Design School: Type

Introduction

Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable, visible form.

—Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

Type is the descriptive term used for letterforms—alphabet, numbers, and punctuation—that, when used together, create words, sentences, and narrative form. The term typeface refers to the design of all the characters referenced above, unified by common visual elements and characteristics. Typography is designing with type.

Type is a unique element in the graphic designer’s vocabulary because it has dual functions. It can function on its purest level as any fundamental visual element such as point, line, form, shape, and texture in a composition. However, its primary function is verbal and visual—it ...