There is no Bad Type

I would have to disagree with the heading of this chapter of the book "Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works." I think their are some typefaces that are very illegible. Especially some of the more fancy script fonts and especially some of the more decorative fonts. I believe that even every great typeface can be a bad typeface. Especially in situations when it is used in the wrong content, it has a horrible layout, the leading and other spacing in the type hasn't been considered. As a result, things look unresolved and akward, hence a great type can turn into a bad type.
Another thing that I found was very important in this chapter, is how type is being used in every form of technology, like televisions, appliances, cell phones, faxes, and emails. Even the type presented in these ways has to be laid out in such a way that it isn't noticed and that it is displayed the same way it was written after it was received.

Putting it to Work

It is very important to set type to columns and grids. They are obviously many different layouts for columns and grids, but I think that using a set grid is a bad idea. I think that you should start out by designing your own grid that would relate to the information that will be present and the subject matter that will be present. Obviously, you have your standard layouts for books that are used for long term reading, short term reading, skimming, etc. These type layouts are acceptable and look professional. I just feel that it gives more visual interest if the layouts are unique and designed from the content that is being put into the layout.
I also think margins are a very important factor as well as the layout. Thin margins tend to look very cluttered and squeezed into the page. Huge margins make the page look too big for such small information unless it fits with the content. Just the right size of margins won't make the eyes of the reader see anything wrong. They won't even notice the size of the margins, if they are done the right way.

How it works

I have always wondered why when I am reading a book or a magazine or whatever it might be, my eyes will tend to mess things up. Sometimes I might read the same line over and over again or I might accidently skip over a few lines, or maybe I read a word as a completely different word. I always thought well my eyes are just playing tricks on me. Maybe I need to drink some coffee and wake up before I contiue to keep reading.
However, after reading this chapter I realize that maybe it isn't always my fault. Of course, sometimes it is because I really do need my caffeine kick but at other times could it really be the way the spacing is set in the type. It definetly could be. I think the best set of advice given in this book thus far is the information given in this chapter. It basically said, when using type "the more words per line, the more space needed between the lines." Now that is great advice. After reading that, I started to pay much more attention to this and then I fould the example above. AHHH!
This could be an example for what not to do. I could get so lost in this story if I even began to start reading it. There are much more problems than just the spacing. Their are no page breaks, no indents, it just keeps running and that type is so hard to read.

Types of Type

I agree with Spiekerman and Ginger, that there are many different characteristics of type. There are many families that all kinds of different typefaces fit into. Typefaces won't necessarily fit in the same families as others when it comes to the many characteristics they have. What I mean by this is that two different typefaces could have the same exact weight but one of them is a gothic type and the other is a script type. Just like two script types might look completely different just because one has a serif and the other is a sans serif.
A very important characteristic of type is the characteristic of how it displays when it is printed and when it shows up on a screen. From the example above you can tell right away which typefaces should be used for titles and to get something to stand out. You can also tell what typefaces should be used for fancy things, like invitations, or typefaces that should be used when you need to fit a bunch of information in on a piece of paper but it still needs to be very clear and legible.

Type builds character

It's funny that advertisements are supposed to distinguish products and companies from other products and companies that are very similar in use. If this were really true you would think that differences in advertisements would be significantly different from one to the next. However, if you take a closer look at advertisements in general. If you look at many advertisements together, whether the products or companies in each advertisement are similar or not, you will find that most advertisements have a very similar look to them. Take the example shown above. Their is a heading directed toward the top of the page. Next, there is a sub heading. Thirdly, is an image or design that is centered in the middle of the page and is mostly the prominent thing in the page. After that is finally a bunch of contact information. Everything, from a phone number, a name, email, where the product can be found and/or a website for more information. Why are advertising ads all looking the same? And don't tell me it is because that what the average person is used to. You should already know how I feel about that if you read my previous posts. I guess maybe it just works, or does it?

Type with a purpose

I agree with Spiekermann and Ginger when they say in chapter 4 that typeography looks completely different on the computer screen or television set then printed out on paper. Computer screens and television sets are made up of so many small dots named pixels. This truth makes you wander how a typeface with serifs and points, or even typefaces that are decorative or script would really show up on screen. It would be a horrific seen because how is small pixels that are like dots going to form a small serif or a thin line or even a point. Don't forget, how would tiny dots that look like squares show a curve.
Therefore, their has to be type that works for a telvision or computer screen rather than for printing. Most of those typefaces for screens are pixelated or have sharp edges and are sans serif. However, if you were to print them out on paper they would look akward.
Like the example above, it is a pixelated form that looks like it is intended for the computer or television screen. However, if seen up close you can tell that it is made of wazy lives and dots. I don't believe that this is a very good typeface at all. At the smaller size that we see it at on this screen it looks like it is moving and gives tension to the looking eye.

