Typograf 5 2 Serial Number
Vaniria Setser
In the first episode I cover something that drives me crazy for a long time now: the time display in iOS. Every minute when the time is changing all numbers shift around and this just annoys me. Find out why Apple made this decision, how we could improve it, and what to learn from it for your own designs.
There are two style for numbers: old style figures and lining figures. Old style figures are designed with varying heights. This resembles a typical line of running text so they better blend in with it.
On the other hand, there are lining figures, also called modern figures, which are mostly the same height as upper-case letters. They work better when used alone, in user interfaces, or time displays. They are the more common style of numbers.
Now in addition to these two styles, there are two spacing formats: proportional and tabular. Proportional figures have variable spacing, comparable to that of upper and lowercase characters. This spacing maintains the even, balanced color of the rest of the alphabet, allowing the figures to blend in nicely with horizontal text.
For 12:10 it looks quite okay with the tabular figures, for 12:11 on the other hand there is a lot of space between the figures which makes them almost fall apart. And the problem here is the number 1. To compensate for that, Apple could add an alternate character for the number one with a serif to fill the empty space. Some typefaces do exactly that, like FF Tisa (the typeface used for the examples above) where it automatically adds a 1 with a serif when I switch to tabular figures. Unfortunately there is no 1 with a serif in San Francisco, so for the purpose of this example I drew it and it looks better than with the original tabular 1.
Now spacing is less of a problem, but it still feels a bis too far apart. What annoys me even more is, that the typeface now sets a different tone for the interface. The 1 with the serif makes it more technical, less elegant and simple.
What this also teaches us is how to use the different spacings for numbers wisely. For example in a web design I recently made a counter component that uses tabular figures to align them.
Several comments to the video suggested centering the colon, right aligning the hours and left aligning the minutes. This idea came to me as well, but it visually does not work out, especially when it comes to one digit hours. See the example below. 9:32 just looks off, 22:11 as well.
Pimp my Type is a project by me, Oliver Schndorfer, a freelance designer and speaker from Austria, deeply in love with everything type. Hire me for outstanding UI & app design. If you think my content and enthusiastic style fits your podcast or event, drop me a line!
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spacing, and spaces between pairs of letters.[1] The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Type design is a closely related craft, sometimes considered part of typography; most typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do not consider themselves typographers.[2][3] Typography also may be used as an ornamental and decorative device, unrelated to the communication of information.
Typography is the also the work of graphic designers, art directors, manga artists, comic book artists, and, now, anyone who arranges words, letters, numbers, and symbols for publication, display, or distribution, from clerical workers and newsletter writers to anyone self-publishing materials. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation. Personal computers opened up typography to new generations of previously unrelated designers and lay users. As the capability to create typography has become ubiquitous, the application of principles and best practices developed over generations of skilled workers and professionals has diminished.[4][5]
Wang Zhen was one of the pioneers of wooden movable type. Although the wooden type was more durable under the mechanical rigors of handling, repeated printing wore the character faces down and the types could be replaced only by carving new pieces.[23]
Metal movable type was first invented in Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty, approximately 1230. Hua Sui introduced bronze type printing to China in 1490 AD. The diffusion of both movable-type systems was limited and the technology did not spread beyond East and Central Asia, however.[24]
Modern lead-based movable type, along with the mechanical printing press, is most often attributed to the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in 1439.[25][26][27][28] His type pieces, made from a lead-based alloy, suited printing purposes so well that the alloy is still used today.[29] Gutenberg developed specialized techniques for casting and combining cheap copies of letter punches in the vast quantities required to print multiple copies of texts.[30] This technical breakthrough was instrumental in starting the Printing Revolution and the first book printed with lead-based movable type was the Gutenberg Bible.
