Buzz
Graphic design is a rapidly growing field. In the past decade, with the explosion of the Internet, web design has especially surged in popularity. Other areas of graphic design include print, mobile design, illustration, and typography. Typography is the art of arranging letters or symbols within a designated space. Anyone passionate about design has likely studied typography and knows its significance. Yet, typographical mistakes (often dubbed as typography crimes) can still be seen everywhere. While many may disregard the importance of design rules, Ron L. Peters, in his book *Do Good Design*, stresses the value of thoughtful design: 'Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future. Design is therefore responsible for the world our children will live in.' Committing to good design is critical, and solid typography is essential to achieving quality design overall. The following list highlights 10 of the most common typographical blunders:
(For clarity, a “font” refers to a specific style or weight like Arial 16 Bold, whereas a “typeface” refers to the broader family, such as Arial).
10. Digital Type Manipulation (Examples include stretched or compressed text, and more.)
A good font should essentially be left as is. While it can be resized to fit a designated space, its original proportions must always remain unchanged. It should never be stretched, compressed, skewed, or distorted in any other manner. A good rule of thumb is: if the font looks pixelated, something is wrong. Adobe Illustrator is a better choice than Photoshop in this regard because it uses vectors instead of pixels — ensuring your type will never appear pixelated in Illustrator. Ultimately, type should be crisp and harmonious, not altered beyond recognition.
9. Overuse of Emphasis
Signals such as bold, underline, all caps, oblique, and italics each provide a distinct way to emphasize type. For example, italic type has a calligraphic quality and combines cursive elements with Roman influences (the term 'italic' comes from its Italian origin). Initially, italics were used to save space, making them more economical. When the typewriter emerged, underlining mostly replaced italics. Some consider oblique to be a typographic mistake in itself, as it is merely slanted text and not the true cursive italic form. Emphasis should be applied judiciously and never overdone.
8. Orphans & Widows
One of the most frequently encountered typographical errors, designers often shudder at the mention of these terms. While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they refer to different issues: an orphan is a single word left alone at the end of a paragraph, while a widow refers to a word or part of a sentence that sits at the bottom of a paragraph and spills over to the top of the next. Both are considered typographical mistakes because they create awkward gaps in the text and can disrupt the reading experience.
7. ‘Dummy’ Quotes & Hanging Quotes
There is a key distinction between hatch marks and quotation marks. Hatch marks are used to indicate feet and inches, and they often appear in mathematical contexts (such as denoting equal lengths in geometry). Hatch marks should never replace quotation marks. Quotation marks should also hang outside the text. In well-designed layouts, quotation marks sit outside the body of the text, maintaining a clean and polished appearance.
6. Misuse of Hyphens
Although this is technically more of a grammatical issue, it is just as relevant to design as it is to language. Hyphens are used to join compound words, split words at the end of a line, and separate non-continuous numbers, such as in phone numbers. En dashes are used to link continuous or inclusive numbers, like time ranges, dates, or page numbers. Em dashes, on the other hand, signify a sudden break in thought or interrupt a sentence, often enclosing words or phrases and creating a sharp pause in the sentence's flow. Fun fact: the ‘en dash’ gets its name from the length of a standard letter “n,” while the ‘em dash’ is named after the length of the letter “m.”
5. Inconsistent Type Justification
Designers will recognize the term ‘river,’ which occurs when type is poorly justified, creating large, awkward gaps throughout a paragraph. The end result resembles several rivers of white space cutting through the text. These types of rivers are often seen in newspaper layouts.
4. Rags
A skilled designer knows how to maintain neat and crisp paragraph edges. If a paragraph features lines that jut out and uneven margins (with most margins being flushed to the left, causing rags to stick out on the right), it can become distracting and visually unappealing.
3. Poor Typeface Choices
This may be a contentious point, but several typefaces are widely regarded by designers as terrible and should be avoided. Examples include Comic Sans, Papyrus, Jokerman, and Hobo. Even the ever-present Times New Roman is often criticized, with many designers believing it should remain confined to its original use in newspapers. Some fonts, like Papyrus (famously featured in James Cameron’s Avatar), have earned criticism for being overused and misused. One font that has become notorious for overuse is Helvetica. It became so widespread that a documentary was made about it in 2007. The film is definitely worth watching, and the author of this list highly recommends it!
2. Embossing & Drop Shadows
The drop shadow effect has sparked considerable debate. For instance, when a New York Times magazine headline was printed with a drop shadow, hundreds of designers called in the next day, causing the newspaper to temporarily disconnect its phones. Although drop shadows can draw attention to text, many find them to be unnatural and gimmicky. Similar to point #10 on this list, embossing and drop shadows are best avoided as text effects.
1. Improper Kerning, Tracking, & Leading
Kerning refers to the spacing between individual letters in a word. When the spacing is too wide or too narrow, the word can look messy and unbalanced. Tracking, on the other hand, is the adjustment of spacing applied to an entire block of text, such as a sentence or paragraph. “Leading,” which comes from the metal strips used in old printing presses, involves adjusting the vertical space between lines of text. Most design software has simple tools that let you adjust kerning, tracking, and leading with ease. In most Adobe programs, you can simply highlight a word and press Alt + the arrow keys to make adjustments.
