- Should be informed by key design decisions, not just to be ascetically pleasing
- Should be legible (clear enough to read)
Fassett's Theorem of Legible Line Length
"Line length that contains 46 to 65 characters (characters include letters, numerals, punctuation and spaces) are legible. Line lengths exceeding these limits challenge legibility".
This means it is hard for the eye to pick up where you are reading, especially if theres too much to concentrate on...
Method's to adjust line length:-
Tracking & Kerning // Contrast // Hierarchy
Leading & Line Height // Type Size
Alignment
- Fush left, derives from metal type and lino printing. It also makes sense as in our culture we read from left to right. It is also important to align the rugged side ('the rag') to create a soft vertical line which is not only ascetically pleasing, but creates improved readability.
- Justified Type is where Flush Left type has been designed to create a vertical line, but does become a nightmare as every line must be the same length. When you 'justify' a body of copy, you get 'rivers' where the spaces run down in a uneven and unconsidered way. Justified is created by tracking but makes the text hard to read, as the tracking is rarely even.
- Centred is when the text is aligned to the middle, it is challenging for the eye to read due to uneven line length.
Widow's // very short lines, usually one word, or the end of a hyphenated word. This interrupts the readers eye and diminishes readability.
Orphan's// A single word or a very short line at the start of a page. This knocks onto poor horizontal alignment at the top of the page.
"Basically we stick to no more than two sizes on a printed page, but there are exceptions" - Vignelli Canon. Vignelli's approach is using apron 10pt sizing for the body, contrasting with 20pt bold text for headings. This is a simplistic style informed from pre-created grids, over time formatting their identity.
http://www.vignelli.com/canon.pdf
In response to this I recreated the type setting on a takeaway menu I found online. In total I re-kerned the lettering, created a uniformed type style using only 2 pt sizes (20pt and 8pt) from the guidance of Vignelli Canon, simplified the colour scheme and realigned the columns using what I learnt from investigating grids, whilst keeping the constant typeface of Swiss721BT*. The changes are only simple, but I feel the menu is easier to read now at a quicker pace due to the softer line lengths from the use of Flush left, whilst minimising Widow's and Orphans. I also uniformed the widths from a range of 'bold, thin and light italic', to simple 'light italic' and 'thin'.
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| Original |
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| New |
I think this has been a successful re-configerment however I feel I could have been more ambitious and creative with my layout. If I was going to add to this task I would redesign the header and possibly experiment more with the typeface, continuing to increase the readability.
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