A guide to Web typography

Typography for the Web has come a long way since Tim Berners-Lee flipped the switch in 1991. Back in the days of IE 1.0, good web typography was something of an oxymoron. Today things are different. Not only do we have browsers that support images (gasp!), but we have the opportunity to make our web pages come to life through great typography.

First, it’s worth noting that Typography is not just about choosing a font, or even distinguishing one typeface from another. In recent experiments, trained monkeys were able to correctly identify Helvetica 90% of the time.

Today we’re going to talk about web typography in terms of a recipe of four fundamental ingredients. If you’ve ever tried to cook a soufflé, you’ll know how important the recipe is. Follow this recipe and your typography will rise up like … that’s enough of the culinary metaphors, let’s cook:

Contrast

Pale pink text on a pale blue background, might match your t-shirt, but it just doesn’t read well. Text exists to be read; make sure that it contrasts enough with the background to achieve that. If you’re ever unsure about contrast, then take a screen dump of your page, open up your image editing software and reduce the image to grey-scale. You’ll soon see if you have enough contrast. Robert Bringhurst, the consummate typographer writes, typography exists to honor content. Are we honouring the content, if we design our pages in such a way that the text, the content, is difficult to read?

Personally I dislike reading long stretches of reversed out text (i.e. light text on a dark background); how often do we see books set like this? It may well be appropriate for shorter stretches of text on-screen, but I find it very tiring to read for any length of time.

Size

With the birth of Web 2.0 I noticed a rather annoying trend; namely small type. I’ve even emailed site authors and kindly suggested that they increase the default font size. I’ve received mixed replies from, tough, get yourself some glasses to thanks, I’d never even considered that my type might be too small for the average reader. I’ve even heard tiny body text defended with, “it matches my minimalist design”, or similar. It most likely reflects a small something else. Unless Super Man and 20/20 Vision Girl (Marvel Comics, keep your hands off, she’s mine) are your only readers, then small type is just not on.

Don’t set body text below 10 or 12px and, if possible, make it bigger. Remember, what’s legible on your 65 inch High Definition Plasma monitor, might not be so on a 15 inch MacBook. If in doubt, make it bigger. The body text on ILT is set at 16px.

Hierarchy

Varying type size is one of  the best ways to differentiate content. Colours and pretty boxes might help, but different sizes of type, used consistently throughout your pages, will signal loud and clear to your readers the relative importance of your pages’ elements. It also means that if your readers are in a hurry, they can quickly pick out the important bits — and that could mean that they stay longer and read on.

Hierarchy can be achieved in other ways too. We’ve just mentioned using different sizes of type to achieve it, but we can also use different styles; for example, all-caps, or using italic for sub-headings. Serif and sans serif faces can also be mixed to good effect.

Space

Let your type breathe. Don’t be afraid to leave blank spaces in your pages. This negative or white space will help focus attention on the text—and it’s the text that speaks loudest, so let it be heard. Next, remember the line-heightCSS property; a good rule of thumb is line-spacing that’s at least 140% of your text size (remember, I’m writing about web typography here). Good type designers put a whole lot of effort into the micro white space that sits inside type. They spend countless hours attempting to achieve a balance between the black of the type and negative or white space that it envelops. Likewise, we should take time to consider the macro white space, the ‘voids’ that shape our blocks of text.

Remember, these are not rules, but rather guidelines. However, follow them—contrast, size, hierarchy, and space—and your typography will rise like one of Gordon Ramsay’s Soufflés. Oh, and I was only kidding about the monkeys.

In a future three-part series on the fundamentals of typography, I’ll look at all of the above in more detail. I’ll also be discussing numerous things (details) that will go a long way to improving your typography both on- and off-screen.

Boardley, John . A guide to Web typography. http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/ . 15/02/2010.

AlmapBBDO was the winner of Professional of the Year Awards

The commercial La Fortuna/Vulcão is part of  the campaign to launch the new Saveiro, the pickup from Volkswagen with DNA adventure. The shooting took place in the cities of Colonia del Sacramento and fields of Minas, Uruguay.

AlmapBBDO was the winner of Professional of the Year Awards conducted by Globo Television Network, in the category Grand Prix National Market. 

