More contrast in type

Contrast of color: It is important to note that the first printed publication, the Gutenberg Bible, had a rectangular space at the beginning of each chapter for the insertion of a hand drawn colored initial (Dair 69). This tradition of contrasting color has carried over from the handmade book to the machine-made publication. The use of a second color in commercial printing and advertising can be very effective in conveying a particular message (Dair 70). Colors fall into two broad categories: cold and warm. The cold colors are more blues and greens and the warm colors are more reds and yellows. The warmer colors bring more attention to them than the cooler ones. While only a small dab of a warmer color is necessary to capture the eye, a lot of a cooler color is necessary to be effective.



Contrast of direction: The sense of balance is thrown off by slanted lines of type, but there can be a focal point between two horizontal and vertical intersecting typographic units (Dair 74). Horizontal patterns can be attained by adding extra leading in between lines and vertical patterns can be created by making the column narrower and justifying it right or left. There can be contrast by adding a horizontal heading to the vertical column of text, or by inserting a vertical column between two more horizontal ones. “Whenever there is a dominant vertical or horizontal element in any given rectangular area, either dimension, width or height, can be accentuated through the use of opposition in direction” (Dair 76).



Contrast of texture: Typographical texture is the repetition of certain characteristics that make up individual letters of a type face (Dair 77). Textual contrasts involve the contrasts of weight and structure. The structure determines the kind of texture and the weight determines the coarseness. A line of sans serif may be “hard and dispassionate” while a line of thick-thin serifs could be “soft and friendly” (Dair 77). The leading and tracking also play a great role in the texture of lines of type. A mass of text that has a lot of leading looks more like lines than a pattern, and a line that has loose tracking emphasizes the vertical letter rather than the horizontal unity of a tight line.



Image source 1: Aldrich-Ruenzel, Nancy and John Fennell, eds. Designer's Guide to Typography. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1991.

Image source 2,3,4: Dair, Carl. Design with Type. New York: University of Toronto Press, 1967.