Responsive Typography: Design for meaning, not for screen size

Responsive Typography
hwdesignco.com | @jpamental | Responsive Typography
ARTIFACT PVD
30 September, 2014
Design for Meaning, Not for Screen Size

What We’ll Cover
+ Lies & deceptions about art & science
+ Understanding the value of hats
+ What is Responsive Typography
+ Practicing the Four P’s

Art & Science:
A Historical Romance
DaVinci?
That guy would code
Vermeer:
Master or Technician?
Tim Jenison
Artist or Inventor?

Is Tim an artist or is Tim an inventor? I think
the problem is not trying to pick one of
these things for Tim to be – the problem is
that we have that distinction
-Penn Jillette in ‘Tim’s Vermeer’

Art is inherently tied to the
technology we use to create it
No matter how much we try to ignore it

Art+Science

Design+Development

When is our industry going stop calling it
“web” typography?
@sblakeborough, via twitter

We can’t.
+(Insert Ginger Rogers analogy here)
+ Encompasses all of what you know about type
& its use but
+ Typography on the web requires additional
consideration (art & science)
+ Our canvas is fluid; constantly
expanding & contracting
+ Reading on screens will only increase

Type Is the Voice of Your Words
+ Words have meaning, but letters have emotion

+ Words have meaning, but letters have emotion
I love you

+Words must first be read
before they can be understood

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth
on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

+Legible means you can read it
+Readable means you might actually want to

+Legible means you can read it
+Readable means you might actually want to
A tale of a curious affliction

A Design Dilemma:
What We Don’t Know
+ Screen size
+ Device capabilities
+ Concurrent activities
+ Depth of focus
+ Purpose of visit

Focus on What’s Left: Typography

Responsive Typography:
Four Simple Steps
+ Performance: select fonts with care, load
what you need & don’t block the page draw
+ Progressive: plan for failure, tune up the
loading process & fallback fonts to
minimize FOUT
+ Proportion: small screens demand
subtle scale
+ Polish: Design IS the details: OpenType &
then some

Performance

Performance Matters
+ Great typography isn’t ‘I used all of them’
+ Load only what you need
Trade Gothic Next LT Pro Bold
this is a typeface this is a font
+Each font has a performance cost,
so budget wisely

Performance Matters

Progressive Performance

Progressive Enhancement

FOUT is OUR fault

body { font-family: “Trade Gothic”, helvetica, arial; }
.wf-inactive body { font-family: helvetica, arial; }
FOUT is OUR fault
+Use these: .wf-inactive / .wf-active
+This CSS results in a blank screen during load:
+Add this & give them content, then fonts:
+Adjust font-size, line-height, letter-spacing
to avoid jumpiness
+Making it easy since 2010

Progressively Enhance
Web fonts loaded

No web fonts, uncorrected

No web fonts, corrected

Backwards Compatible, Future Friendly

Proportion

Proportion: one size won’t do
http://bit.ly/jprwt

Desktop geese & handheld gander
+Small canvas requires
subtle proportions
+What works in print…
works in print
+Robert Bringhurst
matters, but scale
must adapt

For example…

A More Modern Scale

Polish

Polish: Don’t Forget Fit & Finish

Polish: Don’t Leave Orphans Behind
+ Typogrify FTW:
http://bit.ly/rt-tpgrfy
http://bit.ly/drupaltypogrify
http://bit.ly/rt-tpgrfy-ee
http://bit.ly/rt-tpgrfy-wp
+ Also try Widowtamer for
JS drop-in solution:
http://bit.ly/rt-widotamer
+ Seems small, but has
oversized impact to
user & editor

A Little in Abundance is a Lot
+ Use max-width on elements to keep text readable
@media (min-width: 58em) {
p { max-width: 38em; }
}
+ CSS3 brings character counts, but not universal
(vw & vh, ch & cx)
+ EMs or REMs, but no PX
+ Don’t forget: use real content!
Because Lorem Ipsum is a poser

New Tricks
+ Emerging attributes:
font-size-adjust & font-smoothing
+ The future is here; it’s just not evenly distributed
+ Try text-rendering engine detection
w/font-smoothing
(http://typerendering.com courtesy of @NiceWebType & @bramstein)

True Life Story

True Life Story
-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
-moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;

A Perfect Page

A Perfect Page
or at least a far better start

Inspiration

Inspiration
+ Oversize 2-level header
+ Stylized subhead
+ Byline
+ Large initial cap
+ Inset photo
+ Pull-quote

Frustration

A Sneak Peek

Realization
+ Oversize 2-level header
+ Stylized subhead
+ Byline
+ Large initial cap
+ Inset photo
+ Pull-quote
+ Virtually no extra
markup necessary
+ Fully responsive

Realization

Responsive Web Typography
+ Yes, it’s a thing
+ It’s about adapting to screen size, network
speed & device capabilities
+ It’s about designing for what’s next
• Last Winter Olympics: there was no iPad
• The one before? No iPhone either

Responsive Web Typography
+ Performance
• Stats, Platforms & Screen Tests
+ Progression (It’s the web. Stuff breaks)
• If the font fails, does your design hold up?
+ Proportion
• It’s about composition (think: small paintings)
+ Polish
• Great typography is greater than the sum of its parts

“Designers Should Code As Much
As Artists Should Mix Paint”
~ Mustafa Kurtuldu (@Mustafa_x)
FOWD London

Just out!
http://bit.ly/rwtbook

Thank You
Jason Pamental (@jpamental)
!
Slides: http://bit.ly/jpartpvd14
Code: http://bit.ly/rtwcode

Responsive Typography: Design for meaning, not for screen size

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