In a writing system , a letter is a grapheme that generally corresponds to a phoneme —the smallest functional unit of speech—though there is rarely total one-to-one correspondence between the two. An alphabet is a writing system that uses letters.
81-520: Q , or q , is the seventeenth letter of the Latin alphabet , used in the modern English alphabet , the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is pronounced / ˈ k j uː / , most commonly spelled cue , but also kew , kue , and que . The Semitic sound value of Qôp was /q/ ( voiceless uvular stop ), and the form of the letter could have been based on
162-509: A lowercase form (also called minuscule ). Upper- and lowercase letters represent the same sound, but serve different functions in writing. Capital letters are most often used at the beginning of a sentence, as the first letter of a proper name or title, or in headers or inscriptions. They may also serve other functions, such as in the German language where all nouns begin with capital letters. The terms uppercase and lowercase originated in
243-453: A type designer to create customized typefaces for their exclusive use. Different periodicals design their publications, including their typography, to achieve a particular tone or style. For example, USA Today uses a bold, colorful, and comparatively modern style through their use of a variety of typefaces and colors; type sizes vary widely, and the newspaper's name is placed on a colored background. In contrast, The New York Times uses
324-539: A variety of modern uses in mathematics, science, and engineering . People and objects are sometimes named after letters, for one of these reasons: The word letter entered Middle English c. 1200 , borrowed from the Old French letre . It eventually displaced the previous Old English term bōcstæf ' bookstaff '. Letter ultimately descends from the Latin littera , which may have been derived from
405-645: A /w/ sound. In Turkey between 1928 and 2013 the use of the letter Q, alongside X and W , was banned from official government documents, such as street signs and brochures. The letter forms part of the Kurdish alphabet but is not present in Turkish . Depending on the typeface used to typeset the letter Q, the letter's tail may either bisect its bowl as in Helvetica , meet the bowl as in Univers , or lie completely outside
486-415: A body of text can instantaneously reveal the mood the author intends to convey to its readers. The message that a body of text conveys has a direct relationship with the typeface that is chosen. Therefore, when a person focuses on typography and setting type, they must pay very close attention to the typeface they choose. Choosing the correct typeface for a body of text can only be done after thoroughly reading
567-552: A fricative or affricate before front vowels. In Italian , ⟨qu⟩ represents [kw] (where [w] is the semivowel allophone of /u/ ). In Albanian , Q represents /c/ , as in Sh q ip . It is not considered to be part of the Cornish ( Standard Written Form ), Estonian , Icelandic , Irish , Latvian , Lithuanian , Polish , Serbo-Croatian , Scottish Gaelic , Slovenian , Turkish , or Welsh alphabets. ⟨q⟩ has
648-422: A handwriting font, the descender of the "q" sometimes finishes with a rightward swash to distinguish it from the letter "g" (or, particularly in mathematics, from the digit "9"). In English , the digraph ⟨qu⟩ most often denotes the cluster / k w / ; however, in borrowings from French, it represents / k / , as in 'plaque'. See the list of English words containing Q not followed by U . Q
729-405: A key difference. Much of the legibility research literature is atheoretical—various factors were tested individually or in combination (inevitably so, as the different factors are interdependent), but many tests lacked a model of reading or visual perception. Some typographers believe that the overall word shape ( Bouma ) is essential in readability and that the theory of parallel letter recognition
810-451: A minimum of distractions and anomalies, aims to produce clarity and transparency. Choice of typefaces is the primary aspect of text typography— prose fiction , non-fiction , editorial, educational, religious, scientific, spiritual, and commercial writing all have differing characteristics and requirements of appropriate typefaces (and their fonts or styles). For historic material, established text typefaces frequently are chosen according to
891-410: A more traditional approach, with fewer colors, less typeface variation, and more columns . Especially on the front page of newspapers and on magazine covers, headlines often are set in larger display typefaces to attract attention, and are placed near the masthead . Typography utilized to characterize text: Typography is intended to reveal the character of the text. Through the use of typography,
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#1732845428145972-412: A product. Legibility describes how easily individual characters can be distinguished from one another. It is described by Walter Tracy as "the quality of being decipherable and recognisable". For instance, if a b and an h , or a 3 and an 8 , are difficult to distinguish at small sizes, this is a problem of legibility. Typographers are concerned with legibility insofar as it is their job to select
1053-560: A result of later sound shifts, these sounds in Greek changed to /p/ and /pʰ/ respectively. Therefore, qoppa was transformed into two letters: qoppa, which stood for the number 90, and phi (Φ), which stood for the aspirated sound /pʰ/ that came to be pronounced /f/ in Modern Greek . The Etruscans used Q in conjunction with V to represent /kʷ/ , and this usage was copied by the Romans with
