- Details
- Written by: GDB editor
- Category: Uncategorised
- Hits: 7
Type
A sign has to work at a distance and often in a short time. The typography is doing a different job from typography on a page.
Letter height, contrast with the background, and the number of words matter more than a fine difference between two text faces. A condensed face can fit a long name on a narrow fascia and still fail if it is used at a size the passing reader cannot resolve. Paint, vinyl, and a light box each change how the edge of a letter looks; a drawing that was sharp on screen can look heavy once it is cut or painted.
If a sign is bilingual, the two scripts may need different sizes to look evenly weighted. That is a matter of looking, not of applying a single ratio to every pair of languages. Stand where the sign is meant to be read, if you can, before you decide that the drawing is finished.
This page does not offer a standard signage typeface. Licensing, the making method, and the viewer's distance should decide that choice for each job.
- Details
- Written by: GDB editor
- Category: Uncategorised
- Hits: 6
Production
Paper is part of the typography. The same letters on a coated sheet and on a soft uncoated sheet will not look the same, and ink will not sit on them in the same way.
If you can, look at a printed sample of the stock before you lock a layout. Show-through, a strong grain, or a colour in the sheet itself will change contrast. A very white coated paper can make photographs look sharp and type look thin; a warmer uncoated sheet can do the opposite. Neither is automatically better.
Ink density and the number of colours should be agreed with the printer. A job that looked rich in a RGB file can look dull if it is printed in a single black, or muddy if too much colour is asked of a soft sheet. Ask for a proof that uses the same stock, or be clear with yourself that a digital proof is only an approximation.
This journal does not publish a paper catalogue. Named stocks and their prices change, and a mill's own current swatch is the right place to read them.
- Details
- Written by: GDB editor
- Category: Uncategorised
- Hits: 10
Method
A brief is a list of facts and constraints. Style comes later. The first job is to write down what is actually known and what is still a guess.
Start with the use: who has to read this, at what size, in which language, and in which medium (a sheet, a sign, a screen). Then list the hard constraints: a trim size, a colour limit, a date, a name that cannot be changed, a logo file that has to be used as supplied. If a constraint is missing, mark it as unknown rather than filling it in.
If the brief names a feeling ("clean", "bold", "modern"), ask for an example of a piece of work that already does that job, or for a piece that must not be copied. Vague adjectives are not specifications. They become useful only when they point at something you can both see.
This page is about reading, not about pitching for work. GDB does not take on client jobs. The same habit of writing down facts before talking about style is useful in editorial work as well.
- Details
- Written by: GDB editor
- Category: Uncategorised
- Hits: 7
Planning
A short list to run through before a file is treated as final. Not every item applies to every job.
- Write down the trim size, the bleed, and the way the file should be delivered, as confirmed by the printer or the developer you will actually use.
- Check every image at the size it will appear, A check at the size it appears in a window on your desk is not enough.
- Read the text at the final size, on a paper proof or at the intended screen width. A typographic problem often shows up only then.
- Confirm that typefaces are licensed for the use, and that they are embedded or outlined as the recipient requires.
- If a sign or a printed piece is bilingual, look at both scripts together, at the correct distance.
- List anything that is still a guess (a paper stock not yet sampled, a photograph not yet chosen) so it is not forgotten in a rush to finish.
The aim is not a perfect record. It is to notice which decisions are still waiting on a fact.