Key question
What does a text sound like before anyone reads it?
Typography is the voice of a text. Even before someone begins to read, it conveys a tone: objective, elegant, bold, or technical. Through your choice of typeface, weight, size, and spacing, you give your message character and structure.
Learning objective: You can select fonts based on their character, establish a clear typographic hierarchy, and verify readability for the respective channel.
Typography speaks before you even read.
4.1 / Fonts have character
Every font has its own tone.
You will come across four groups of fonts particularly often:
01
Serif
Serif typeface; looks classic, literary, and often respectable.
02
Grotesque
Sans-serif font; appears objective, modern and clear.
03
Monospace font
All characters are of equal width; appears technical and documentary-like.
04
Display font
Made for large sizes; striking, but not for body text.
Within a single group, there are significant differences: a geometric sans-serif creates a different impression than a humanist one. Choose fonts based on character and function, not just fashion. Two font families are enough for most projects.
Two fonts are almost always enough.
4.2 / Build hierarchy
Order shows what matters first.
A typographic hierarchy shows the audience what is important and in what order they should read. The most important elements are size, weight, spacing, and position.
A few distinct levels work better than many small ones. For a poster, three levels are often enough: title, key information, and details.
01
Size
The largest text is read first.
02
Weight
Bold weights stand out, light ones recede.
03
Distance
White space groups related elements and separates layers.
When everything is emphasised, nothing is emphasised.
4.3 / Legible and coherent
Character must not come at the expense of legibility.
Readability depends on font size, tracking, line spacing, contrast, and reading distance. A poster is read from several metres away, a post on a mobile phone in seconds. Capital letters need a little more tracking, small text rather more than less.
Tone and readability are not mutually exclusive. An eye-catching font works well in the title, whilst body text remains understated. This gives the message character while ensuring it stays easy to read.
Loud in the headline, quiet in the body text.
Exercise
One sentence, three voices
Task: Design the programme overview for Lichtspiel as a purely typographic poster.
STEP 1
Choose one font for the title and one for the body text.
STEP 2
Set three hierarchy levels for titles, films and details.
STEP 3
Typeset the poster in A3 format and print it out.
STEP 4
Check the legibility from a distance of three metres.
Evaluation: Where does the eye linger? What was not legible from a distance, and why?