1134-423: A scheme of historical genre acquired by a long process of accretion, with considerable overlap among historical periods. 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
1215-464: A surface by rolling the seal on wet clay. Typography was also implemented in the Phaistos Disc , an enigmatic Minoan printed item from Crete , which dates to between 1850 and 1600 B.C. It has been proposed that Roman lead pipe inscriptions were created with movable type printing, but German typographer Herbert Brekle recently dismissed this view. The essential criterion of type identity
1296-429: A wide variety of other pronunciations in some European languages and in non-European languages that have adopted the Latin alphabet. The International Phonetic Alphabet uses ⟨ q ⟩ for the voiceless uvular stop . [REDACTED] Letter (alphabet) A letter is a type of grapheme , the smallest functional unit within a writing system. Letters are graphemes that broadly correspond to phonemes ,
1377-416: A wide variety of situations, including: Since digitization, typographical uses have spread to a wider range of applications, appearing on web pages, LCDs mobile phone screens, and hand-held video games. 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
1458-456: Is considered to be a separate letter from ⟨n⟩ , though this distinction is not usually recognised in English dictionaries. In computer systems, each has its own code point , U+006E n LATIN SMALL LETTER N and U+00F1 ñ LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE , respectively. Letters may also function as numerals with assigned numerical values, for example with Roman numerals . Greek and Latin letters have
1539-401: Is customary to insert a non-breaking space before a colon (:) or semicolon (;) in a sentence, while in English it is not. In typesetting, color is the overall density of the ink on the page, determined mainly by the typeface, but also by the word spacing, leading , and depth of the margins. Text layout, tone, or color of the set text, and the interplay of text with the white space of
1620-447: Is indicated by the existence of precomposed characters for use with computer systems (for example, ⟨á⟩ , ⟨à⟩ , ⟨ä⟩ , ⟨â⟩ , ⟨ã⟩ .) In the following table, letters from multiple different writing systems are shown, to demonstrate the variety of letters used throughout the world. Digital typography This is an accepted version of this page Typography
1701-450: Is more legible, although strong opinions exist. Other topics, such as justified vs. unjustified type, use of hyphens, and proper typefaces for people with reading difficulties such as dyslexia , continue to be debated. Legibility is usually measured through the speed of reading, with comprehension scores used to check for effectiveness (that is, not a rushed or careless read). For example, Miles Tinker , who published numerous studies from
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#17328454281451782-456: Is not. Owing to the allowable variation between letters Q; as & , Q is often cited as a letter that gives type designers a greater opportunity at self-expression . Identifont is an automatic typeface identification service that identifies typefaces by asking questions about their appearance and later asks about the Q tail if the "sans-serif" option is chosen. In the Identifont database,
1863-407: Is often used to draw attention to a particular advertisement, combined with efficient use of color, shapes, and images. In the early twenty-first century, typography in advertising often reflects a company's brand . A brand may use typography to express its theme, personality, and message. Just by looking at the typeface, viewers can get an idea about the message and personality of the brand, which
1944-769: Is the second least frequently used letter in the English language (after Z ), with a frequency of just 0.1% in words. Q has the fourth fewest English words where it is the first letter, after X , Z , and Y . In most European languages written in the Latin script, such as Romance and Germanic languages , ⟨q⟩ appears almost exclusively in the digraph ⟨qu⟩ . In French , Occitan , Catalan , and Portuguese , ⟨qu⟩ represents /k/ or /kw/ ; in Spanish , it represents /k/ . ⟨qu⟩ replaces ⟨ c ⟩ for /k/ before front vowels ⟨i⟩ and ⟨e⟩ , since in those languages ⟨c⟩ represents
2025-414: 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 . The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by
2106-405: Is usually seen as a lowercase "o" or "c" with a descender (i.e., downward vertical tail) extending from the right side of the bowl, with or without a swash (i.e., flourish), or even a reversed lowercase p . The "q"'s descender is usually typed without a swash due to the major style difference typically seen between the descenders of the "g" (a loop) and "q" (vertical). When handwritten, or as part of
2187-441: Is wrong, less important, or not the entire picture. Word shape differs by outline, influenced by ascending and descending elements of lowercase letters and enables reading the entire word without having to parse out each letter. Readability also may be compromised by letter-spacing , word spacing, or leading that is too tight or too loose. It may be improved when generous vertical space separates text lines, making it easier for
