Contrast and harmony
Design is the art of assembling a diverse range of elements into an organised whole. The same problem
exists for typographers as designers in the industrial world - the car manufacturer must assemble wheels, engine, transmission,
steering apparatus, gears, etc into a sleek motor vehicle.
Typographic design is no different; it combines graphics, type, lines, illustrations, paper and ink to create a stimulating,
attractive visual unit.
Two powerful forces are at work in the design of a printed piece: the need to create strong visual impact and to organize
elements into a unified whole. These needs are complimentary, not antagonistic; achieving one depends on the other.
To create such an organised design involves three major relationships: contrast and harmony, structure, and space. This
first article looks at the relationship of contrast and harmony.
Definitions
Before describing ways of achieving contrasts in a design, it is vital that you understand the differences between harmony
and contrast.
Harmony is the blending of elements with an evenness of colour, texture, size and typeface. It is typified by the use
of a single typeface, with matching borders and decorations and a carefully balanced distribution of body copy and white
space.
A harmonious design is restful and soothing, it makes no demands on the reader - it is complacent and unobtrusive. It
is the perfect design format for books and magazines where to use contrasting elements would defeat the purpose of the
information being given.
Contrast is the opposite of harmony. It is active, stimulating and vigorous; it demands the attention of the reader
by displaying opposites in direct contrast. To be effective the contrasts must be clearly defined, since too little definition
will result in a conflict. For example, using two typefaces with many similarities will clash - the design will be neither
harmonious, nor contrasting.
Contrasting relationships
There are seven basic relationships of contrast - size, weight, structure, form, colour, texture and direction. Each
of these can be combined with one another to create a range of stimulating visual effects.
Size
Varying sizes of type, when combined with smaller body copy, draws the reader's eye to the beginning of aline. But differences
in size can also be used for smaller pieces of work with less text, like business cards and covers.
There are a few important design rules to take into account when using various sizes of type:
- a single large letter should be followed by a word of the same weight;
- a large word should be followed by a rule that has the same weight.
You can affect the impact of a large letter by changing its shade. A large letter (say 72 point) next to body copy (say
12 point) will seem smaller, if it is printed in a shade of 50%.
Weight
When talking about the weight of letters, we actually mean the relative thickness if the lines and strokes that comprise
the letter, and their relationship with the "white" of the page. If the printed area is much less than the paper which
shows through a letter, the letter is light; the converse means the letter is heavy.
Many faces have a companion heavy - not bold - style: Bodoni Ultra, Futura Ultra and Univers Black. However, many typefaces'
companion bolds do not provide enough contrast to the book or light letters. This is usually because the bold style of
a typeface is a modification to the book style, rather than an original creation based on the characteristics of the
typeface.
Structure
There are two structural categories of typefaces: sans serif, square serif and some monotone scripts, and serifs, italics
and all other scripts. Effective contrast is achieved when two faces from the different categories are used together.
Using two faces from the same category does not constitute a contrast, because of the similarities between the strokes
and lines of the faces.
Form
The form of a typeface is simply the shape of each letter. The most elementary contrast of form is the difference between
the letters of the alphabet; without this differentiation, words would convey nothing to the reader. Typographically,
we talk about the contrast between the letters of different families; capital against lower case, roman against italic,
tall condensed against squat, fat letter. However, there is no contrast between a script against an italic, because there
is insufficient differentiation.
Colour
Colour falls into two broad classes: warm (red-yellow end) and cold (green-blue end). The warm colours appear to move
towards the reader and only require a very small area to convey an image; the cold colours recede from the reader and
therefore, can be used over a larger area to give greater impact.
When used with type or other black images, the colour should never appear to be balanced: the warm colours should use
less area and the cold colours should use more area than the black. Organising the colour areas in a few potent points
is the most effective. When a solid colour background is used, some white mass should show through, whether with a black
type mass or a black area with reverse type.
If your budget does not allow you to use a second colour in your piece, try a different ink colour than black; contrast
of colour stands out against the white of the paper and removes job from run of the mill category.
Texture
The texture of a line or a block of text is created by the repetition of certain characteristics inherent in individual
letters. When creating contrasts of texture, other elements of contrast come into play.
Differing structures and weights of letters will determine the relative texture and coarseness of the text. For example,
the texture of a line of Futura capitals is hard and dispassionate; the same line in lower case Garamond italics is soft
and friendly.
Direction
Typesetting is based on a series of rectangular units. These units can be rotated, slanted or have a change of perspective
to create a different visual shape. However, because of the relative importance of the altered rectangle, only text of
secondary importance should be altered if the meaning of that text is not altered by doing so.
Horizontal patterns are created by using leading in body type; vertical patterns can also be created with type. Use
narrow columns with text justified on either the left or right-hand sides and a strong horizontal line to create a sense
of conflict at the point of intersection. Or if you have two facing pages, have one narrow column on one page and a horizontal
column on the next.
To increase the sense of direction, you can use lines of similar width to the altered text. If you are using intersecting
lines or rules, the areas created at the intersections and the thickness of the lines should never be equal.
Conclusion
Each of these basic contrasts can be effectively combined. Understanding their uses and applying them to your work,
you can begin to create pieces that will be transformed from the everyday visual boredom to a stimulating, invigorating
piece.
Written by Geoffrey Fletcher (First appeared
in Australian Macworld, 1990)
|