Looking at Type

The average person doesn't realize how much typography influences their everyday lives. Everything now adays has some kind of typographic influences. Even electronics have displays with type. With all of this influence you would think that people would catch on to what a typeface does to them or how bad some things with type really are. It is so true that what everyone is really used to is bad representations in type. The small margins in books and small type is horrible. I hate the fact that typographers have to sometimes conform to this fact that even though it is bad they still might use it because it is what the average person is use to. We shouldn't be conforming to what everybody thinks is right. Just because they think it is right doesn't mean it really is. Graphic Designers should push to change these conformities of bad type and layout.
For the example above, is a picture of a contract that is a horrible look to a layout. The type is so small and cluttered together. However, the sad thing is, is companies use this because it is long and hard to read so you don't read the 'fine print.'

What is type!!!

In the second chapter it talks about what type came from what period and how it is evolving. However, in this chapter I don't think that here really ever answers the question what is type? I do believe that type evolves just like every thing else in the world and once I stated thinking about that a question started to pop into my head. In most typefaces the letter "a" is made just like this--a. However when we write we were always shown to write an a like shown in the picture above. Same wih the letter g. In many typefaces they use that funky looking g and we are taugh to write the letter g like this "g." Or even the "q", it is also made in that funky way and we are taught to write a q sorta like this typeface but with a hook going in the right hand direction. So why is the q made in this typeface without the hook? Why is our alphabet taught to be written in a certain way but typed in a different way? So who would be "politically correct?"

Is the differece between one a and another only about legibility? I feel that this chapter didn't really answer the question what is type, I felt that it raises even more questions.

Type is everywhere!!

After reading the first chapter in Spiekermann's 'Stop Stealing Sheep and find out how type works' I can agree with his concept of how type is everywhere and how our present road signs that you see everywhere really stink.

I never really thought about what life would be like without the written word. I never really thought about not being able to read or seeing a different language on a road sign or a restaurant menu. Then again, I have never been out of the United States, much less the east coast of the United States. Anyways, after reading this chapter it made me realize how much our alphabet and typefaces really are very important

On another note I totally agree with Spiekermann's comment on how road signs were not made by graphic designers. In the picture example shown above most of the type looks stretched which is so so so SO unprofessional. On top of that on several of the signs the different letter forms look very uncomfortably close together. Especially on the 'Road Construction Ahead Sign' and the 'Use Shoulder Ahead.' Oh! Come on! Whomever made that railroad crossing sign, how can you not tell how unprofessional and weird that looks. On top of that some of the signs that don't even use type but just pictures make no sense at all. I don't even know where to begin on the bridge looking one.

I am going to really have to pay attention to the road now when I drive because I am going to be looking and analyzing all of these road signs and shaking my head a whole lot.

Bad type Vs. Good type (Journal Entry #1)

When it comes to knowing the difference between good type and bad type, I basically wouldn't really have a clue. So this first entry should be very interesting to look back on. I don't know much about time if not anything about type. I guess that is why I am taking Intro to Typography. I think I will learn something useful to my major. So I found one example of what I think is good type and one example of what I think is bad type. The first example that I picked is an example of what I think is bad type. The example is from a magazine ad that is advertising a type of treadmill. The type itself in the add seems to be all the same type of font. Their might be one other font that is very similiar because I can't really tell a huge difference. They seem to be a universal font that can be used for anything. However, the reason I feel that it is an example of a bad type is because of the layout of the type. The font is shown in the one page ad in like six different sizes, maybe even more than that. On top of that the sizes of the font are also in two different colors, black and red.
The next example I chose is what I think is a good example of type. It is the cover of a book called 'The DaVinci Code'. I feel that this is a good example of type because it is all one font and one color. Again it is also a universal type that can be used in any type of setting.
My explanations for good and bad type seem short but honestly that is really all I know about types and fonts. Hopefully by the end of this semester, I will be able to write a whole lot more about the good and bad type of these examples