5 typography mistakes new designers make & how to avoid them
Over the last year and a half, I’ve had the opportunity to teach the basics of typography to undergraduate graphic design students. During this time, I’ve noticed some common mistakes that my students make when first learning how to work with type. In this short article, I’m going to go through the 5 most common mistakes and share some tips on how to avoid them.
Let’s dive in!
1. Using too many typefaces & styles
One of the first lessons I teach in my class is limiting the number of typefaces. New designers are passionate about their craft and just like more experienced designers, they like to stand out for their design work. However, since beginners are still in the learning process, their need to stand out sometimes doesn’t translate well. Most beginners use multiple typefaces and styles that only leads to confusion and distraction for their users. It’s important to know that design is for the user and not the designer. So as tempting as it might be for you to add another typeface to your work, you should avoid it.
Tip #1: Limit yourself to using 2 typefaces. Usually, one typeface for body text and one display typeface is enough. Can you ever use more than 2 typefaces? YES! There are exceptions to any rule, but that wouldn’t be the best practice for a beginner.
Tip #2: Pick Superfamilies if you’re looking for a variety of styles. But remember, using too many styles can break your design too.
What the heck are superfamilies? These are typefaces that have many weights and styles.
2. Not making active choices about the type
New designers tend to leave some decision-making to the design software they are using. A designer is not only to choose the typeface and font size but also to actively decide and adjust the value for leading, kerning, tracking, etc. Every single detail matters.
Tip #3: Don’t trust your design software with every detail. Be proactive and think about what suits your work best and make changes.
3. Not kerning large type
Kerning is one of the most important concepts in typography. Most of the time, I can tell a good design by just checking whether the large types have been kerned or not. When introduced to kerning for the first time, some beginners think of it as a time-consuming task that doesn’t have much of an impact on their final work. Well, that’s not true. Design is about the details, even if that detail is as small as the space between two letters. So kern that heading! It gets easier as you practice.
Tip #4: Next time, try kerning 3 letters at a time.
4. The urge to fill up negative space
I had a student who thought negative is bad, unwanted and one should fill up the workspace to avoid having negative space. Now, that was an extreme case. Most of the time, my students do know what negative space is. However, knowing and putting knowledge into practice are two different things. Most beginners tend to fill up their workspace with design elements, let that be type, graphics, or pictures. It’s always important to leave some room for your design elements to breathe.
Tip #5: Negative space goes hand in hand with the principle of proximity in visual design. Refresh your memory about proximity.
Tip #6: After finishing your next design project, duplicate your artboard, and think about how you can increase the negative space. Move elements around, change font sizes, and leadings if needed. After you finish, compare the two artboards. Which one turned out better?
“Good design is clear thinking made visible.”
- Edward Tufte
5. Not understanding type hierarchy
Like Edward Tufte once said: “Good design is clear thinking made visible”. One way that a designer’s ability to think clearly shows in her work is type hierarchy. Type hierarchy is not randomly making some parts of the text larger but it is to understand the importance and relevance of information and making visual decisions that show that hierarchy.
Tip #7: In your next design project, before choosing typefaces, colors, or thinking about the layout, take a moment, and organize the text in the level of importance. Put yourself in the readers’ position. Which part of the text is the most important? What comes after? What after that? And so on. You can use MS word or do this task somewhere on your artboard; both works. What’s important is that you take the time to think about the priorities and hierarchy of information before designing.
That’s it! 7 easy tips that will help you become better at typography. And here are some additional resources to check out:
