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Articles by Ilene Strizver
From Type to Table: Different Medium, Same Design Eye
If you’ve been part of the CreativePro community for a while, you may remember my TypeTalk column, where I spent years exploring typography—how to use it, how it’s made, and how it shapes the way we see and communicate. From the outside, it might look like I left that world behind. What I actually did was change mediums.
InType: Legibility vs. Readability
is now part of CreativePro.com! This article appeared in Issue 56 of InDesign Magazine. “I can’t read it!” Every designer has heard it, from clients, audience, or even their own mom. And you should pay attention to this concern! After all, it’s crucial that people be able to read the text in your documents, no matter what you’re designing. In the world of typography and design, people often throw about the terms legibility and readability—in fact they’re often even used interchangeably.
InType: Know Your Small Caps
This article appeared in Issue 62 of InDesign Magazine. In today’s “do-it-yourself” digital world where most designers are called upon to spec, style, and set their own type, learning how to finesse your typography is crucial to achieving professional results. One typographic element that is often misunderstood, overlooked, and occasionally misused is small caps. What are they? When and how should you use them? Where do you find them?
Susan Friedman, Illustrative Quilt Artist/Designer
Once in a great while, you come across someone’s work that changes the way you view and think about a “craft“ or “hobby.” This happened to me recently when I reconnected with a lovely woman I knew as a youngster in Queens, NY (my older brother’s high school girlfriend, to be exact!) who now—to my surprise and delight—lives 10 miles from me in the Hudson Valley in upstate New York.
TypeTalk: Know Your Hyphens, En and Em Dashes
Hyphens, en and em dashes are three visually similar yet significantly different punctuation marks that commonly appear in text. Their definition and purpose are frequently misunderstood by designers and writers alike, often leading to inaccurate and unprofessional typography.
Arial vs. Helvetica
by Ilene Strizver The primary differences between Arial and Helvetica can easily be seen in the distinguishing characters shown above: Helvetica’s terminal strokes are either horizontally or vertically cut, while those of Arial are slightly angled, the cap G in Helvetica has a spur while Arial does not, the leg of the cap Rs are dramatically different in shape and position, and the overall shapes are more rounded in Arial than Helvetica.
The Illustrious (& Illustrative) World of Cipe Pineles
Cipe Pineles (1908 – 1991) was a very influential albeit unsung graphic designer of the 1930s. She is credited with blending fine art and lively, colorful illustrations (especially of food, her passion) and hand lettering within her design – especially in her work on magazines. Pineles totally changed the world of editorial design during her reign. She was a powerful role model and a major creative inspiration for many.
Herb Lubalin and Expressive Typography
An important aspect in the education of a designer is learning about those who came before. One influential designer not to be overlooked is Herb Lubalin (Loob-a-lin), who was one of the most prominent figures in typography and type-centric design in the 1960s and 1970s. Herb Lubalin (1918–1981) was a brilliant, innovative, gutsy New York designer whose groundbreaking and adventurous use of type influenced designers around the globe.
TypeTalk - U&lc Magazine Retrospective: Reinventing Tables of Contents
The 1950’s were the gateway to a brave, new world in typography ushered in by the leap from metal typesetting to photocomposition. These were ground-breaking and transitional times in the history of typography and design due to changes in technology that allowed for total control (and increased speed) over the setting of type, which in turn heralded in a new era of expressive typography.
Women Type Designers - InDesignSecrets.com
Thanks for coming to InDesignSecrets.com, the world's #1 resource for all things InDesign! Women Type Designers Ilene Strizver March 19, 2019 This article appeared in Issue 119 of InDesign Magazine. How women emerged from the shadows of the past and left their mark in the world of type Women have been a part of the world of printing and typography in one way or another for eons, but often in roles that have gone unnoticed and unacknowledged.
TypeTalk: Top Ten Type Resources Online
TypeTalk is a regular blog on typography. Post your questions and comments by clicking on the Comments icon above. If Ilene answers your question in the blog, you’ll receive one Official Creativepro.com T-Shirt! There are dozens, if not hundreds, of blogs, forums, and Web sites devoted to typography. Here are my top ten: Ilovetypography This rich typographic resource by “Johno” is designed to inspire its readers and to make people more aware of the typography all around us.
Jan Tschichold, Master Typographer of the 20th Century
Jan Tschichold (pronounced yahn chih-kold), 1902 – 1974, was a highly regarded German calligrapher, typographer, book designer, and educator. He is considered one of the most influential figures in typography and design of the 20th century. His foray to Modernism, and then his return to Classicism highlighted his constant exploration into the ‘proper’ use and application of type, grids, and overall design.
Rules for Working With Tiny Type - InDesignSecrets.com
Don’t worry; I promise this isn’t going to be a rant about the eyesight of the aging population and their impatience with type just getting smaller and smaller all the time. The fact is, there are many instances of design that call for the use of very small, if not tiny, type, and it’s not only on the geriatric prescription notifications. In print, these can include captions, credits, newspapers, dictionaries, manuals and directories, and instructions, as well as miniature books.
Rules for Working With Tiny Type - InDesignSecrets.com
Don’t worry; I promise this isn’t going to be a rant about the eyesight of the aging population and their impatience with type just getting smaller and smaller all the time. The fact is, there are many instances of design that call for the use of very small, if not tiny, type, and it’s not only on the geriatric prescription notifications. In print, these can include captions, credits, newspapers, dictionaries, manuals and directories, and instructions, as well as miniature books.
Ten Essential Books on Typography & Design - InDesignSecrets.com
I am frequently asked by students and professionals alike to recommend a book to fill in their knowledge of type and design and to act as a reference. These days, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of books on the graphic arts to choose from, but I have focused on those tried-and-true books that are respected by many professionals in the field.
Ten Essential Books on Typography & Design - InDesignSecrets.com
I am frequently asked by students and professionals alike to recommend a book to fill in their knowledge of type and design and to act as a reference. These days, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of books on the graphic arts to choose from, but I have focused on those tried-and-true books that are respected by many professionals in the field.
Using Google Fonts With InDesign - InDesignSecrets.com
Using Google Fonts With InDesign This article appeared in Issue 109 of InDesign Magazine. How to Find, Install, and Use Google Fonts in InDesign If you’re a Creative Cloud member, you have access to Typekit, which at last count featured over 1500 type families for desktop use. But if, like me, you believe that you can never have enough fonts, Google Fonts is another large type library you can access… and it’s free! The primary purpose of Google Fonts is to serve up fonts to websites.
History and Usage of the Ampersand
One of the most beautiful of symbols in our Latin-based written language is the ampersand. It can be sexy and curvy with sensuous thicks and thins, or a solid and strong single-thickness glyph. The ampersand is one of the few letterforms that allows for more creativity and interpretation in its design than most others, which have more rigid guidelines. For this reason, they are frequently a highlighted element in a logo or word mark. The ampersand is a representation of the word and.
TypeTalk: Hung Punctuation & Optical Margin Alignment
To hang or not to hang – punctuation, that is. The term hanging punctuation might not be familiar to some, as the related terminology in digital typesetting is optical margin alignment. They are actually a bit different, but both serve to accomplish the same thing – to create optically (as opposed to mechanically) aligned flush margins, whether they be both margins in justified text, or a single margin in F/L or F/R text. Hung punctuation was used by Gutenberg in the Gutenberg Bible.
End Marks - Fonts.com - Fonts.com
An end mark (sometimes called an end sign) is the small graphic element placed at the end of an article, chapter or story. It sends a clear, “that’s it, there isn’t anymore” message to the reader. End marks are most often used in magazines, newsletters and journals, in which long articles typically jump from page to page, but they can also be used in books, short text pieces, or even on the web – anywhere a decorative or graphic element could helpfully signal “the end”.
Rags, Widows & Orphans
Rags, widows and orphans – sounds more like a Dickens novel than type! In spite of their odd names, these concepts are important to understand if good typography is your goal. In typography, “rag” refers to the irregular or uneven vertical margin of a block of type. Usually it’s the right margin that’s ragged (as in the flush left/rag right setting), but either or both margins can be ragged. When setting type with a ragged margin, pay attention to the shape that the ragged line endings make.
InQuestion: July 2017 - InDesignSecrets
Q: I’ve just started exploring the interactive features of InDesign with Fixed Layout EPUB and Publish Online. I’ve been trying to come up with the best way to show and hide various elements on a page. Buttons are way too cumbersome. I tried a multi-state object but there’s no way to hide that. Do you have any suggestions for me? This article from InDesign Magazine is for InDesignSecrets premium subscribers only.
Tip of the Week: Adding Space Around Lists with Spans - InDesignSecrets
This InDesign tip on adding space around lists with spans was sent to Tip of the Week email subscribers on July 6, 2017. Sign up now and every week you’ll get a new tip, keyboard shortcut, and roundups of new articles, plus exclusive deals sent right to your Inbox! Just scroll down to the bottom of this page, enter your email address, and click Go! We’ll take care of the rest.
Be Creative with Bullets - InDesignSecrets
Bulleted lists play an important role in graphic communications: they give us a way to call attention to the key points in written communications so that readers can quickly and easily digest them. You can use them just about anywhere—in books, articles, brochures, annual reports, posters, marketing materials, as well as websites and other digital media. And, importantly, they come in all shapes and sizes.
TypeTalk: How to Attract Attention With Pull Quotes
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