2268-463: 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. The word typography in English derives from
2349-503: The Greek roots týpos 'type' + -graphía 'writing'. Although typically applied to printed, published, broadcast, and reproduced materials in contemporary times, all words, letters, symbols, and numbers written alongside the earliest naturalistic drawings by humans may be called typography. The word, typography , is derived from the Greek words τύπος typos 'form' or "impression" and γράφειν graphein 'to write', traces its origins to
2430-481: The 1930s to the 1960s, used a speed of reading test that required participants to spot incongruous words as an effectiveness filter. The Readability of Print Unit at the Royal College of Art under Professor Herbert Spencer with Brian Coe and Linda Reynolds did important work in this area. It was one of the centers that revealed the importance of the saccadic rhythm of eye movement for readability—in particular,
2511-468: 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
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2592-542: The 19th century, when long-tailed Qs fell out of favor; even recreations of classic typefaces such as Caslon began being distributed with only short Q tails. American typographer D. B. Updike , who was known to disapprove of the long-tailed Q, celebrated their demise in his 1922 book Printing Types , claiming that Renaissance printers made their Q tails longer and longer simply to "outdo each other". Latin-language words, which are much more likely than English words to contain "Q" as their first letter, have also been cited as
2673-593: The Greek diphthera 'writing tablet' via Etruscan . Until the 19th century, letter was also used interchangeably to refer to a speech segment . Before alphabets, phonograms , graphic symbols of sounds, were used. There were three kinds of phonograms: verbal, pictures for entire words, syllabic, which stood for articulations of words, and alphabetic, which represented signs or letters. The earliest examples of which are from Ancient Egypt and Ancient China, dating to c. 3000 BCE . The first consonantal alphabet emerged around c. 1800 BCE , representing
2754-758: The Phoenicians, Semitic workers in Egypt. Their script was originally written and read from right to left. From the Phoenician alphabet came the Etruscan and Greek alphabets. From there, the most widely used alphabet today emerged, Latin, which is written and read from left to right. The Phoenician alphabet had 22 letters, nineteen of which the Latin alphabet used, and the Greek alphabet, adapted c. 900 BCE , added four letters to those used in Phoenician. This Greek alphabet
2835-407: The ability to take in (i.e., recognise the meaning of groups of) about three words at once and the physiognomy of the eye, which means the eye tires if the line required more than three or four of these saccadic jumps. More than this is found to introduce strain and errors in reading (e.g., doubling). The use of all-caps renders words indistinguishable as groups, all letters presenting a uniform line to
2916-548: The basic letterforms are more legible than typefaces that have been condensed, expanded, embellished, or abstracted. However, even a legible typeface can become unreadable through poor setting and placement, just as a less legible typeface can be made more readable through good design. Studies of both legibility and readability have examined a wide range of factors including type size and type design, comparing serif vs. sans-serif type, roman type vs. oblique type and italic type , line length , line spacing, color contrast,
2997-536: The bowl as in PT Sans . In writing block letters , bisecting tails are the fastest to write, as they require less precision. All three styles are considered equally valid, with most serif typefaces having a Q with a tail that meets the circle, while sans-serif typefaces are more equally split between those with bisecting tails and those without. Typefaces with a disconnected Q tail, while uncommon, have existed since at least 1529. A common method among type designers to create
3078-448: The brands are fully aware of and are tapping into the power of good typography. Typefaces used in advertisements convey different messages to the reader: classical ones are for a strong personality, while more modern ones may convey clean, neutral look. Bold typefaces are used for making statements and attracting attention. In any design, a balance has to be achieved between the visual impact and communication aspects. Digital technology in
3159-455: 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. 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
3240-472: The computer industry, leading to common misuse by the public of the term font when typeface is the proper term. "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
3321-744: The correct font to use. Brush script is an example of a font containing many characters that might be difficult to distinguish. The selection of cases influences the legibility of typography because using only uppercase letters (all-caps) reduces legibility. Readability refers to how easy it is to read the text as a whole, as opposed to the individual character recognition described by legibility. Use of margins, word and line spacing, and clear document structure all impact readability. Some fonts or font styles, for instance sans-serif fonts, are considered to have low readability and so are unsuited for large quantities of prose. Legibility "refers to perception" (being able to see as determined by physical limitations of
