Use lettering and basic typography, including letter shape, weight, spacing and the difference between display and body text, to design clear and expressive words

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to design lettering and use basic typography, the art of arranging letters so words are both clear and expressive. Letters do two jobs at once: they carry the words to be read, and their shapes carry feeling. Learning about letter shape, weight, spacing and the difference between display and body text lets you design titles, signs and posters that work, and it is useful across all your design tasks.

The answer

Letters carry feeling, not just meaning

The same word can look completely different depending on how it is drawn. Sharp, angular letters feel hard or cold; soft, rounded letters feel friendly or playful; thin, flowing, slanted letters feel elegant. So the first job in lettering is to match the style of the letters to the feeling of the word or the message. The word "shout" in big jagged capitals feels very different from the same word in tiny gentle script.

Letter shape and style

Letter styles fall into broad families. Some have small finishing strokes on the ends (these are called serif styles) and feel traditional; some have clean, plain ends (sans-serif) and feel modern and clear. Letters can be upright or slanted, narrow or wide, plain or decorative. Choosing a style sets the tone before a single word is read.

Weight and spacing

• Weight is how thick or thin the letters are. Bold, heavy letters stand out and suit titles and signs that must grab attention from a distance; thin, light letters are quieter and suit smaller text.
• Spacing is the gaps between letters and words. Letters squashed too close are hard to read and look cramped; spread too far apart, words fall apart. Even, comfortable spacing keeps lettering clear and tidy. Good spacing is what separates neat lettering from messy lettering.

Display versus body text

• Display text is large lettering for titles, headings and signs. It is meant to be seen first and can be bold and expressive.
• Body text is the smaller text meant to be read in quantity, like a paragraph. It needs to be plain and clear above all, because readability matters more than style when there is a lot of it.

Matching the lettering to its job, expressive display text for a title, clean body text for information, is the key typography decision.

Examples in context

Example 1. A shop sign. A good shop sign uses bold, well-spaced display lettering that can be read from across the street, with a style that suits the shop, such as elegant flowing letters for a tailor or clean modern letters for an electronics store. It shows display text doing its job: grabbing attention and setting a tone.

Example 2. A book page. The body text of a book uses a plain, even, comfortably spaced style so you can read pages without tiring, while the chapter titles use a larger, more expressive display style. The contrast on one page shows clearly why display and body text are designed differently.

Try this

Q1. Explain how the style of lettering can change the feeling of a word. [2 marks]

• Cue. Letter shapes carry feeling: sharp angular letters feel hard or cold, soft rounded letters feel friendly, bold heavy letters feel strong, so the same word changes mood with its style.

Q2. Explain why spacing matters in lettering. [2 marks]

• Cue. Letters squashed too close are hard to read and look cramped; spread too far apart, words fall apart; even, comfortable spacing keeps lettering clear and tidy.

Q3. Explain the difference between display text and body text. [2 marks]

• Cue. Display text is large lettering for titles and signs, meant to be seen first and can be expressive; body text is small text for reading in quantity and must be plain and clear.