Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
EVERY TYPE ELEMENT
in this page spread participates in visually resolving the composition and
activating space. The size of the dot-like chart weights it in relation to the texture of the column
and the vertical motion of the large, rotated headline; the rhythm of positive and negative from
left to right uses repetitions of specific intervals; and the type elements have a decisive up-and-
down motion relative to each other.
Cobra
Norway
Type Is Visual, Too
Design students and novices often make the mistake of ignoring
the abstract visual nature of type and, as a result, use type in a heavy-handed way
that doesn't correspond with image material—in effect, separating the two things com-
pletely. Type is visual; in space, it acts the same way that dots, lines, squares, fields of
texture, and patterns do in any composition. Recognizing this truth about type, under-
standing it and feeling it intuitively, gives the designer a tremendous advantage in being
able to make type and pictures become equal players.
Typographic Color
In addition to how type is placed within a format, its rhythmic, spa-
tial, and textural qualities are important considerations. The term for these qualities, as
a whole, is “typographic color.” Typographic color is similar to chromatic color—like
red, blue, or orange—but deals only with changes in lightness and darkness, or value.
Moreover, it is different from the qualities of chromatic color in that it describes
changes in rhythm and texture. Changing the typographic color of typographic compon-