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3402-438: The days of handset type for printing presses. Individual letter blocks were kept in specific compartments of drawers in a type case. Capital letters were stored in a higher drawer or upper case. In most alphabetic scripts, diacritics (or accents) are a routinely used. English is unusual in not using them except for loanwords from other languages or personal names (for example, naïve , Brontë ). The ubiquity of this usage
3483-626: The design of right-hand edge (for example, justification , straight right hand edge) vs. ragged right, and whether text is hyphenated . Justified copy must be adjusted tightly during typesetting to prevent loss of readability, something beyond the capabilities of typical personal computers. Legibility research has been published since the late nineteenth century. Although there often are commonalities and agreement on many topics, others often create poignant areas of conflict and variation of opinion. For example, Alex Poole asserts that no one has conclusively answered which typeface style, serif or sans serif,
3564-431: The details of letter design are magnified. Color is used for its emotional effect in conveying the tone and nature of subject matter. Display typography encompasses: Typography has long been a vital part of promotional material and advertising . Designers often use typefaces to set a theme and mood in an advertisement (for example, using bold, large text to convey a particular message to the reader). Choice of typeface
3645-497: The development of typesetting systems. Although typography has evolved significantly from its origins, it is a largely conservative art that tends to cleave closely to tradition. 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, and so
3726-622: The distinct forms of ⟨S⟩ , the Greek sigma ⟨Σ⟩ , and Cyrillic es ⟨С⟩ each represent analogous /s/ phonemes. Letters are associated with specific names, which may differ between languages and dialects. Z , for example, is usually called zed outside of the United States, where it is named zee . Both ultimately derive from the name of the parent Greek letter zeta ⟨Ζ⟩ . In alphabets, letters are arranged in alphabetical order , which also may vary by language. In Spanish, ⟨ñ⟩
3807-519: The distribution of Q tails is: Some type designers prefer one "Q" design over another: Adrian Frutiger , famous for the airport typeface that bears his name, remarked that most of his typefaces feature a Q tail that meets the bowl and then extends horizontally. Frutiger considered such Qs to make for more "harmonious" and "gentle" typefaces. "Q" often makes the list of their favorite letters; for example, Sophie Elinor Brown, designer of Strato, has listed "Q" as being her favorite letter. The lowercase "q"
3888-487: The end of the twentieth century was to pair a sans-serif typeface for headings with a high-performance serif typeface of matching style for the text of an article. Typesetting conventions are modulated by orthography and linguistics , word structures, word frequencies, morphology , phonetic constructs and linguistic syntax . Typesetting conventions also are subject to specific cultural conventions. For example, in French it
3969-428: The evolution of typography must be discussed with reference to this relationship. In the nascent stages of European printing , the typeface ( blackletter , or Gothic) was designed in imitation of the popular hand-lettering styles of scribes . Initially, this typeface was difficult to read, because each letter was set in place individually and made to fit tightly into the allocated space. The art of manuscript writing,
4050-560: The eye of a needle, a knot, or even a monkey with its tail hanging down. /q/ is a sound common to Semitic languages, but not found in many European languages. In common with other glyphs derived from the Proto-Sinaitic script , the letter has been suggested to have its roots in Egyptian hieroglyphs . In an early form of Ancient Greek , qoppa (Ϙ) probably came to represent several labialized velar stops , among them /kʷ/ and /kʷʰ/ . As
4131-464: The eye to distinguish one line from the next, or previous line. Poorly designed typefaces and those that are too tightly or loosely fitted also may be less legible. Underlining also may reduce readability by eliminating the recognition effect contributed by the descending elements of letters. Periodical publications, especially newspapers and magazines, use typographical elements to achieve an attractive, distinctive appearance, to aid readers in navigating
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#17328454281454212-435: The eye), and readability "refers to comprehension" (understanding the meaning). Good typographers and graphic designers aim to achieve excellence in both. "The typeface chosen should be legible. That is, it should be read without effort. Sometimes legibility is simply a matter of type size; more often, however, it is a matter of typeface design. Case selection always influences legibility. In general, typefaces that are true to
4293-425: The eye, requiring special effort for separation and understanding. Currently , legibility research tends to be limited to critical issues or the testing of specific design solutions (for example, when new typefaces are developed). Examples of critical issues include typefaces for people with visual impairment , typefaces and case selection for highway and street signs, or for other conditions where legibility may make
