Typography 102: Using Type in Design -- PDF

If you're looking to make sense of how type works in text, making it readable, legible, and attractive, these excerpts from Anthony Faiola's Typography Primer will serve as your starter guide to the mechanical and visual science of typography and the role type plays in visual communication.

By understanding the visual science of type, a beginner can cultivate more than an aesthetic reference to evaluating the use of type. Typography is not only about the beauty of letterforms; in aspects of legibility and readability of type, studies show that concern for the visual science of typography substantially adds to the value of any graphic product.

You will learn:

•  The difference between legibility and readability
• How to apply a grid system for effective composition
• Rules for columns, margins, and other page elements
• Ways to optimize visual communication
• The effects of color