The day when a smile stopped Sao Paulo

The promotional activity of Brastemp has helped people get inspired to make the routine of everyday life lighter, especially for those in transit. Performed through 11 radio stations in Sao Paulo that may transmit simultaneously spot “Smile”, inviting drivers to smile at the people in the car next to them.

Young people are dependent on mobile phone

Forget something it´s normal, but mobile is like a clothing. This dependence is the same worldwide, according Nielsen survey conducted in December 2010 in Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China, Vietnã, Alemanha, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Espanha e Itália. For example, China, 73% of people aged between 15 e 24 reported using the internet through mobile phone. In secong place were United States (48%) and United Kingdom (46%).   China leads among countries with more people who downloaded ring tones and used instant messaging services. Saudi Arabia ranked first among those who downloaded wallpapers. United States and Saudi Arabia tied for downloading games, while the U.S. is the champion among the most e-mailed by phone.

When it comes to sending SMS, women earn on the planet. Only Saudi Arabia, China and Índia, men send more SMS. In Russia, men and women were tied.

Regarding the multimedia messaging (MMS), in Brazil, men are 51% of the total, whilewomen 49%. Again, Saudi Arabia, China, India and Russia were also among thecountries in which men send more MMS. In Spain, men and women were tied.

In most countries studied, smartphones is mostly used by men, with notable exception, the U.S. 55% of users, from 15 to 24 years, belongs to female population in general, the use represents 55% of males.

Young European surveyed, 28% use smartphone. Adults over 25 years, totaling 27% in Europe. In this universe, the italian, from 15 to 24 years, are the most like the unit , totaling 47%. The adults of the same country totals 31%.

When it comes to buying cell phones, the price weighs on the decision of the majority ofrespondents, both young and adults. The exception in this regard, occurred only with theyoung Russians, 21% of them choose the unit because of design. For Brazilians, about14%, style and design are the most important factors when buying, compared to 7% ofadults in the United States.

As for the payment of your cell phone bill, the research shows that pre-payment is a service often used by young people.

First is Russia with 98% in second India with 97% in third with 90% in Brazil and finallythe Americans, who prefer to pay only 24% before using the service.

Teenagers begin to pay their own account. Of the 20 to 24 years, the Russians are ranked first with 88% following is Germany with 84%, and appears in third position with82% in Brazil, while Italy has the lowest rate, 21% of young paying their own way.

Silvestrini, Adriana. Young people are dependent on mobile phone. http://www.propmark.com.br/publique/. 10/12/2011.

Blessed contestant who makes me get up early

Blessed are my competitors!

Who makes me get up early, so I better make use good use of my day.

Who force me to be more resposible.

That I will not accommodated as ever.

Who force me to continually study and improve myself.

Pointing my fault, so I can correct them.

They force me to be creative, discovering and doing things I never thought it would.

Who makes me treat people better.

Who motivate me work with renewed enthusiasm.

Who stimulate my desire to beat me constantly, and so against the prosperity and wealth.

Child understand advertising

Watch to television, talk to friends by MSN and send scraps by Orkut - everything at the same time. This situation typify child and teens called "multitask", those who use tools and execute more than one activity at the same time.


At the new edition Kid Experts research, Cartoon Network in Brazil confirms the close relationship between children and technology. Besides that, children know the role of ad is presents the product more attractive to sell it.


"They´re observant and curious. They seek to know what´s behind the advertisng, do not believe everything they see and know how to argue." said Pablo Verdin, vp search of Turner América Latina.


The survey of mothers of boys and girls between 9 and 11 years showed that they did not believe the media has a role in influencing children to want certain products, andsaid they were against the ban on advertising to children. "They see advertising assomething that can help because it stimulates and limits to show the value of money.The TV is a window to the outside world "Verdin said. The study also shows thatmothers believe that children are more influenced by friends.


Also showed that most elements are noteworthy in advertising as the presence ofchildren, characters, celebrities, entertainment, humor and presence of the product.Among boys, action and special effects are quite relevant.


Other observations such as exposure time, boundary between reality and fantasy,conscious of the actual size of the products and elements that do not improve theadvertising they see as neglect.

Marsola, Cristiane. Child understand advertising. Propmark Newspaper, São Paulo, year 46, n° 2317, pg. 23, 06/09/2010.