Typesetting is a process of arranging and formatting the text before printing. If done correctly during the graphic design, it can really influence the quality of your final product. Despite that, this step is often overlooked and given less attention than it deserves. A professional typesetter can be responsible for the success of a project, while a poor one may lead to really lackluster results.
Avoid easy-to-make mistakes when designing a flyer, brochure, book, or website, by instead opting for a professional and eye-catching final product with our professional help.
WHAT IS TYPESETTING?
Typesetting involves choosing the right font and margin size, while adding extra spacing between the lines or letters. The goal is clear: to make the text more readable. Learning the principles of producing graphic content is crucial for web developers, book designers and editors.
Thanks to the typesetting, you can convey information clearly, making the text look neater and giving it a more professional edge. As an additional benefit, the content becomes more accessible to people with special reading needs, such as dyslexia.
Typesetting guides the reader in the desired direction, especially in a multi-column or complex page layout. It considers elements like hyphenation, justification, and column alignment. Taking action helps to reduce the eye strain from reading long paragraphs.
A well-typeset page is visually appealing, enhancing the overall design and look of a document, book, or webpage. It complements the visual elements, making the entire piece more engaging. Various typefaces, weights, and styles (like bold or italic) are used to emphasise important information, helping it to stand out. Together it helps to present your written work in the best possible light.
READABILITY AND LEGIBILITY
Typesetting is not about art; it is deeply rooted in the science of how our eyes and brains process visual information. Readability considers factors such as line length or paragraph, line, and word spacing.
It also involves individual characters and how distinguishable they are from one another. It considers the typeface used, the size of the font, the contrast between the text and its background, and specific character spacing decisions, like kerning.
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A serif font can be chosen for a print book to increase the legibility of the continuous text, while a sans-serif font might be preferred for a website due to its cleaner appearance on digital screens. Moreover, in situations where there is a lot of dense information, adequate spacing and clear headings improve readability.
WHO CREATES THE TYPESETTING?
The typesetter is someone involved in selecting appropriate fonts for a particular project and the arrangement of the text on a page. Before digital printing, this job required an extremely patient professional, one able to give a lot of attention to detail.
Today it is much easier to use word processing or design programs to create a professional-looking document. However, the importance of what the text looks like is growing. The role of the typesetter remains indispensable today in producing appealing printed materials.
If you are looking for a skilled specialist, look no further. We have many experienced typesetters for your projects in our team. Contact us, so we can match you with one!
WHY IS TYPESETTING IMPORTANT?
Think about a time when you stumbled upon a website with a wall of text: no headings, long lines, tiny font size, and no spacing between the paragraphs. The chances are that you did not stay there long, and maybe you did not even begin to read it.
Poor typesetting deters readers, no matter how compelling the content might be. This is because our cognitive load increases when the text becomes harder to read, making comprehension a challenge.
On the flip side, thoughtful typesetting provides a clear path for the reader’s eyes to follow. It uses visual cues to guide them through the content, signaling what is most important and what is supplementary. By grouping related items, creating a hierarchy with different font sizes and weights, and using white space strategically, readers can quickly grasp the main points and understand the flow of information. If they like the content, they will stay on your website, delving deeper.
THE HISTORY OF TYPESETTING
Typesetting has undergone significant evolution since its inception. The earliest instances of print can be traced back to ancient China. Early printers, like Bi Sheng, used clay type. In 1297, Wang Chen developed an innovative revolving table that increased the printing speed.
The major leap in manual typesetting came with Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press in 1440. This invention made mass book publishing finally feasible. Although the machine revolutionised the world of publishing, typesetting remained a meticulous manual process, with all the individual letters being arranged line by line.
The word ‘typesetting’ comes from those days, when the typesetter had to literally take the letters, numbers, and symbols, and set them in place.
As technology evolved, this labour-intensive method gave way to hot-metal typesetting in the late 19th century. This involved molten lead poured into moulds to create lines of text. Use of metal type remained dominant until the mid-20th century, when phototypesetting with light-sensitive paper generally took over.
COMPUTER-AIDED TYPESETTING
Digital systems and word processors transformed typesetting into the efficient and precise process we know today. It has become an almost entirely automated process with minimal human intervention.
The first computer-aided typesetting system (CATS) was developed in the 1960s, and this technology has since been used extensively in publishing and advertising. The advantages over traditional methods of typesetting are clearly visible, as it is much faster and more accurate, even in the case of complex layouts and designs. In addition, CATS tools often have built-in spelling and grammar checkers that save time and improve the quality of the final product.
Nowadays, easily accessible software applications like Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress or Microsoft Publisher give the users access to all the elements of text layout. These tools provide a graphical interface with an overview of the final page look, which is a significant advancement over older methods.
BASIC RULES FOR TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN
Over the centuries, a number of basic rules for typographic design have evolved. It is important to begin with establishing the goal of your project, and then deciding whether you are trying to create an identity, an advertising campaign, or a website.
1. Establish a clear hierarchy. Headings, subheadings, and body text should be distinguishable through variations in size, weight, or style. Their role is to guide readers naturally through the content.
2. Optimal line length improves readability. A common guideline for English texts is 50–75 characters per entire line, including spaces. It should be slightly longer for printed material than for web content.
3. Proper line spacing (leading) ensures legibility. As a general rule, leading should be 120%–145% of the point size.
4. Limit the number of fonts used in a single design—usually to two or three at most. Pick fonts that are legible and match the content. When pairing fonts, aim for a harmonious contrast.
5. Ensure there is sufficient contrast between the text and the background. Dark text on a light background or vice versa is the most readable. Overly vibrant colours strain the eyes.
6. Text can be left-aligned, right-aligned, centred, or justified. While left-aligned is sometimes the most legible for long passages in Western languages, the choice should be consistent within the design.
7. Adjust the space between specific letter pairs (kerning) and across a range of characters (tracking) for the overall readability of the text. Overly tight or loose spacing makes the content impossible to enjoy.
8. Eliminate word stacks. The same word should not appear in the same position for 3 or more lines. To fix it, rewrite the text or adjust the spacing.
9. Do not fear an empty space. Whitespace allows the eyes to rest, and also defines areas of importance. The same word looks more important when placed separately from the rest of the content.
10. Avoid widows and orphans. These are stray lines or words that appear at the beginning or end of a paragraph, separated from the rest of the paragraph. They interrupt the flow of reading.
11. Check the hyphens and dashes. They are two punctuation marks often used interchangeably; however, they have an entirely different use. Hyphens join words or form compound words, while dashes make pauses to emphasise certain words.
If you respect these basic rules of typographic design, you can create a legible and visually appealing composition.
WHY CONTRACT US FOR YOUR TYPESETTING PROJECT?
If your only guide is your intuition, there are many common mistakes you may make. If you are looking for an extremely professional effect, then learning the basics of typesetting will not be enough. At Skrivanek, we can take care of your project, from start to finish, as well as adjust the translated version.
After finishing a job, we have a team of professional proofreaders to check for any overlooked mistakes. We take our time to ensure everything is perfect before sending it off for printing or publication. Learn more about what we offer in our ‘Services‘ section.
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