Critical Studies

It is widely accepted that the main role of any designer is to visually communicate. It is thus important to make any viewable composition enticing, so that it arises curiosity leading the viewer to grasp the information. Typography is one of the core contributors when it comes to engaging an audience, yet it also has the power to detract its readers. Since type influences the way we interact, does it have to be legible in order for it to communicate?

In the book ‘The Elements of Graphic Design’, author Alex W. White provides, introduces and explains the principles and elements of design. White discusses these elements in four sections. 

The first section delivers the use of white space as a significant component of design. According to White it is widely accepted that the idea behind designing something is to bring order to disorder and confusion. The reason why designing with order is good, is because readers can understand and make sense of what they are viewing easily and much more efficiently.(White, P. 1, 2011) 

The subsequent chapter discusses the importance of unity. White suggests, one of the solutions in creating good design, is through unity. According to White, for any design to be labeled as good, its elements must be connected to create a singular message, such as making type relate to the image. (White, P. 71, 2011) 

The notion of good design, is adequately presented in the book ‘100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design’, by Steven Heller and Véronique Vienne. The book demonstrates the way in which ideas influence and define graphic design. It is arranged through one hundred entries, one of which titled, ‘Good Design’. 

According to Heller and Vienne, graphic designers struggle to define good design, to which I agree. The expression was coined in 1940 by architect Eliot Noyes when describing the respect and function for materials. MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, eventually developed the concept that anything which celebrated the notion of ‘less-is-more’ fell under the label of good design. (Heller, Vienne, P. 114 2012) White however expresses that the key to good design is to make information accessible and appealing by giving the design structure and leaving space to help the viewer access the information more easily. (White, P. 5 2011) Conversely, it would be my wrong doing if I had to assume that every designer’s main focus would be to portray good order.  In my opinion, if a design is enticing enough to arise curiosity that leads the viewer to grasp the information, then that design is good design because it is communicating with the viewer.

Section three of White’s, ‘Elements of Graphic Design’, tackles page architecture. It describes how a page should be used as a visual structure built upon reason and an understanding of its elements. The final section manages typographic technicalities, which delves into relevant points that play an important role in the understanding of whether type needs to be legible in order to communicate.

In order to comprehend whether type needs to be legible in order to communicate, it is relevant to tackle the difference between readability and legibility. Legibility is closely related to the design of letters. In fact if these letters are designed in a way that they could be easily understood, then they are said to be legible. Subsequently, readability is the power that engages the readers’ interest. (Cousins, 2013) In essence, telling one letter apart from the other is legibility whilst, the ease to absorb a message is readability. 

In an online article, Carrie Cousins writes that unless designing whilst keeping readability in mind, it would be useless to make use of typography at all. She believes that in order for the “content to be effective, it must be readable.” (Cousins, 2013) Good use of typography reduces the effort required to read, making the reader unaware that the type is even present, allowing the viewer to fully understand the meaning behind the words. (White, 2011)

Californian designer David Carson is of the opinion that, “Just because something is legible doesn’t mean it communicates”. (White, 2011) Once again in the book ‘100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design’, Heller and Vienne explain that there are numerous times where designers choose to manipulate type in a way that does not necessarily mean that it is legible, making it illegible. They continue to say that, “Designers have taken advantage of this” and are “happily defying the ordinary percepts of readability.” (Heller, Vienne, P. 162, 2012) Designers such as Carson believe that as long as the design is appealing to the audience and communicates the intended message, than it makes no difference whether the design is legible or not. 

White already suggested that in order for a design to communicate efficiently it is essential that type relates to the image being used and vice versa. Heller and Vienne also discuss the relationship between words and images yet in a different light. They state that type could still be visually moving when it’s used as an image. We are seeing more typographic experiments where words are treated as images. An interesting approach is when the type itself becomes a visual artefact. (Heller, Vienne, P. 142, 2012)

The purpose of this review is to view the way type is being used to communicate to an audience. Through his book, White explores the elements that transform a design and make it most suitable to communicate to an audience. Yet in the book, readability is sacrificed for visual flare, which makes it hard to read, ironically this is what White instructs designers not to do. Cousins wrote a compelling article which finally helped me make a clear distinction between readability and legibility. Heller and Vienne managed to give simple and brief overviews on each of the subject areas, making it simpler to cipher through information and inspired me to look at the subject differently. 

References

Cousins, C. (2013). The Importance of Designing for Readability | Design Shack. [online] Designshack.net. Available at: http://designshack.net/articles/typography/the-importance-of-designing-for-readability/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2015].

Heller, S. and Vienne, V. (2012). 100 ideas that changed graphic design. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, pp.114, 142, 162,.

Wight, A., 2011. The Element of Graphic Design. 2nd ed. New York: Allworth Press.

