Week 10 Page 2: Typography Definitions

Introduction

Typography has a long and fascinating history. From the early alphabet letters to Gutenberg's movable type to the development of hot metal typesetters and finally, to the personal computer. Despite the massive changes in the way type is produced, some aspects and terminology still remain the same.

Type is produced to be read so legibility and readability are still (and always have been) high priorities. You have to understand the rules of legibility and readability in order to create clear and effective type designs.

So to repeat...

LEGIBILITY refers to how easy it is to identify letterforms (the individual shapes of letters) and short bursts of text such as headlines.

READABILITY refers to how easy it is to read large quantities of text in paragraphs based on the designer's font and formatting choices.

If you're interested in more introductory or historical information about typography visit the following web links: 

• Counterspace.com Links to an external site.
• http://ilovetypography.com/2010/08/07/where-does-the-alphabet-come-from/ Links to an external site.
• http://ilovetypography.com/2008/03/21/extreme-type-terminology/ Links to an external site.
  Warning! This article is long and detailed!!