The Finer Points of Typography

Carl Shank • September 26, 2022

Little Known or Observed Typographic Standards*

In his masterful typographic work (The Elements of Typographic Style), Robert Bringhurst talks about typography as an art form with certain rules — "The typographer must analyze and reveal the inner order of the text, as a musician must reveal the inner order of the music he performs. But the reader, like the listener, should in retrospect be able to close her eyes and see what lies inside the words she has been reading. The typographic performance must reveal, not replace, the inner composition. Typographers, like other artists and craftsmen—musicians, composers and authors as well— must as a rule do their work and disappear." (p. 21) Typefaces must be chosen with "sensitivity and intelligence." If there is a rule, it should read — "Give full typographic attention especially to incidental details." (p. 24) Hence, the need for the finer points of typography.


Horizontal and Vertical Space. Horizontal spacing is measured by typographers in ems, with one em a horizontal distance equal to the type size used. What we want on a page of type is an "evenness of color," meaning the density of the page is consistent to the eye. We do not want text squished together, nor do we want large gaps between words in a sentence, especially in justified type. Some page layout programs, like Adobe's InDesign, offer page layout controls that help even out the type we see on a page. Legibility, logical order and evenness of color are the aim. A commonly accepted rule of thumb is that anything from 45 to 75 characters per line is a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page in a serifed text face. Bringhurst says that the "66-character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal." (p. 26) A working minimum for justified text is the 40-character line. He says in his colorful way, "justified lines averaging less than 38 or 40 characters will lead to white acne or pig bristles: a rash of erratic and splotchy word spaces or an epidemic of hyphenation." (p. 27) The lead or opening paragraph is usually set flush left, with no tabbed indent. The following paragraphs are set indented one-em in their first line. Use single word space between sentences (not the old typewriter double space!). Little to no space is to be found in strings of initials — H.C. Shank or J.H.M. Wilson —with a normal word space following the last period.


And here's where the finer points of typography enter into the picture. Sequences of capitals and small caps need to be letterspaced, usually five to ten percent of the type size. So, UNESCO and CIA and USO should be in small caps and spaced apart (See Example 1 & Abbreviations below). Digital fonts with a proper layout program, such as Adobe InDesign (and older PageMaker), allow for such adjustments. However, commonly used page programs, such as Microsoft Word, for instance, do not provide such detail of type layout.


Leading is the vertical distance between lines of type. Thus, 10/12 means 10 point type with a leading of two points. That means the distance from the baseline of line one to the baseline of line two is twelve points. No leading would be 10/10 type, for instance, and negative leading, like in some headlines and advertising copy, could be 24/16, as long as the ascenders of the face (like d and l) and the descenders (like j and g) don't collide (See Example 2). Again, the desire is for both legibility and pleasurable reading.


Quotations. Quotations can be either direct or indirect. Direct quotations need "quotation marks." Actually, not the straight marks seen in this blog, but real curved quotation marks from the font used. (See Example 3) If the quotation is a longer one, they may be indented from both the left and right margins to set them apart from the regular text. Or, they can be set in smaller type or a change in typeface, such as italic, for instance. So, block quotations might run 10/12 italic or 9/12 roman, if the main text is set 10/12 roman. Bringhurst and others propose a visible break between the main text and the block quotation, usually a blank line between the text and the quote at the beginning and the end of the quote, with some leading calculations to bring the text back into phase. (See Example 4)


Verse quotations from poetry or songs are usually set indented or centered on the longest line, set flush left and ragged right. (See Example 5)


Hyphenations. Hyphenations are generally unwelcome in running text. However, without some hyphenating, word spaces drift apart and the color of the text block looks splotchy or downright bad. So, here's the well-worn rules of hyphenation — (1) Leave at least two characters of a hyphenated word behind and at least three forward, like sus-tainable but not final-ly; (2) avoid stub ends of hyphenated words as the last line of a paragraph; (3) Don't use more than three consecutive hyphenated lines; (4) Avoid hyphenating proper names, if at all possible; and (5) hyphenate according to the conventions of the language (Bringhurst, p. 40). Use a "hard space" or "no-break space" for numerical or mathematical expressions, like 10.4 cm, where a hard space is used between the 4 and the cm. Too many unnecessary hyphenations mean that the sentence or paragraph needs rewritten. Again, serve the needs of the text in using hyphenations.


Footnotes. In academic papers and other scientific writings, footnotes are often used. Footnotes are indicated in the text of a document by raised Arabic numerals (superscripts) or by certain common symbols. The traditional order of symbol usage is * † ‡ § but what is recommended and easier to read are numerals. Use full-size numbers in the actual footnotes. The days of footnoting at the bottom of pages, except maybe in doctoral academic theses, have been replaced by putting all footnotes either at the end of the book or the end of the chapter. They are called endnotes.Footnotes are either 9 or 10 point. They can contain information that is more than just a citation if needed to explain in more detail something referenced in the main text, but could be distracting to the main thought. The Chicago Style Manual suggests formats for footnotes. (See Example 6)


Abbreviations. Don't use abbreviations unless used in conjunction with a number — "The board is several feet (not ft) long." "The board is 5 ft." Do not begin a sentence with abbreviations, except for common conventions, like Mr., Mrs. —  "Oxygen is used in the operating room." Not, "O2 is used in the operating room." Use a single period when an abbreviation ends a sentence — "They were made in the U.S.A." (not U.S.A..) Avoid the symbolic form of abbreviations in regular text — "I use 20 percent alcohol." Not, "I use 20% alcohol." In the midst of normal text, use spaced small caps for abbreviations. (See Example 1) A good listing of abbreviations can be found in the Franklin Covey Style Guide (Salt Lake City, UT: Franklin Covey Co.), 1994, 1999. (Available on CD disk as well)


*Adapted from Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (Vancouver: Hartley & Marks Pubishers, 1992 edition and Franklin Covey Style Guide (Salt lake, UT: Franklin Covey Co., 1994, 1999 and Chicago Style Manual online, https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html.