Bibliography 

Cezzar, J. (2014). What is graphic design?. [online] AIGA | the professional association for design. Available at: http://www.aiga.org/what-is-design/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2015].

Cousins, C. (2013). The Importance of Designing for Readability | Design Shack. [online] Designshack.net. Available at: http://designshack.net/articles/typography/the-importance-of-designing-for-readability/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2015].

David Carson: Design and discovery. 2003 [Video] California: Ted Talks (A talk by David Carson)

Heller, S. and Vienne, V. (2012). 100 ideas that changed graphic design. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, pp.114, 142, 162,.

White, A., 2011. The Element of Graphic Design. 2nd ed. New York: Allworth Press.

An article that helped me understand better the topic on typographic readability and legibility is an online article written by Jeremy Loyd. Although my focus in mainly on editorial design I decided to research the way typography is being used to communicate on web. I found this important in order to distinguish certain traits and characteristic that are found in both online and web based designs.

Loyd begins by saying that there are a few important key elements to keep in mind regarding a typeface's legibility. The first being display and text. Display faces refer to those typefaces which are intended to be used in a large size and would be less readable if they were portrayed in a smaller size. These should not be used for body copy but rather, for instance, as headlines. Text or body faces refer to typefaces which are created for use in large areas of smaller body copy.

Naturally, there are many other variants of the two types. A common question is which between Serif or Sans-Serif is more legible. Traditionally, Serif typefaces were considered as more legible since they were more frequently used in print for larger text. The reason for this may be due to the fact that this font permits the eye to flow more easily whilst reading the text allowing a faster reading speed and lessening eye fatigue. Sans-Serif on the contrary seems to be increasingly utilised as body text.  This those face is characterised by simpler letterforms which may be considered modern and which looks better with other popular designs and the "in" trends. This font also works better for many online articles which usually feature relatively short passages of text. However the matter is still subject of an on-going debate. Some believe that Serif faces decrease legibility and don't work well on screen whilst others do not recognise any difference. 

X-Height may be described as the height of the lowercase "X" in a given font, purposely omitting the height of the ascenders and descenders. This normally applies to body text sizes. It is interesting to note that in smaller font, typefaces with larger X-Heights tend to be more easily read. 

According to Loyd, readability may be defined as the sorting of words in a manner that permits the readers' eye clear and easy access to the content. This form of art is constantly increasing as more and more successful combinations are discovered.  Grasping the concept only readability may not always be plain-sailing. It may be useful to keep the below points in mind.

The first is spacing or else something on the web known as line height. Proper spacing and adequate hierarchy is vital to allow the reader to skim through the text at a comfortable pace and also access it at desired points. A helpful technique one may consider is that the space around a block of type (the space before and after a paragraph) and the letter spacing can be proportionally related to the line height of a paragraph. Line height may be referred to as, “The vertical difference between lines of text” (Loyd, 2013).  Another useful technique to assess the relationship of paragraph spacing with line height is to ensure the paragraph spacing (above or below a paragraph) is approximately half of the line height. This avoids creating extra space between paragraphs which may be considered as impeding readability of the passage. 

Secondly, it nearly goes without saying that the element of size is vital in displaying a readable text. It is important to always take into consideration the age of the audience one is aiming to attract as naturally an elder audience may have a lower quality of eyesight. Text should never be too small, posing any difficulty to read. Nowadays, with advancement in technology it is also important that one keeps in mind the different text sizes used on different devices. It is suggested that for smaller screens such as mobile phones, there should be an increased body copy width in contrast to larger screens such as a desktop. 

Measure (or line length) refers to the width of horizontal lines, which also have an effect on readability. It should be noted that if a line of text is too long, it becomes tedious to read, whilst tiring on the human eye to return back to the left side of the text block to commence to read the next line.  Finding a very long body of text may also refer the audience from a first glance, without even attempting to read such passage. The maximum line length of a text box is dependent on the size of the text. Larger text may proportionately allow a longer line measure. 

Letter spacing (or tracking) is "the consistent increase or decrease in distance between the letterforms in a word or block of text.” (Loyd, 2013) This can affect the density of a block of text or even a separate headline. If the letter spacing is not precise, it could easily compromise the readability of text. However reducing letter spacing is not a hard-and-fast rule as there are instances when increased letter spacing facilitates reading, such as in uppercase text. It all depends on the typeface which is being used. 

Contrast is another element which affects disability of a text, especially on-screen. Whilst it may be exciting for a designer to play around with contrast between different parts of a body of text, it should never be forgotten that different body text does show up differently on different screens and never look the same. Therefore one should remain cautious when trying to experiment with contrast.

Finally, readability also depends on hierarchy. An organised hierarchy may render the text more successful in the sense that it is more easily looked at and more of a pleasure to read and access the text.

