Typography is something to be used as an image would be in design. But, I want to take a second to cover the effects of typography in body copy. In Layout class we watched a video that expanded on this topic in the context of magazines , newspapers, and books. Naturally when one sees a number of words our instinct is to skip and not read. This is why it is important to know the effects of typography in body copy. It effects whether the text flows smoothly and allows the reader an easy read.
Effects in typography that effect readability include, boldness, italics, old style numbers, drop caps and more. I want to summarize a few. Boldness separates text but depending on font typeface it may still allow a sense of inclusiveness creating perfect subheadings. Italics are used to represent titles, emphasis, or to set apart a thought.
This leads me to some don’ts when working with body copy. Underlining, all caps, and boldness should never be used to emphasize text. All caps has the effect of yelling and underlining extends under the baseline and into the letters that ascend in the next line. This is distracting.
Overall, the typography of body copy plays an important roll in the readability of text in magazines, newspapers, and books.