4374-501: The first punches and dies used to make seals and currency in ancient times , which ties the concept to printing. The uneven spacing of the impressions on brick stamps found in the Mesopotamian cities of Uruk and Larsa , dating from the second millennium B.C. , may be evidence of type, wherein the reuse of identical characters was applied to create cuneiform text. Babylonian cylinder seals were used to create an impression on
4455-486: The graphic design. Spacing and kerning, size-specific spacing, x-height and vertical proportions, character variation, width, weight, and contrast, 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
4536-571: The late 7th and early 8th centuries. Finally, many slight letter additions and drops were made to the common alphabet used in the western world. Minor changes were made such as the removal of certain letters, such as thorn ⟨Þ þ⟩ , wynn ⟨Ƿ ƿ⟩ , and eth ⟨Ð ð⟩ . A letter can have multiple variants, or allographs , related to variation in style of handwriting or printing . Some writing systems have two major types of allographs for each letter: an uppercase form (also called capital or majuscule ) and
4617-458: 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 fashion at
4698-502: The more commonly used Gothic (blackletter). Roman typeface also was based on hand-lettering styles. The development of Roman typeface can be traced back to Greek lapidary letters. Greek lapidary letters were carved into stone and "one of the first formal uses of Western letterforms "; after that, Roman lapidary letterforms evolved into the monumental capitals, which laid the foundation for Western typographical design, especially serif typefaces. There are two styles of Roman typefaces:
4779-411: The old style, and the modern. The former is characterized by its similarly weighted lines, while the latter is distinguished by its contrast of light and heavy lines. Often, these styles are combined. In relation to the international graphics of the 1920s - 1930s, the term "International Typographic Style" is used. In the 1950s - 1960s, such a phenomenon as "Swiss style" was formed in typography. By
4860-576: The origin of which was during Hellenistic and Roman bookmaking, reached its zenith in the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. Metal typefaces notably altered the style, making it "crisp and uncompromising", and also brought about "new standards of composition". During the Renaissance period in France, Claude Garamond was partially responsible for the adoption of Roman typeface that eventually supplanted
4941-573: The page in combination with other graphic elements impart a "feel" or "resonance" to the subject matter. With printed media, typographers also are concerned with binding margins, paper selection, and printing methods when determining the correct color of the page. Three fundamental aspects of typography are legibility , readability , and aesthetics . Although in a non-technical sense "legible" and "readable" are often used synonymously, typographically they are separate but related concepts. Legibility and readability tend to support aesthetic aspects of
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#17328454281455022-430: The practical typefaces of traditional typography. Designs for typefaces could be created faster with the new technology, and for more specific functions. 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. The design of typefaces has developed alongside
5103-630: 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. Typography also may be used as an ornamental and decorative device, unrelated to the communication of information. Typography is 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
5184-501: The publication, and in some cases for dramatic effect. By formulating a style guide , a publication or periodical standardizes with a relatively small collection of typefaces, each used for specific elements within the publication, and makes consistent use of typefaces, case, type sizes, italic, boldface, colors, and other typographic features such as combining large and small capital letters together. Some publications, such as The Guardian and The Economist , go so far as to commission
5265-421: The reason for their existence. The long-tailed Q had fallen out of use with the advent of early digital typography , as many early digital fonts could not choose different glyphs based on the word that the glyph was in, but it has seen something of a comeback with the advent of OpenType fonts and LaTeX , both of which can automatically typeset the long-tailed Q when it is called for and the short-tailed Q when it
5346-480: The rest of their alphabet. In the earliest Latin inscriptions, the letters C, K and Q were all used to represent the two sounds /k/ and /ɡ/ , which were not differentiated in writing. Of these, Q was used before a rounded vowel (e.g. ⟨EQO⟩ 'ego'), K before /a/ (e.g. ⟨KALENDIS⟩ 'calendis'), and C elsewhere. Later, the use of C (and its variant G) replaced most usages of K and Q: Q survived only to represent /k/ when immediately followed by
5427-490: The same period Letraset introduced dry transfer technology that allowed designers to transfer types instantly. 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
5508-419: The shape of the Q is by simply adding a tail to the letter O. Old-style serif fonts, such as Garamond , may contain two uppercase Qs: one with a short tail to be used in short words, and another with a long tail to be used in long words. Some early metal type fonts included up to 3 different Qs: a short-tailed Q, a long-tailed Q, and a long-tailed Q-u ligature . This print tradition was alive and well until
