Last updated on March 18th, 2025
Today, every graphic designer must master the art of typography as it’s vastly used across all types of designs. Typography is widely used right from a logo to business cards, websites, brochures, menus, etc. There is a never-ending list of items where typography plays a crucial role in conveying a message to the audience. But creative use of typographic principles is the way to design brand visuals for the target audience.
Graphic designers take into account various aspects of typography before implementing it to create designs. A simple logo design with the company’s name, slogan, or message is the result of the strategic use of a typeface. Since hundreds of old and new typefaces are accessible, the designers pick only the one that can deliver the brand message. These typefaces are also available to the designers through typography generator software.
After choosing a typeface, the designer follows the principles of typography to incorporate that typeface in a design. However, a creative designer thinks of modifying those rules. In this way, the designer can create a unique piece of work.
What is typography?
A graphic designer uses typography and its principles to arrange text in a visually appealing way. So, typography is about the techniques of using typefaces and fonts artfully. Every designer has to learn the skills to use these techniques due to the overwhelming use of typefaces. The designer has to consider layout, grid, colors, and other aspects that are part of typography art.
So, a designer has to first understand the elements of typography well. These elements include characteristics, typeface, line length, leading, kerning, tracking, alignment. But how to creatively use this understanding is altogether a different matter.
Here Are Some Basics Of Using Typography Principles Creatively
01. Know The Art
First, know that the creative use of typography is an art. Do not take typography as merely a random use of letters in design. On the contrary, it is a much-complicated subject that professional designers deal with carefully. You have to be familiar with the anatomy of a typeface so that you can implement it practically while creating designs.
You should have a profound understanding of typographic glossaries such as leading, kerning, baseline, x-height, and many more. With insight into these terms, you can then confidently proceed toward creatively using typefaces. Even when you are using kinetic typography, understanding the art of typefaces and fonts is essential.
02. Pay Attention To Kerning
Many designers do not simply care for the kerning principles. The lack of regard for kerning results in many basic design mistakes that hinder creativity. Kerning is all about keeping the right space between two letters of a font. Design software does not solve the kerning issues adequately.
Remember that typefaces that have big serifs will require special efforts from the designer to adjust the spacing wisely. When you are dealing with kerning issues in a headline or logo, it should be resolved professionally and in a creative way. Or, you will ruin the aesthetics of the typography design.
Consider These Tips For Creative Use Of Kerning:
- Pay heed to specific letter combinations.
- Turn typeface upside down to concentrate on the form of the characters and white space.
- Create good rhythm and consistency in spacing the letters.
- Consider the spacing between the words as well.
03. Avoid Stretching Typefaces
Many designers make the mistake of stretching a typeface so that it anyhow fits in the space. Sometimes, they do so to make it look different. But avoid doing it. Remember that typefaces are created with definite reasoning. When you stretch or distort a typeface, you are going against that purpose.
The typeface you choose to incorporate in your design contains its style and weight. Therefore, consider these two properties of the typeface before expanding or condensing it.
For Creative Use Of Typographic Design Ideas Consider These Tips:
- Look for thinner or thicker versions of fonts the typeface if you need these styles.
- In case there is no such version, then find out some other font to see if it suits your requirements.
- Opt for the original bold and italic versions of a typeface rather than using the false ones in software.
04. Pick Alignment Wisely
Do not take alignment lightly as it plays a key role in determining the fate of a design. Alignment is an important concept of typography. Most non-professional designers center aligns everything as they think that the center balances and so it is good. But the fact is that central alignment is hard to read and so the weakest choice.
The left-aligned format is easier for reading, as we see in magazines and books. But the centrally aligned paragraphs are harder as the starting and finishing point is not consistent for each line. This means that the reader’s eyes have to pause to find out the new correct line to start again from the endpoint of the last line. However, we do not suggest that center alignment is always wrong, and you should only choose a left alignment.
Also, think of using a mix of alignments for your typographic ideas. A website page design should use a mix of alignments for viewing pleasure and ease. For instance, the headline could result in a different alignment than the body text. Think of experiment with front alignment. But do not use too many alignments as it will create visual clutter and confusion for the reader.
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05. Choose A Contrasting Font
Often, graphic designers with lesser experience restrict themselves to choosing the primary typeface. They want to design everything around it. But experienced typographic artists and designers will pick another font that presents a contrasting effect. Such a font usually conflicts with the main typeface in terms of its shape and appearance.
But the supporting font should add to the value of the primary typeface. Avoid picking a secondary font that detracts from the primary one. For instance, if the primary typeface is bold and thick, then you can opt for a thinner and simpler second font to present the contrasting effect. But the emphasis should still be on the main font while supporting font serves the purpose of helping create visual pleasure.
06. Convey Using Font Sizes
The size of fonts can also be a way to convey a message immediately. You can highlight a piece of important information just by increasing the size of the font overwhelmingly. This technique is particularly applicable when designing a promotional ad. The keywords such as win, prize, could, etc. are the messages for potential customers. So, by increasing the size of these words and making them appear bold will help catch the customers’ eye instantly.
This means that your headline on a web page should not be a simple statement. Instead, the headline should be designed in this way that it visually excites the reader to go through the body text. Depending on the type of your business, you must be having some keywords that are catchy and attractive to your customers. Think of highlighting those words in your website design by increasing their font size.
07. Create A Hierarchy
The hierarchy in graphic design is about leading the reader’s or user’s eyes to the important details on a website page or any other design. A good typography design creates a hierarchy to make navigating a web page, advertisement copy, packaging design, and other designs much easier. It involves organizing all the design elements well so that customers do not have to waste time and energy in decoding a message behind the design.
Creating the design hierarchy means you need to design content in different sections. You can have a main headline, many subheadings, and body text. To make the content readable and visually appealing, choose different fonts of the same typeface for headlines, subheads, and the rest of the body of the text.
08. Choose A Few Fonts Only
Minimalism is a principle in typography, too, as it is in other aspects of graphic designs. This rule states that you should convey your message in minimum possible elements. All the additional elements should not exist in the design.
Keeping that in mind, choose only one or two fonts only to create a design. In this way, the design will not become overloaded with a variety of fonts. Too many fonts will make the design cluttered and confusing for the viewers.
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09. Consider White Space
Many inexperienced designers try to overcrowd a page or design with too many elements. They make the design look cluttered. But that leaves very little breathing space for the text. Instead, leave a good amount of white space between letters and paragraphs.
White space also makes a design look aesthetically pleasing. This helps viewers and users stick to the design for a longer period and that is one of the keys to conversion.
10. Convey The Message
Another principle of using typography is to consider a message. For business designs, it is the brand message that matters a lot in using typefaces and fonts. Sometimes, a graphic designer struggles with the right font choice. In that case, consider the message of the text and pick fonts accordingly.
These are the major points for the graphic designer’s consideration when they need to use typography principles creatively. Make sure that you pay attention to the overall impression that your use of typefaces and fonts makes on the viewers.
If your brand needs a typography-based design such as a logo, business card, brochure, website, etc. you can outsource the job to Designhill. At this leading creative marketplace, you should launch your design contest with a brief for the designers from the world over. Shortly, you will have many design ideas based on typography for your brand, and you can pick the one suitable to convey your brand message.
Wrapping Up
Typography is an art of arranging text in a pleasing way for viewers. But a professional graphic designer creatively applies the principles of typography. Many aspects, such as alignment of text, kerning, contrasting, font size, hierarchy, etc. come into play when using typography to create a clutter-free design that conveys a message.
