Do's and Don't's in Using Type

Carl Shank • March 23, 2021

From The Elements of Typographic Style

 In the world of precise and well-defined typography, there is probably no more useful and thorough work than Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style. Although casual writers and office personnel pay little attention to such things, glaring examples of misused typefaces and writing can be found everywhere. A cure to such ignorance and oversight can be found in this 255 page masterpiece on what characters to use when and how. One commentator notes that "it may be hard to imagine that one could write 600 words about the 'lowly' hyphen, but Bringhurst does so, and makes reading it interesting." (Harry Edwards, Review of Bringhurst, March-April, 1993 in Aldus Magazine)


The key to excellent and well-defined typography is Bringhurst's principle that "Typography exists to honor content." Chapters on "Rhythm and Proportion," "Harmony and Counterpoint, "Shaping the Page" and so forth give time honored  attention to what most casual writers ignore and of which they are unaware. Some examples and some words of advice can enhance and make your writing and posts and newsletters much more readable and professional.

 

Example #1 — The Widow and Orphan. Orphans are created when you have isolated lines of multi-line paragraphs ending a page. "The stub ends left when paragraphs end on the first line of a page are called widows." (41)  Giving such lines at least one additional line or by exporting or importing single lines from the preceding or following spreads can avoid widows and complement forlorn isolated lines at the end of a page. This typographic rule is broken unabashedly and incessantly by even many well-trained journalists and newspapers. Spending more time rewriting the text so that orphans and widows don't exist is the solution, though it may be time-consuming to quick turnaround jobs.

 

Example #2 — The use of AM, am, PM, pm, or A.M. or P.M. or a.m. or p.m. and such should be discontinued. Instead, spaced small caps should be used as in 42 bc and ad 200 or 3:00 pm or 9:00 am. But regular caps are used for JFK or H.C. Shank, and note there is no space between the H. and the C. (And there should be a small space between the small caps that cannot be written in this digital post, but see the examples below.) Bringhurst points out that "The better digital foundries now offer a wide selection of fonts with text figures and small caps. These are often sold separately [but not soon anymore due to Adobe's new typeface developments — See last post] and involve extra expense, but they are essential to good typography. It is better to have one good face with all its parts, including text figures and small caps, than fifty faces without." (45)


Example #3 —  The use of slanted italics instead of true italics, or digitized bold for true bold. Cheaper faces, and often sans serif faces, have what are called "slanted" figures for italics, such as Arial Italic, which is just a slanted face instead of true italics. So, for instance, you will see text emphasized like this, when the typeface used should be emphasized like this. The difference is amazing and outstanding. Again, this requires a font with true italics included in the font itself, rather than a digitized slant produced by electronic means. Such constraints should also be used for true Bold instead of just digitized bold in font use. So, for instance, the Brisco Pro Typeface uses Brisco Pro Regular, Brisco Pro Light, Brisco Pro Italic, Brisco Pro Bold and Bold Italic, Brisco Pro SemiBold, SemiBold Italic, and Brisco Pro Medium and Medium Italic. Again, one may wonder why this is important. It is where function defines form in typography. If I want something to stand out, I might use an Ultra Bold font, like Gill Sans Ultra Bold, instead of regular Gil Sans Bold. See the difference?! An Ultra Bold font, however, is an extra face usually not available in the regular four-face series of regular, italic, bold and bold italic.


Example #4 — The use of overlapping letters rather than normally accepted ligatures. Modern typesetting and even modern word processors have ably given writers what are called ligatures — the proper combination of letters in words like f plus f, and f plus i, and f plus l, and f plus f plus i, and f plus f plus l. Most fonts include such ligature automatically, but if they do not, you can have overlapping and confusing letters giving different meanings to different words. Bringhurst mentions that "in Turkish, i with a dot and i without, are two different letters. A typeface whose lowercase f disguises the difference between the two forms of i is therefore, for Turkish, an unacceptable design." (48) See example below.


Example #5 — Drop Caps, Fleurons and Opening Paragraphs. At chapter beginnings, drop caps are often used to introduce and draw the reader into the text — "But the most traditional method of marking the start of the text, inherited from ancient scribal practice, is a large initial capital or versal." (61) They can be indented, centered, or flush left with the rest of the text. They can hang in the left margin. "They can be set in the same face as the text or in something outlandishly different." (61) Or in older texts a "fleuron" or typographical ornament can be used to draw attention to the text — such as sdhj (International Font). Sometimes they are in a different color than the regular text, such as traditional red — sdhj. Bringhurst provides a page of examples (62) of various titling and drop caps. Care Typography has a specialized set of typographical ornaments, especially designed for churches and ministries. See sample below. Page layout programs, like Adobe's InDesign, provide a convenient and trouble free way to use drop caps or titling caps in an opening paragraph.


Additionally, often the opening sentence or a few words will be set in small caps to once again set off the opening remarks from the rest of the paragraph. In any case,  the first paragraph under a title or heading is set flush left rather than indented, as following paragraphs usually are.

