Every now and then, you are presented with long, boring, sprawling stretches of text. From that moment on, your mood plummets to a low point. Yet you have to read and begin this arduous task. To prevent this, document design is very important. The goal is to provide people with the content they are looking for as easily and clearly as possible. In this blog, I will take a closer look at various aspects of typography. I will cover the do's and don'ts of typography in a way that is actually useful to you.
Alternative choices
Open a Microsoft Word document, open Adobe Photoshop, open Apple Pages. You will notice that they all offer a default font that always looks the same. It is important to know that you must completely ignore these default settings.
It is your job to shake up all the options. Play with the font, font size, letter spacing, alignment, and much more. You will need to change all these settings for every document. This way, you not only give a client the information they expect, but you also add a unique personality.
Good contrast
The text must also be readable; for this, we use contrast. Simply put, contrast is the difference between two colors. By means of this difference, you can make certain parts of the text stand out or blend them quietly into the background. Black and white provide the highest possible contrast. Black and white represent the difference between dark and light, ensuring that this text is easy to read. and this text is not easy to read.
A light background is the easiest to read, so always ensure you use dark text when using a lot of text. The opposite applies to short pieces of text; make sure to choose light text with a dark background for these. This stands out more and attracts the reader's attention.
Avoid unnecessary formatting
You want a beautiful design that attracts a lot of attention, which makes you easily inclined to use a lot of graphic elements. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.
Discard elements that add nothing or do not provide clarification. Limit elements that do add something to their simplest form; if an outline can be thinner, make it thinner. If the shadow can be lighter, make it lighter. If an element adds no clear meaning, it is unnecessary.
This distracts the readers. Limit this to a minimum, and it will create a much calmer atmosphere while reading.
Hierarchy is the way
You usually start a piece of text like this by reading the title. If it seems interesting, you briefly skim through the text and eventually start on the first paragraph. A hierarchy determines how the reader goes through the document. You can clarify a hierarchy by means of bold letters, italics, font size, font weight, whitespace, alignment, text boxes, line spacing, letter spacing, or capital letters.
Maintaining a visual hierarchy ensures that you come across as more professional and that the reader remembers the document better. Therefore, ask yourself what the most important piece of text is for the reader. Not everything is important, and emphasizing certain things can even cause confusion for your reader.