Every pica tells a story
Clear writing and a firm editorial hand (whether your own or Red Pony’s) are the most important elements of clear business communication. But visual presentation also makes a big difference in getting your point across.
We have all encountered books, signs or websites that are difficult, slow or annoying to read. Sometimes the cause is obvious, but not always. Ideally, layout of text on the page, billboard or screen, combined with choice of typeface, background, text spacing, colours and the placement of illustrations will all come together to form a visually satisfying whole, which quietly helps the reader absorb the author’s meaning without distraction or fatigue.
These days anyone who works with words — teacher, bureaucrat, publicist or any other white-collar professional — draws upon centuries of accumulated knowledge in typography, graphic design and printing when writing an email, business letter or webpage. We take this expertise for granted because it has been incorporated into the computer software we use every day. But it can be useful (and interesting) to know the history of some of this common wisdom. Many of the terms and concepts date back to the earliest days of European printing, when Johannes Gutenberg devised a press with movable type in around 1440.
Leaving too little space between lines, for example, can make a page or screen of text appear cramped and even daunting to the reader. Who is brave enough to venture into that obscure tangle? But leave too much space between lines, and the reading experience becomes disjointed. It also wastes paper (or screen space). The early printers used narrow strips of the soft metal lead to separate the lines of movable letters, giving rise to the name ‘leading’ (pronounced LEDD-ing) for the distance between successive lines of type. Designers and printers still use this term, although computer programs often use ‘line spacing’ or ‘interline spacing’.
Sloping italic type is used today for specific purposes such as foreign words and scientific names, the titles of journals, books, films and other creative works, acts of parliament, ships, and sometimes for emphasis. The first italic typefaces were based on Italian fonts of the early 1500s, themselves derived from a style of cursive handwriting that saved space on the page. Italics are essential in their place but are not ideal for lengthy settings, particularly on the screen, as they are less legible than roman (upright) type.
And why is roman type called roman? Because it is derived from the letters carved into stone by the masons of that ancient civilisation. Serifs, the small lines at the edges of letters in fonts such as Times New Roman, are also believed to date back to the days of ancient Rome.
The first sans-serif (French for ‘without serifs’) fonts emerged in the early nineteenth century but came into their own with the advent of computers. The ones we use mostly today (for example the Swiss Helvetica from 1957) are particularly popular for websites.
Typefaces are also referred to as fonts (or founts), from the Old French term for a foundry, because from Gutenberg’s day until well into the twentieth century all type was cast from molten metal. Choice of font (measured in points or ‘picas’) is crucial in communicating your message. Beware the novel or eye-catching font! They have their place, but there are good reasons why the classics are classics.