5589-663: The smallest functional units of sound in speech. Similarly to how phonemes are combined to form spoken words, letters may be combined to form written words. A single phoneme may also be represented by multiple letters in sequence, collectively called a multigraph . Multigraphs include digraphs of two letters (e.g. English ch , sh , th ), and trigraphs of three letters (e.g. English tch ). The same letterform may be used in different alphabets while representing different phonemic categories. The Latin H , Greek eta ⟨Η⟩ , and Cyrillic en ⟨Н⟩ are homoglyphs , but represent different phonemes. Conversely,
5670-666: The text from conveying its message to readers. A study from 2020 found that the participating subjects felt music sounded "more pleasant" when the CD cover featured round typeface. Type may be combined with negative space and images, forming relationships and dialog between the words and images for special effects. Display designs are a potent element in graphic design . Some sign designers exhibit less concern for readability, sacrificing it for an artistic manner. Color and size of type elements may be much more prevalent than in solely text designs. Most display items exploit type at larger sizes, where
5751-423: The text, understanding its context, and understanding what the text is wishing to convey. Once the typographer has an understanding of the text, then they have the responsibility of using the appropriate typeface to honor the writing done by the author of the text. Knowledge required to choose the correct typeface comes with understanding the historical background of typefaces and understanding the reason that typeface
5832-589: The text. Although typography can potentially attract the reader's attention and create a beautiful/attractive piece of text, the craft of typography is not limited to the aesthetic appeal of the text. On the contrary, the object of typography is to make the reading experience practical and useful. Bold colors, multiple typefaces, and colorful backgrounds in a typographic design may be eye-catching; however, it may not be appropriate for all bodies of text and could potentially make text illegible. Overuse of design elements such as colors and typefaces can be unsettling, preventing
5913-407: The title to convey its importance, which directly informs the reader of the structure in which the text is intended to be read, and increases readability from varying distances. Typography utilized to make reading practical: Typography not only must honor the tone of the text but also share the responsibility of making the audience commence reading and sustaining the audience's attention throughout
5994-423: 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. 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
6075-631: The vast quantities required to print multiple copies of texts. 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
6156-521: The words are formed by assembling single letter tiles in the desired order, which were reasonably widespread in medieval Northern Europe. Typography with movable type was invented during the eleventh-century Song dynasty in China by Bi Sheng (990–1051). His movable type system was manufactured from ceramic materials, and clay type printing continued to be practiced in China until the Qing dynasty . Wang Zhen
6237-452: Was created. For example, if the text is titled "Commercial Real Estate Transactions" and elaborates on the real estate market throughout the body, then the appropriate typeface is a serif typeface, because the author intends to inform his audience on a serious topic and not entertain his audience with an anecdote; a serif typeface would convey a sense of seriousness to the audience instantaneously. The typographer would also employ larger type for
6318-465: Was limited and the technology did not spread beyond East and Central Asia, however. Modern lead-based movable type, along with the mechanical printing press , is most often attributed to the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in 1439. His type pieces, made from a lead -based alloy , suited printing purposes so well that the alloy is still used today. Gutenberg developed specialized techniques for casting and combining cheap copies of letter punches in
6399-594: Was met by medieval print artifacts such as the Latin Pruefening Abbey inscription of 1119 that was created by the same technique as the Phaistos Disc. The silver altarpiece of patriarch Pellegrinus II (1195–1204) in the cathedral of Cividale was printed with individual letter punches. Apparently, the same printing technique may be found in tenth to twelfth century Byzantine reliquaries . Other early examples include individual letter tiles where
6480-549: 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. 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
6561-504: Was the first to assign letters not only to consonant sounds, but also to vowels . The Roman Empire further developed and refined the Latin alphabet, beginning around 500 BCE. During the fifth and sixth centuries, the development of lowercase letters began to emerge in Roman writing. At this point, paragraphs, uppercase and lowercase letters, and the concept of sentences and clauses still had not emerged; these final bits of development emerged in
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