Typography

'Typography' (performed by a typographer) is the art of arranging letterforms in space in any medium (including the printed page, web pages, television, film, etc), usually using a recognised typeface, in order to achieve a combination of both aesthetic and functional goals.

While the term orthography usually refers to correct writing in general, typography includes:

• layout of blocks of text on the page, and throughout a publication;
• thoughtful selection and use of typefaces (fonts);
• correct use of emphasis;
• optional decoration such as initials;
• adhering to rules of typographical syntax, such as when to use a hyphen vs. a dash, or what glyphs to use for quotation marks, which varies greatly among different languages.

The term typography has broadened to include arranging text on the computer screen. When an overall layout specification has to handle a range of actual content – whether on screen or not – the term more often used is information design.

Note that type design is generally considered a separate activity from typography, although it can be considered a branch thereof.

Important typographers and type designers

• Otl Aicher
• John Baskerville
• Morris Fuller Benton
• Giambattista Bodoni
• Max Caflisch
• Matthew Carter
• William Caslon
• Wim Crouwel
• Adrian Frutiger
• Claude Garamond
• Eric Gill
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Tibor Kalman
• Donald Knuth
• Rudolf Koch
• Günter Gerhard Lange
• Aldus Manutius
• Stanley Morison
• Herbert Post
• Paul Renner
• Erik Spiekermann
• Jan Tschichold
• Georg Trump
• Kurt Weidemann
• Hans Peter Willberg
• Hermann Zapf

Related topics

• Calligraphy
• Computers and Typesetting
• Desktop publishing
• Em
• Graphic design
• Justification (typesetting)
• Kerning
• Leading
• Ligature (typography)
• Mixed case
• Paragraph
• Printing
• Printing press
• Orthography
• Quotation mark
• Serif
• Text figures
• Tracking
• Typefaces
• Typographic units
• Typesetting
• Widows and Orphans
• Word processor

Reference

• Bringhurst, Robert (2002). The Elements of Typographic Style (version 2.5). Vancouver: Hartley & Marks. ISBN 0-88179-133-4. Often referred to simply as Bringhurst, it is widely respected as the modern authority on typographic style (excerpts (http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/typographicStyle)).

External links

• Typographica (http://www.typographi.com) - a daily journal of typography
• www.typolis.de - Typography, Type and Design (http://www.typolis.de/version1/indexe.htm)
• Typography Directory (http://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Graphic_Design/Typography/)
• http://counterspace.motivo.com/
• http://www.typophile.com/
• Typo.cz (http://euro.typo.cz/) - information on Central European typography and typesetting
• Kurt Weidemann (http://www.haus3.net/mitglieder/kurt_weidemann.html) - In German
• Web Typography (http://www.flywebmaster.com/webdesign/tips/typography.php)
• Multilingual Typographic Dictionary (http://www.irisa.fr/faqtypo/lexique.html) - typographic lexicon in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

cs:Typografie de:Typografie eo:Tipografio es:tipografía fr:Typographie it:Tipografia nl:Typografie pl:Typografia

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