Loyd, J. (2013). Typographic Readability and Legibility - Envato Tuts+ Web Design Article. [online] Web Design Envato Tuts+. Available at: http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/typographic-readability-and-legibility--webdesign-12211 [Accessed 3 Feb. 2016].

The works of art are Boris Zvorykin’s, The Struggle, and El Lissitzky’s, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, both produced in 1919. Furthermore both posters are dealing with war propaganda yet are vary different in style. 

‘The Struggle’ is The dramatic nature of Zvorkykin’s poster making it appear to be a romanticised depiction of war at the current time, which makes me believe that they where trying to sell this idea of war to the people. We see specific instances for this in the dramatic poses that the characters seems to be stopped in. Such as the horses reaching and falling over each other and the various stretched out stances. 

The elements found in the poster represent the working class of the Russian revolution, such as the shield and the weapons, specifically the emblems found on the shield.

On the other hand El Lissitzky’s tackles the same concept from a constructivists point of view, which is completely contrary to ‘The Struggle’ he is completely reduced in nature to basics geometric shapes. The use of red, white and black, are a continuous element found in works of propaganda at the time. 

El Lissitzky’s poster works just as well because shapes are a universal language, which easily connects to a working class audience and grasps their attention easier. While Boris’ poster works because in that context it gives them something easier to picture and associate with. 

Boris’ use of type follows his theme with the rest of the poster, keeping it very traditional. On the other hand Lissitzky completely deconstructs the elements in the poster and places the type in conjunction with the shapes to help the readers eye follow the elements present. They both use the type that compliments the style they went for yet Lissitzky's poster makes use of the type in the design.

In order to continue the discussion from my previous blog on designing to communicate, we need to familiarise ourselves with the difference between legibility and readability.

It would be appropriate to start off by discussing the difference between a font and a typeface. In the words of Erik Spiekermann “I design typeface and you use fonts.” To simplify, a typeface is the design of letters whilst a font, as he goes on to say is the “physical embodiment in a digital environment.” (Spiekermann, 2014) 

So what exactly is legibility and readability? Up until now I’ve interchanged these words, however they are two distinct elements. I have chosen to explain the difference between font and a typeface because legibility is closely related to the design of letters. In fact if these letters are designed in a way that they could be easily understood, then they are said to be legible.

Subsequently, readability is the power that engages a readers’ interest. In essence, telling one letter apart from the other is legibility whilst, the ease to absorb a message is readability. Good use of typography reduces the effort required to read, making the reader unaware that the type is even present allowing the viewer to fully understand the meaning behind the words.

There are six aspects of typography that affect its readability which will be discussed in a future blog post. Now that I have explained the difference between legibility and readability and no longer need to interchange the two words, I may comfortably discuss the different approaches which designers have used to communicate with their audience.

In my previous blog I discussed whether type has to be legible in order to communicate.  Californian designer David Carson is of the opinion that, “Just because something is legible doesn’t mean it communicates and, more importantly, doesn’t mean it communicates the right thing.” (Carson, 2003) 

Sometimes when shown a particular design that makes use of typography, the viewer is not always able to read what is being shown to them, yet eventually still succeeds to decipher letterforms. Just because one is able to make out the shape of these letterforms and visually detect them, does not mean that the intended message is being communicated. 

Sometimes the way typography is manipulated and used does not imply that the designer wanted it to be legible, and this is what I believe Carson was trying to express. 

With the above statement, Carson believes that any design which packed with enough visual emotion, can attract and engage a reader much better than if the same design offered a clear legible image with no visual appeal. So although a piece of work might be illegible Carson feels that the designer may still successfully be able to deliver his message across.

It cannot be denied that Carson’s work is full of powerful messages. Some of which are legible, some of which are not, but all do deliver a message. We are surrounded by a growing idea that everything we visually witness must be clear and legible in order for us to understand what the designer intended. Yet designers such as Carson believe that as long as the design is appealing to the audience and communicates the intended message, than it makes no difference whether the design is legible or not.

References:

Bradley, Steven. 2010. Legibility And Readability In Typographic Design.  [ONLINE] Available at: http://vanseodesign.com/web-design/legible-readable-typography/. [Accessed 28 November 2015].

David Carson: Design and discovery. 2003 [Video] California: Ted Talks (A talk by David Carson)

Helvetica. 2007. [Video] USA: Veer, Swiss Dots. (Portland Documentary and Experimental Film Festival.)

Second Sea. 2013. Legibility vs Communicatio. [ONLINE] Available at: http://cargocollective.com/secondsea/LEGIBILITY-VS-COMMUNICATION. [Accessed 28 November 2015].

Type is a visible language, 2014. [Video] Düsseldorf: Beyond Tellerrand (A talk by Erik Spiekermann)

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