1. Measure

The measure is the length of a line of type. To a reader, long lines can be tiring and distracting. A long measure causes the reader’s eye to work harder to find the next line of type. For optimum readability you want the measure to be between 40-80 characters, including spaces. For a single-column design 65 characters is considered ideal.

2. Widows and Orphans

A widow is a short line or single word at the end of a paragraph. An orphan is a word or short line at the beginning or end of a column that is separated from the rest of the paragraph. Widows and Orphans affect readability. They can be avoided by entering manual line breaks.

3. Not Justified

Most applications create justified text by hideously stretching and squishing words and spaces. Using left aligned text (ragged-right) gives it more harmony and makes it much easier to read.

4. A clean rag

Be sure to keep the rag (the uneven side of the text) balanced. A good rag has a “soft” unevenness, without any lines that are too long or too short. A bad rag can be unsettling to the eye and distract the reader.

5. A Capital mistake

Giving emphasis to a word without interrupting the reader is important. NEVER use CAPITAL letters to accentuate words in running copy. They STICK OUT far too much spoiling the LOOK of the column or page. Italic is widely considered to be the ideal form of emphasis. Combinations such as caps-bold-italic are DISRUPTIVE and look clumsy.

Source: Erik Spiekermann’s Typo Tips http://www.fontshop.com/education/pdf/typo_tips.pdf

Custom designed ‘thank you’ cards.

Everyone likes to feel appreciated. ‘Thank you’ cards are just one way that our client wanted to show recognition for the hard work of their staff members.

The Alchemist designed a set of four A6 full colour cards drawing on the brand colours of the organisation, each with a different message of thanks.

Each card has a unique typographic design that uses words of praise from a variety of  languages, incorporating the multi-cultural aspect of their organisation.

Recently we experienced this, and quite literally got our hands dirty learning about letterpress printing at the Victoria University Wai-te-ata Press.

There we found this relic of printing history, the proof readers marks sheet.

Back in the day every tiny letter, comma, and full stop had to be set individually by hand. In addition, everything had to be set backwards, as the letterpress printing produces an impression in reverse.

To avoid mistakes, a proof was printed first to check any errors. A proof reader would check the proof marking any corrections to be made using the symbols shown.

Even though modern technology has made the printing process much simpler, documents still need to be proof read. In the publishing and business world, many of the same proof marks are still used.

It is interesting to note, the origin of some the typographical terms we use today came from this old printing technique. For example an em space, actually was an “em-quad” a metal spacer used in printing presses. And that leading used for line spacing was a thin piece of lead used between the rows of wooden type.

The progression of technology, has meant that over time some of the symbols are now out-dated. Today we do not need to worry about a letter printing backwards or that it would appear broken (meaning the wooden type block needed to be replaced). Modern technology removes the possibility of error or the unpredictable, but it is always good to remember how we got there.

Recently we were asked to create the poster for the Downstage play The December Brother. After reading the script, the key was to find something to visualise the play’s theme. We focussed on the jumper worn by one of the more well known characters, a symbol of the person and the events of the play.

Our first task was to find the jumper, affectionately named the ‘christmas jumper’. After searching though Cuba Street’s thrift stores, we found ourselves in Waitangirau (Porirua) at SaveMart. There we found an abundance of christmas jumpers, enough to make any fashionista feel ill. After searching through racks upon racks, we found the exact jumper we were looking for.

Next up was the photo shoot, working with the actor and photographer to help get the perfect image.

Back at the studio, it was time to get into action and apply some Photoshop skill to totally rework the photo. As you can see below the before and after transformation of the work.

Crucial to the impact of the poster is the title graphic. As we were going to ‘knit’ the title into the jumper, we couldn’t just use any old font, so we created our own. After counting the stitches across the jumper, and using an old faithful grid pad, a font was created made up of small ‘v’ like stitches. Again more photoshop magic was needed to take the title and make it look like it was actually knitted into the jumper.

The final step was to add the secondary info (date etc) onto the poster. This text shouldn’t over power or look like it was just slapped on using a Microsoft Word text box. Taking inspiration from another jumper, we used the patterns and colours to frame the text, creating a subtle reference to the character and events of the play. And here it is the final poster – ready to be pasted up around the streets of Wellington.

The Downstage Season brochure featuring The December Brother.