by: Florie Lyn Masarate
It is said that in designing, there are certain rules that these designers have to know. These rules were designed to be followed but not necessarily at all times. Sometimes the need arises for them to break them. But it is always best to know them first before breaking them. Knowing the rules would be useful when the time comes when you are questioned why you broke them in the first place.
Never use your font in only one document. In being a designer, it is common knowledge that they have their own fonts, many to be specific. As in other kind of printing job, using different types of fonts will make it jumbled and thus difficult to understand. The readers will get lost in the muddled words that what you are trying to say is not anymore evident. This is also not saying that you have to stick to the usual fonts that printing dictates. It only means you have to stand up for the choices of fonts that you use.
The use of serif over sans serif. There is a theory that says serif is easier to read than sans serif because of the characters that makes it easy for people to read them. In reality, any font can be readable depending on how you design or put them into prints. With the proper design, any kind of font is made perfect for reading. Sans serif gives documents a more modern look into them and it is still a font widely used in Europe.
Two spaces after a coma. Before the computer has become a source of printing documents, the typewriter makes use of two spaces after a period to give enough space for sentences to emphasize a stop. With the computer nowadays and the different fonts to choose from, having two spaces is not anymore a good option. In most prints, the readers find it more difficult to read these because of the long stops in between the fonts. It is becoming a mishap rather than a point signifying a stop.
Do not use capital letters. The days when using capital letters is equals to highlighting your point is almost extinct with letters now being made bold and by means of using another font for words that need the most emphasizing. The lack of ascenders and descenders is most difficult in reading the letters.
Centering texts. Some texts can be centered but most certainly not all. The use of aligned left and justified is considerable than centered. A text put in centers confuses reading as you cannot tell when the text begins and the next starts.
These are just some of the things that printing dictates but not necessarily need to be followed. It is up to the designers to decide which they think is best.
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