Steve Hickey GDI Boston Web Typography Workshop 

Why does typography even matter? 

When Everything Works… 

…When Images/Fonts Fail… 

…And When It All Fails 

Type As Brand Expression (demo borrowed from Jason Pamental: goo.gl/JRHqGe) 

Type As Brand Expression (demo borrowed from Jason Pamental: goo.gl/JRHqGe) 

1: Basics 

Typeface vs. Font 

Typeface vs. Font 

Classification: Serif Aa Aa Baskerville (transitional) Caslon (humanist) Bodoni (modern) Aa 

Classification: Sans-serif Aa Aa Aa Helvetica (transitional) Gill Sans (humanist) Futura (modern) 

Classification: Slab-serif Aa Clarendon 

Classification: Script Aa Monotype Corsiva 

Classification: Display Aa Braggadocio 

Basic Anatomy Descender height Bhpxff Baseline X height Cap height Stem Descender Ascender Counter Ligature 

Normal Letter-spacing I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Tight Letter-spacing I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Loose Letter-spacing I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Don't letter-space the lower case. 

Ever. 

Seriously. 

Un-Kerned Tyson 

Kerned yson T 

Left Aligned I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Right Aligned I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Center Aligned I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Justified I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

The Trinity: Size I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Too Small I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

The Trinity: Line Length I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Too Wide I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. On the night of Sir Charles’s death Barrymore the butler, who made the discovery, sent Perkins the groom on horseback to me, and as I was sitting up late I was able to reach Baskerville Hall within an hour of the event. I checked and corroborated all the facts which were mentioned at the inquest. I followed the footsteps down the Yew Alley, I saw the spot at the moor-gate where he seemed to have waited, I remarked the change in the shape of the prints after that point, I noted that there were no other footsteps save those of Barrymore on the soft gravel, and finally I carefully examined the body, which had not been touched until my arrival. Sir Charles lay on his face, his arms out, his fingers dug into the ground, and his features convulsed with some strong emotion to such an extent that I could hardly have sworn to his identity. There was certainly no physical injury of any kind. But one false statement was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. He did not observe any. But I did—some little distance off, but fresh and clear. 

Too Narrow I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

The Trinity: Line-Height I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Too Little I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Too Much I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Size, line-length and line-height create readable text. 

Changing one affects the others. 

2: Hierarchy 

Pairing Typefaces The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Bodoni Futura Helvetica Garamond Baskerville Univers 

Typeface I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading blends into the paragraph below it. 

Typeface I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading stands out. 

Scale I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading blends into the paragraph below it. 

Scale I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading stands out. 

Color I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading blends into the paragraph below it. 

Color I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading stands out. 

Style I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading blends into the paragraph below it. 

Style I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading stands out. 

Placement I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading blends into the paragraph below it. 

Placement I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. This heading stands out. 

Rule of Thumb: One or two points of differentiation. 

Subtlety is the key. 

3: Choice 

Number of Styles The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Sorts Mill Goudy The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Adobe Caslon Pro The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. 

Character Sets abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Latin абвгдеёжзийклмнопрстуфхцчшщъыьэюя αβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρσςτυφχψω Cyrillic Greek 

Numerals 123456789 Lowercase 123456789 Uppercase 

Proper Punctuation - Hyphen “ ” Smart quotes ' ' ˝ Dumb quotes Primes – — En dash Em dash 

Ligatures They flew stuff They flew stuff No ligatures Ligatures 

Legibility I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Legibility I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Legibility I Lowercase l Uppercase i Numeral 1 l 1 

Readability I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Readability I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Appropriateness I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

Appropriateness I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Holmes leaned forward in his excitement and his eyes had the hard, dry glitter which shot from them when he was keenly interested. 

My Google Web Fonts trick… 

4: Implementation 

Web Font Services Fonts 

Adobe Typekit 

Adobe Typekit: Kits 

Adobe Typekit: Domains 

Detour: Using the Terminal $ cd ~/Sites/gdi-type-workshop/ $ php -S localhost:4000 or $ cd ~/Sites/gdi-type-workshop/ $ python -m SimpleHTTPServer 4000 

Adobe Typekit: Install 

Adobe Typekit: Using in CSS 

Adobe Typekit: Kit Settings 

Adobe Typekit: Subsetting 

Adobe Typekit: OpenType 

Adobe Typekit: Weights & Styles 

Google Fonts 

Google Fonts: Quick Use 

Google Fonts: Weights & Styles 

Google Fonts: Weights & Styles 

Google Fonts: Weights & Styles 

Google Fonts: Weights & Styles 

Google Fonts: Use 

Using @font-face 

Fullest @font-face Possible @font-face { font-family: proxima-nova-regular; src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.eot"); src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.eot?#iefix") format("embedded-opentype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.woff2") format("woff2"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.woff") format("woff"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.ttf") format("truetype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.svg#proxima-nova-regular") format("svg"); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; } 

Repeat For Every Font @font-face { font-family: proxima-nova-regular; src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.eot"); src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.eot?#iefix") format("embedded-opentype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.woff2") format("woff2"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.woff") format("woff"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.ttf") format("truetype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.svg#proxima-nova-regular") format("svg"); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; } @font-face { font-family: proxima-nova-regular-italic; src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular-italic.eot"); src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular-italic.eot?#iefix") format("embedded-opentype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular-italic.woff2") format("woff2"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular-italic.woff") format("woff"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular-italic.ttf") format("truetype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular-italic.svg#proxima-nova-regular-italic") format("svg"); font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; } @font-face { font-family: proxima-nova-bold; src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold.eot"); src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold.eot?#iefix") format("embedded-opentype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold.woff2") format("woff2"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold.woff") format("woff"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold.ttf") format("truetype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold.svg#proxima-nova-bold") format("svg"); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; } @font-face { font-family: proxima-nova-bold-italic; src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold-italic.eot"); src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold-italic.eot?#iefix") format("embedded-opentype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold-italic.woff2") format("woff2"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold-italic.woff") format("woff"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold-italic.ttf") format("truetype"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-bold-italic.svg#proxima-nova-bold-italic") format("svg"); font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; } 

I KNOW, RIGHT? 