Successful Layout & Design

Dutch Typography: Historical Beginnings

By Carl Shank • August 28, 2026
Dutch Typography: Historical Beginnings Dutch typography has had an influence far beyond the relatively small geographic size of the Netherlands. From the early printing centers of the Low Countries to the international reputation of Dutch type designers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Dutch typography is characterized by craftsmanship, readability, experimentation, and a strong relationship between type and graphic design. The larger historical pattern Early Printing in the Low Countries (c. 1470–1500) . The Netherlands and Belgium were important centers of European printing almost immediately after Gutenberg. Major early centers included Utrecht, Haarlem, Leuven, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Amsterdam. Dutch and Flemish printers initially used forms derived from Gothic textura, but Roman types increasingly appeared in humanist books. A particularly important early figure was Gerard Leeu, who printed in Gouda and later Antwerp. His books demonstrate the transition from manuscript traditions toward increasingly sophisticated typographic production. Gerard or Gheraert Leeu, Leew, (between 1445 and 1450 to1492) printed what is called “incunable.” An incunable or incunabulum (pl.: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book or pamphlet printed in the earliest stages of European printing up to about 1500. They are distinct from manuscripts, which are documents written by hand. Some authorities on the history of printing include block books from the same time period as incunabula, whereas others limit the term to works printed using movable type. Famous incunabula include two from Mainz, the Gutenberg Bible of 1455 and the Peregrinatio in terram sanctam of 1486, printed and illustrated by Erhard Reuwich, the Nuremberg Chronicle written by Hartmann Schedel and printed by Anton Koberger in 1493, and the Hypnerotomachia Poliphiliprinted by Aldus Manutius with important illustrations by an unknown artist. Leeu printed his first (liturgical) book in May 1477 in his shop in Gouda, where between 1477 and 1484 he produced a total of about 69 books. Besides printing works in Latin and Dutch, he reprinted some of William Caxton’s editions for the English market. ( REFERENCE ) The Low Countries also developed a strong tradition of illustrated books, woodcut initials, borders, and ornamental typography.

French Typography History (Part 2)

By Carl Shank • August 24, 2026
Art Nouveau and Paris Between 1500 and 1900 typography evolved from Renaissance humanist forms to industrial mass production and artistic revival. Old style typefaces (like Garamond) moved to Transitional faces (like Baskerville) to Modern/Didone faces (like Didot and Bodoni) to Industrial display types (fat faces, slab serifs, sans serifs) to the Arts & Crafts revivals. Art Nouveau was a reaction against the academicism, eclecticism and historicism of nineteenth century architecture and decorative art. The new art movement had its roots in Britain, in the floral designs of William Morris, and in the Arts and Crafts movement founded by the pupils of Morris. Art Nouveau fonts ( REFERENCE ) grew out of the late nineteenth century Art Nouveau movement (c. 1890–1910). The style flourished across Europe and America in architecture, furniture, illustration, and typography. In lettering, Art Nouveau embraced organic forms, flowing curves, floral motifs, and asymmetry, reflecting the movement’s fascination with natural growth and hand-drawn ornament. Art Nouveau took its name from the Maison de l'Art Nouveau, a Parisian gallery that exhibited the works of artists and designers who were associated with the movement. The style was characterized by flowing, curvilinear forms inspired by natural shapes and motifs such as flowers, vines, and insects. It also incorporated elements from other artistic traditions, such as Japanese art and the Arts and Crafts movement. The work of Alphonse Mucha and the type of Eugene Smauel Grasset (1845–1917) are particularly important to understanding this period. (ILLS) Grasset taught design at the École Guérin from 1890 to 1903, at the École d’Art graphique in the rue Madame from 1903 to 1904, at theAcadémie de la Grande Chaumiere from 1904 to 1913, and at the École Estienne in Paris. Grasset had freely adapted the alphabet of Nicolas Jenson (1471) with the intention of using it to print a book on his own method for ornamental composition, inspired by the courses he gave to the Guérin school. (Wikipedia) The Grasset Typeface (ILLS) from Lewis F. Day's Alphabets Old and New , London, 1910, shows that art nouveau flair for which these men were famous. The font has been digitized by CARE Typography and is offered with a number of other historic fonts for a modest fee. Contact cshanktype@gmail.com for details. Auriol (1901, George Auriol, France). Produced by G. Peignot et Fils foundry, was one of the most widely used Art Nouveau fonts in Paris. It was inspired by Japanese calligraphy. Japanese calligraphy, called Shodo or Shuji, heavily influenced Art Nouveau type. Art Nouveau was particularly popular in Europe, where it influenced a wide range of artistic disciplines, including architecture, interior design, furniture, jewelry, and graphic design. Some of the most notable Art Nouveau architects included Hector Guimard, Antoni Gaudí, and Victor Horta, while artists such as Alphonse Mucha, Aubrey Beardsley, and Gustav Klimt were celebrated for their decorative and ornamental works. By 1910, Art Nouveau was fading. It was seen as overly decorative and was replaced by Art Deco, Plakatstil (poster style), and modernist sans-serifs (e.g., Futura, 1927). Still, Art Nouveau typefaces remained popular in advertising for certain luxury goods. In the 1960s–70s counterculture revival, fonts like Arnold Böcklin were rediscovered and associated with psychedelic posters, bringing Art Nouveau back into fashion. In short, Art Nouveau fonts were display-oriented, highly decorative, and tied to the broader artistic revolt against rigid academic styles. Fonts like Eckmann, Auriol, Bradley, and Arnold Böcklin remain the most recognizable products of the period.
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