Discourse Two

On the Choice of Typeface
By Beatrice Warde

• There are a multitude of factors that determine what typeface a designer should choose for a design. A great quote from Warde that basically sums up the article is “ type, [is] the voice of the printed page”

• The factors are legibility, size, paper, and what tone or message you want to voice.

• Type can be legible and dull, or legible and fascinating based on its design treatment. When talking about type design in book printing, the problem of ocular legibility can be solved in advanced, however when one begins talking about readability there are a variety of experiments and options that can take place. For Example, given the same book in three similar typefaces, Fournier, Caslon, and Plantin, even a non-typographer would be able to notice the subtle differences, and have a subconscious bias towards one or another, because it is like three different voices or personalities.

• Typographer should be able to, within a moments notice, be able to calculate how many pages the copy will come to in a given face, and also be able to take into account the point-size, set-width, number of lines, and leading.

• The word “set” refers to the actual type of the widest letter in the font, ex capital M. All types have different type settings, some occupy more space others less.

• Some typefaces are more successful in sizes above 11pt.

• Quality of paper influences the choice of typeface.

• However the main deciding factors that narrows down the decision to choosing a typeface is bas on two generalizations:

1. Question whether the face itself is tolerable or intolerable; this is before any question of physical or literary suitability.
2. “Is the thing worth doing?” is it worth the time for the designer to make such a thought provoking decision.

this images suffices as an example of what the article is addressing, and basically what Warde main theme is, all typefaces have their own voice. As seen in this image the sentence "Design your own pads" is continuously used in different typefaces and font families. All express a different tone, a goood example of this is comparing Branding Iron with Korinna. Branding iron is a more condensed typeface and has a smaller 'set' than Korinna does, this would perhaps be effective for when one is conserving space and a designer wants to portray the feeling of claustrophobia. Where as Korinna could be used for a more airy and unconstrained design.




This image exemplifies the topic of legibility. If this typeface was to be used for an entire book is would be very illegible and difficult to read. As a result, designer would select this type of typeface purely as a small design elements on a composition.




This third images displays a successful type choice from a design perspective. The designer was comfortable in this typeface, which allowed for experimentation, and the creation of a dynamic composition. When choosing a typeface, one has to always take into consideration who the audiences is, if it is meant to be legible, and what the feeling they want to achieve in the piece.