Rapidly advancing technology revolutionized typography in the latter twentieth century. During the 1960s some camera-ready typesetting could be produced in any office or workshop with stand-alone machines such as those introduced by IBM (see: IBM Selectric typewriter). During the same period Letraset introduced dry transfer technology that allowed designers to transfer types instantly.[31] The famous Lorem Ipsum gained popularity due to its usage in Letraset. During the mid-1980s personal computers allowed type designers to create typefaces digitally using commercial graphic design software such as Fontographer. Digital technology also enabled designers to create more experimental typefaces as well as the practical typefaces of traditional typography. Designs for typefaces could be created faster with the new technology, and for more specific functions.[8] The cost for developing typefaces was drastically lowered, becoming widely available to the masses. The change has been called the "democratization of type" and has given new designers more opportunities to enter the field.[32]
The design of typefaces has developed alongside the development of typesetting systems.[33] Although typography has evolved significantly from its origins, it is a largely conservative art that tends to cleave closely to tradition.[34] This is because legibility is paramount, and so the typefaces that are the most readable usually are retained. In addition, the evolution of typography is inextricably intertwined with lettering by hand and related art forms, especially formal styles, which thrived for centuries preceding typography,[34] and so the evolution of typography must be discussed with reference to this relationship.
In relation to the international graphics of the 1920s - 1930s, the term "International Typographic Style" is used.[39] In the 1950s - 1960s, such a phenomenon as "Swiss style" was formed in typography.[40][41]
By the twentieth century, computers turned typeface design into a rather simplified process. This has allowed the number of typefaces and styles to proliferate exponentially, as there now are thousands available.[35] Confusion between typeface and font (the various styles of a single typeface) occurred in 1984 when Steve Jobs mislabeled typefaces as fonts for Apple computers and his error has been perpetuated throughout the computer industry, leading to common misuse by the public of the term font when typeface is the proper term.[citation needed]
"Experimental typography" is defined as the unconventional and more artistic approach to typeface selection. Francis Picabia was a Dada pioneer of this practice in the early twentieth century. David Carson is often associated with this movement, particularly for his work in Ray Gun magazine in the 1990s. His work caused an uproar in the design community due to his abandonment of standard practices in typeface selection, layout, and design. Experimental typography is said to place emphasis on expressing emotion, rather than having a concern for legibility while communicating ideas, hence considered bordering on being art.
There are many facets to the expressive use of typography, and with those come many different techniques to help with visual aid and the graphic design. Spacing and kerning, size-specific spacing, x-height and vertical proportions, character variation, width, weight, and contrast,[42] are several techniques that are necessary to be taken into consideration when thinking about the appropriateness of specific typefaces or creating them. When placing two or more differing and/or contrasting fonts together, these techniques come into play for organizational strategies and demanding attractive qualities. For example, if the bulk of a title has a more unfamiliar or unusual font, simpler sans-serif fonts will help complement the title while attracting more attention to the piece as a whole.[43]
In contemporary use, the practice and study of typography include a broad range, covering all aspects of letter design and application, both mechanical (typesetting, type design, and typefaces) and manual (handwriting and calligraphy). Typographical elements may appear in a wide variety of situations, including:
Traditionally, text is composed to create a readable, coherent, and visually satisfying block of type that works invisibly, without the awareness of the reader. Even distribution of typeset material, with a minimum of distractions and anomalies, aims to produce clarity and transparency.
Contemporary books are more likely to be set with state-of-the-art "text romans" or "book romans" typefaces with serifs and design values echoing present-day design arts, which are closely based on traditional models such as those of Nicolas Jenson, Francesco Griffo (a punchcutter who created the model for Aldine typefaces), and Claude Garamond. With their more specialized requirements, newspapers and magazines rely on compact, tightly fitted styles of text typefaces with serifs specially designed for the task, which offer maximum flexibility, readability, legibility, and efficient use of page space. Sans serif text typefaces (without serifs) often are used for introductory paragraphs, incidental text, and whole short articles. A current fashion is to pair a sans-serif typeface for headings with a high-performance serif typeface of matching style for the text of an article.
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