The power of typography | Mia Cinelli | TEDxUofM

Summary

The speaker shares the transformative experience of becoming a designer, akin to acquiring a 'superpower' that enables them to question and critique the world around them. With a focus on typography, the speaker recounts the process of creating a typeface inspired by beautiful handwriting found in a museum, highlighting the importance of kerning, leading, and glyph design. They emphasize the influence of typography on communication, demonstrating how typefaces can convey different messages and evoke emotions, ultimately urging the audience to be more mindful of the type choices they make.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The speaker likens becoming a designer to gaining a 'superpower' that allows them to constantly question and analyze the design of everything around them.
• 🎨 The speaker's fascination with typography led them to create a typeface from beautiful handwriting they discovered in a museum.
• 🔠 The difference between a 'typeface' and a 'font' is explained: a typeface is a series of letters designed to belong together, while a font is a specific group within a typeface.
• ✍️ The process of creating a typeface involves designing individual letter forms, considering serif or sans serif styles, and ensuring the letters work together cohesively.
• 📝 The importance of kerning, the spacing between letters, is highlighted as crucial for maintaining the illusion of cursive and ensuring legibility.
• 📚 The speaker's first typeface, 'Fet', was inspired by historical cursive handwriting and needed to consider ascenders and descenders for proper letter spacing.
• 📏 'Letting', the space between lines of text, is also an important aspect of typeface design, affecting readability and the visual impact of the text.
• 🔡 Beyond the alphabet and numbers, typefaces include glyphs, such as symbols, to be usable in various contexts.
• 🗣️ Typography has a significant impact on the message conveyed by text, influencing how it is perceived by readers, much like tone of voice in spoken language.
• 📜 The 'Fet' typeface was designed to evoke a sense of time, precision, and historical context, suitable for applications like historical fiction, museum design, or wedding invites.
• 👀 The speaker encourages the audience to adopt their 'design superpower' to critically assess typography in their daily lives, recognizing its influence on perception and communication.

Q & A

What is the 'design superpower' mentioned in the script?

The 'design superpower' refers to the unique ability of designers to constantly analyze and question the design and functionality of everything around them, from everyday objects to typography, and having the desire and capability to improve or create better designs.

What is the significance of the handwriting the speaker encountered at the FET historic town site and park?

The handwriting was significant because it was the most beautiful the speaker had ever seen, inspiring them to create a typeface from it. This encounter sparked the speaker's 'design superpower' and led to a project of designing a script typeface.

What is the difference between a 'typeface' and a 'font' as explained in the script?

A 'typeface' is a series of letters designed to belong together, like 'Bedoni', while a 'font' is a specific group of letters within a typeface, such as 'Bedoni Bold Italic'. All typefaces are made up of letter forms, and fonts make up typefaces in the same way chapters make up a book.

Why did the speaker choose to design a script typeface?

The speaker chose to design a script typeface because they were working from cursive handwriting that they encountered, which naturally lent itself to the flowing, connected style of script typefaces.

What is 'kerning' in typography, and why is it important?

Kerning is the space between any two letters that are close together. It is important because it affects the legibility and visual appearance of the text. Proper kerning maintains the illusion of cursive in script typefaces and prevents the text from appearing too cramped or too spaced out.

What is 'leading' in typography, and how does it relate to the design of the 'Fet' typeface?

Leading is the space between two lines of typed text. In the design of the 'Fet' typeface, leading was important to accommodate the ascenders and descenders of the letters, ensuring that the typeface was visually balanced and did not have 'sword fighting' ascenders and descenders.

What are 'glyphs' in the context of typeface design?

Glyphs are all the symbols that are included in a typeface, such as the at sign, number sign, and parentheses. They are necessary for a typeface to be usable in various contexts beyond just letters and numbers.

How does the design of a typeface influence the message it conveys?

The design of a typeface can convey different moods and tones, such as being authoritative, honest, organic, friendly, or childlike. This 'visual inflection' can influence how the content is perceived by the reader, much like tone of voice does in spoken language.

What is the purpose of the 'Fet' typeface designed by the speaker?

The 'Fet' typeface was designed to evoke a sense of time, precision, and a bygone era. It is intended for use in historical fiction, museum design, love letters, or wedding invites, where its unique characteristics can enhance the message and atmosphere of the content.

Why is it important for non-designers to understand the principles of typography?

Understanding typography is important for everyone because it influences how we perceive and interpret written content. Good typography can enhance communication, persuasion, and evoke emotions, making it a critical aspect of effective messaging across all professions.