7 amateur typography tips

It was drawn to my attention this morning that Seth Godin, marketing guru extraordinaire, had posted up this short list of points for his readers to keep in mind when setting up type in their documents. I thought that for people who aren’t designers already, (and without getting into a huge lesson on the principles of typography) this was a pretty solid list. The original article can be found here.

If you’re an aspiring typographer, or just anybody who might like to tighten up the look of their documents or posters they make at home, definitely give this list a go-over. As for the designers out there in the crowd, if you can think of anything you’d add or change about this list, leave your thoughts in the comments.

the 7 tips

1. If you want professional results, hire a professional.
2. Don’t use the built-in fonts that come with your PC. (Type is cheap. Invest.)
3. Headlines in sans serif. Body in serif. (Easy tip—headlines are bold and condensed.)
4. Black type/Light background. Don’t screw around unless you have some sort of design point to make. (Goth bands, it’s all yours).
5. Headlines look great reversed. With two caveats: 1. don’t overdo it. 2. make sure you leave plenty of black around the border.
6. TYPE SIZE! Too big is good. Too small is good. Just right might be a problem.
7. Line spacing! Use less or more than the automatic. 14 point type probably deserves 15 or 16 point spacing.

Seth has also made this list available as a downloadable PDF, with additional commentary on each point.

Thanks to David for the tip.