished and professional looking. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to increase readability in a layout. Thanks for watching!

Beginner Provider : Joseph Tury 5 Lessons · 25m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

One of the big challenges designers face in typography is designing informative messages that are also visually appealing and organized. A lot of your effort will go to waste if your audience cannot navigate through your text, and they can easily become confused by unorganized type layouts. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be creative with your messages, only that you will need to become familiar with problems that can arise from over-stylized fonts or unusual text placement and how these problems can be overcome.

In this module, you will learn about choosing letterforms that are easy to recognize and how to design a layout that efficiently guides your audience through the message, more commonly referred to as legibility and readability. You will explore different methods to create a strong visual flow to your compositions so that your audience will not struggle visually, as well as the basics of web typography.

What You'll Learn

Distinguish between legibility and readability in typography
Recognize problematic fonts and over-stylized or unusual layout choices
Apply methods to improve both legibility and readability
Design layouts that create a strong visual flow and guide the audience through the message
Work with complex type layouts
Apply the basic principles of web typography

Key Takeaways

A core challenge in typography is making informative messages that are also visually appealing and organized.
Legibility concerns choosing letterforms that are easy to recognize, while readability concerns designing a layout that efficiently guides the audience through the message.
Over-stylized fonts or unusual text placement can create problems that designers need to identify and overcome.
Creating a strong visual flow in a composition helps the audience read without struggling visually.
The course also covers the basics of typography for the web.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between legibility and readability covered in this course?

The course teaches legibility as choosing letterforms that are easy to recognize, and readability as designing a layout that efficiently guides your audience through the message.

What topics does this module cover?

It covers defining legibility and readability, methods to improve legibility, methods to improve readability, working with complex type layouts, and typography for the web.

What skills will I gain from this course?

The course develops skills in document formatting, kinetic typography, readability, type design, typography, and web typography.

Does this course address designing for the web?

Yes. It covers the basics of web typography and includes a lesson on typography for the web, along with knowing the basic principles of web typography as a learning objective.

How does the course help with unappealing or confusing text?

It helps you recognize problems that can arise from over-stylized fonts or unusual text placement and shows methods to overcome them and create a strong visual flow so your audience does not become confused by unorganized type layouts.