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Advances in Typography: A Historical Sketch (Part 2)

By Carl Shank • November 20, 2025
Industrial Revolution and Display Typography (1800–1870) I have recently viewed the broadcasts of Great Canal Journeys, a narrated insight into Britain’s canals and waterways by two married and retired actors. They have been responsible for the restoration of a number of Britain’s canal systems. They noted that the Industrial Revolution in that country brought about the almost demise of the canals for moving products across the continent. The railroads took over much of the movement of goods from one place to another. In much the same way, typography and printing were forever transformed by the Industrial Revolution. Britannica notes that “the Industrial Revolution changed the course of printing and typography not only by mechanizing a handicraft but also by greatly increasing the market for its wares. Inventors in the nineteenth century, in order to produce enough reading matter for a constantly growing and ever more literate population, had to solve a series of problems in paper production, composition, printing, and binding.”

Advances in Typography (1500–1900): A Historical Sketch (Part 1)

By Carl Shank • November 18, 2025
Advances in Typography (1500–1900) A Historical Sketch (Part 1) Early Renaissance (1500–1550) We had noted in the Blog “What Happened After Gutenberg: 1460–1640” (November 8, 2025) that movable type spread across Europe beyond its German roots. Gothic Blackletter type, though still used for religious and legal documents, began to give way to Venetian old style humanist faces. Influenced by humanist handwriting and calligraphy, Aldus Manutius and Francesco Griffo developed italic type for compact books. National printing centers became established in Venice, Italy, Paris and Lyon, France, Basel, Germany and Antwerp in the Netherlands The transition from Gothic to Italic typefaces was part of the broader evolution of typography that took place during the Renaissance period, driven by shifts in cultural, aesthetic, and technological factors. The Renaissance, beginning in Italy in the fourteenth century, marked a revival of classical antiquity and a move toward humanism. This brought a renewed interest in the legible, flowing scripts of Roman and Greek antiquity, which were more readable and aesthetically simple compared to Gothic lettering. The development of the printing press (ca. 1440) by Johannes Gutenberg created a need for more versatile and legible typefaces. The emerging humanist values aligned with a preference for typefaces that resembled the clear, round, and graceful writing of ancient Roman scripts.\ The Italic typeface was introduced by Aldus Manutius in Venice around 1501. Italic type is a cursive font based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Along with Blackletter (See Blog Jan 16, 2025 Blackletter Type and Universities) and roman type, italic has served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography. Italics takes notable influences from hand drawn calligraphy, with italic letters normally slanted slightly to the right. Upper case letters may have typographic swashes, flourishes inspired by ornate calligraphy. The name “italic” comes from their Italian use, to replace documents traditionally written in a hand-written style called chancery hand. Notice also the small “end point bowls” on some of the letters, where the ink pen stopped for a second. While modern italics are often more condensed than roman types, historian Harry Carter describes Manutius' italic as about the same width as roman type. To replicate handwriting, Griffo cut at least sixty-five tied letters (ligatures) in the Aldine Dante and Virgil of 1501. Italic typefaces of the following century used varying but reduced numbers of ligatures. Manutius sought to create more compressed elegant typefaces that could fit more text on a page, catering to the rising demand for smaller, portable books. Italic was based on the handwriting of Niccolò de’ Niccoli, a Renaissance scholar and calligrapher. Italic typefaces are defined by their slanted, cursive-like appearance, with letters that have a flowing, dynamic quality. It allowed for more text to be fitted on the page and mimicked the handwriting style of humanist scholars, like the handwriting of Petrarch. The common italic “slope” was introduced in the sixteenth century — “The first printer known to have used them was Johann or Johannes Singriener in Vienna in 1524, and the practice spread to Germany, France and Belgium. Particularly influential in the switch to sloped capitals as a general practice was Robert Granjon, a prolific and extremely precise French punchcutter particularly renowned for his skill in cutting italics. Vervliet comments that among punchcutters in France "the main name associated with the change is Granjon's.” (Wikipedia on Italic Type) The insertion of an italic typeface alongside a roman face would wait until later to distinguish portions of a book not properly belonging to the work, such as introductions, prefaces, indexes, and notes; the text itself being in Roman. Later, it was used in the text for quotations ; and finally served the double part of emphasizing certain words. Italic type was not only more elegant than the Gothic but also more efficient in terms of space. It became the preferred choice for printed texts that emphasized classical learning, philosophy, poetry, and humanist literature. Italic was initially used for entire texts but later became more common for emphasis alongside Roman type.
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