4.
Height to Width Ratio.
Another classification of letters is a function of their height to width.
These classifications are condensed and extended.
a. Condensed letters are narrow compared to their width. Use
condensed letters when space is limited.
b. Extended letters are wide compared to their height. Use extended
letters as a means of adding prominence.
5.
Summary.
This concludes the discussion of letter classification. Remember, the
selection of letter style, size, and other characteristics are a matter of
preference. There are no hard and fast rules. Lettering is a form of
communication and above all else, lettering must be legible or the message
will be lost.
PART B LETTERING PRINCIPLES
The overall effectiveness of your work depends strongly on its overall
composition. Lettering either by itself, or as part of a presentation,
involves properly arranging letters, words, and lines of letters with any
other graphics components of the project. In this part of the lesson, you
will learn how to space between letters, words, and lines.
6.
Spacing Letters.
For any lettering project to appear balanced, the white space (the
irregular backgrounds between the letters) must appear equal. This is not
an easy task and requires detailed work. Vary the spacing between
adjacent letters depending on whether they have straight sides (H/I/M/N),
slanted sides (A/V/W), round sides (O/Q/C/G), or open sides (L/J). In the
past, several attempts were made to develop hard and fast rules to space
letters; however, they were not successful. In general, leave the same
amount of white space between letters as appears within the previous
letter in the word. Refer to figure 110 and pay particular attention to
the spacing marks above the letters.
a. Look at line 1 in figure 110. All the letters in this line have
straight sides; therefore, the spacing between them should be equal.
Determine the spacing by the following method. Using a printer's rule, an
engineer's rule, or some other scaled device that provides a variety of
graduates (inches, centimeters, or any other unit of linear measurement),
measure the distance between the insides of the vertical strokes of the
first letter in the word. In this case, the capital
1-9
SS0525
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