Fullest @font-face Support 

Now Let's Slim It Down @font-face { font-family: proxima-nova-regular; src: url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.woff2") format("woff2"), url("../fonts/proxima-nova-regular.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; } 

WOFF Support 

WOFF2 Support 

WOFF/WOFF 2 is much more manageable. 

Older browsers just get your fallbacks. 

Calling a Font Family body { font-family: Alegreya; } h1 { font-family: "Alegreya Sans"; } 

Falling Back to Defaults body { font-family: Alegreya, Georgia, serif; } h1 { font-family: "Alegreya Sans", Arial, sans-serif; } 

Solving Faux Bold and Italic body { font-family: alegreya, Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; } h1 { font-family: alegreya-sans-bold, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; } 

Setting Text Size body { font-size: 100%; } /* usually = 16px */ h1 { font-size: 3em; } /* 3×16px = 48px */ h2 { font-size: 1.5em; } /* 1.5×16px = 24px */ p { font-size: 1em; } /* 1×16px = 16px */ 

Ems Are Tricksy body { font-size: 100%; } /* usually = 16px */ p { font-size: 1.5em; } /* 1.5×16px = 24px */ .caption { font-size: 1em; } /* 1×24px = 24px */ 

Rems Are Nicer… body { font-size: 100%; } /* usually = 16px */ p { font-size: 1.5rem; } /* 1.5×16px = 24px */ .caption { font-size: 1rem; } /* 1×16px = 16px */ 

Rem Support 

…But, You Need a Fallback body { font-size: 100%; } /* usually = 16px */ p { font-size: 24px; font-size: 1.5rem; } /* 1.5×16px = 24px */ .caption { font-size: 16px; font-size: 1rem; } /* 1×16px = 16px */ 

Setting Line-Height body { font-size: 100%; line-height: 1.6; } /* 1.6×16px ≈ 26px */ h1 { font-size: 3em; line-height: inherit; } /* 1.6×48px ≈ 77px */ p { font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; } /* 1.6×16px ≈ 26px */ 

Modular Scales goo.gl/Ot3XHa 

Baseline Grids I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Heading Level 1 Heading Level 2 I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. HEADING LEVEL 3 I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. 

Setting a baseline grid is very frustrating. 

Target Adjacent Siblings p { font-size: 1em; /* 16px */ line-height: 1.5; /* 24px */ margin-bottom: 1.5em; } /* 24px */ h1 { font-size: 2em; /* 32px */ line-height: 1.5; } /* 48px */ h2 { font-size: 1.5em; /* 24px */ line-height: 1; } /* 24px */ h1 + h2 { margin-bottom: -.625em; } 

Baseline Grid Reference body { background-image: linear-gradient(transparent 97%, red 100%); background-size: 100% 28px; /* line-height */ } 

You've been warned. 

– En dash – ’ Right single quote ’ “ ” Left double quote “ Right double quote ” — ´ Em dash — Single prime ′ HTML Entities goo.gl/tshnCZ & Ampersand & ‘ Left single quote ‘ … Ellipsis … ˝ Double prime ″ 

Responsive Type: Wide Viewport I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Heading Level 1 Heading Level 2 I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. HEADING LEVEL 3 I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. 

Responsive Type: Narrow Viewport I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Heading Level 1 Heading Level 2 HEADING LEVEL 3 I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. I confess at these words a shudder passed through me. There was a thrill in the doctor’s voice which showed that he was himself deeply moved by that which he told us. Heading Level 1 Heading Level 2 I confess at these words a 

OpenType /* no OpenType features (default) */ font-feature-settings: normal; /* enable small caps */ font-feature-settings: “smcp”; /* enable small caps (explicitly on) */ font-feature-settings: “smcp” on; /* use 2nd available swash character */ font-feature-settings: “swsh” 2; /* disable ligatures */ font-feature-settings: “liga” 0; /* use 1st swash and enable ligatures */ font-feature-settings: “swsh” 1, “liga” on; 

Support for OpenType Features 

Stupidly Hard New Stuff: CSS Locks goo.gl/6KYS4t 

5: Resources 

Thinking With Type http://thinkingwithtype.com 

The Elements of Typographic Style http://webtypography.net 

Butterick's Practical Typography http://practicaltypography.com 

iA Writer Blog http://ia.net/blog 

Typekit Practice http://practice.typekit.com 

Exercise 

We’re going to create another hierarchy, but this time you’ll be working with HTML/CSS in the browser. You must use at least two typefaces, demonstrate six levels of headings, two paragraph sizes, an image caption, and ordered/unordered lists. You must also demonstrate an alternative typographic scale for smaller viewports. 

You can fork this pen on CodePen: goo.gl/mD19w5 Or you can download these files to work with directly on your laptop: goo.gl/W60X0A