U&lc Issue: 41.1.1

The nature of the type world keeps changing. And any online publication is, by definition, about change. U&lc Online began life as an online companion to U&lc, ITC’s award-winning magazine; from here on in, it will begin a new life, in a new format, as ITC’s online voice. Expect the unexpected. U&lc Online is ITC’s international journal of graphic design and digital media. U&lc Online needs no subscription; it’s part of the ITC web site, itcfonts.com. To read U&lc Online, just bookmark this page and check it out every month.

Word Spacing: How-to Space matters. Word space, that is. Different letter and word shapes call for subtly different amounts of space. Learn to see and finesse word spacing in both text and display type with these how-tos.

Garamond (PDF) Garamond typefaces, in both their American and European flavors, are generally considered ideal book faces. The design is also an excellent choice for most other forms of continuous text. Magazines, newsletters, annual reports, lengthy advertising copy – for example – are all naturals for the Garamond design. Elegance, warmth, readability and legibility are guaranteed.

Comic Fonts Comic book writers aren’t the only ones who can use silly, wacky and irreverent fonts. You, too, can give your work a fresh and light-hearted look with one of these fine, fun fonts.

InDesign Shortcuts: Special Characters The keyboard is rarely the friendliest path to symbols and special characters. Sometimes a bit of menu magic can guide you past the overwhelming Glyph palette. Indeed, the Special Character flyout palette in Adobe InDesign CS3 is a great shortcut to frequently-used characters and will spare your fingers the keyboard contortions.

Valentine Fonts Dust off the hearts and Cupids – Valentine’s Day approaches, and nothing says “I love you” like a custom-designed valentine. Rarely is a designer’s work met with such a warm and appreciative welcome, so make the most of it! Here’s a roundup of typefaces and image collections that will help Cupid’s arrow hit its target.

Change those defaults! “Default lies not in our stars, but in our design applications” – okay, that’s not exactly what Shakespeare wrote. But knowing what your application’s defaults are – and how to change them – can save time and improve the quality of your work. Read on to learn which QuarkXPress and InDesign defaults to tweak, and which to leave alone.

Converting Text to Outline Powerful design software makes many choices available to graphic designers, but just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should. For example, sometimes it’s a good idea to convert your text layouts to outline, but sometimes it isn’t. Learn more about this occasionally necessary, often ill-advised practice before you decide whether or not it’s time to convert.

Bulleted Lists Automatic, or manual? No, we’re not talking about transmissions - we’re talking about bullet lists, those frequently used tools for organizing lists of information. Your layout application will be happy to format these lists for you, but for true typographic finesse, it’s time to learn to “drive stick” and call your own shots about bullets, alignment and spacing.

Arabic For Designers The first of its kind, this book addresses the rise in global awareness of Arab cultures and provides a framework for understanding and respect.

Scary Fonts The Halloween season offers a spookily good excuse to explore the world of scary fonts, but the terror needn’t end there. From media packaging to promotional items, whenever horror, mystery, fear and suspense need to be evoked, scary fonts can sneak up behind your audience and say “boo!”

Top 10 Type Crimes If there were a “Ten Most Wanted” list for typographic crimes, these hardboiled miscreants would be on it. Learn what the ten worst (and most common) type crimes are, and how to avoid them.

Double Spaces Between Sentences…NOT! Typing two spaces after a period is a relic of the typewriter era that has hung around long past its sell-by date. Here’s how to make sure none of those double-space dinosaurs find their way into your typeset work.

Hung Punctuation & Optical Margin Alignment Even with all the technology at the disposal of today’s designers, in the end it’s what the human eye sees that counts. That’s why hung punctuation is one of the skills to master when you’re ready to add professional finesse to your typography. Learn what hung punctuation is and how to achieve it in the leading page layout applications.