Combining letter styles

1Two voices, not a crowd

Look at a well-designed book cover or bank poster and you will usually find two letter styles: one with character for the title, one plain and easy to read for the information. Put together well, they are like two voices in a conversation, each with its own job. Put together badly, or with too many styles, they are like a crowd shouting at once. Combining letter styles well is the last skill of this unit, and it brings together everything you have learned about letterforms, hierarchy and balance.

2Rules for combining styles

1. Two styles are usually enough; three at most. For more variety, change the size, weight or case of the styles you already have, instead of adding new ones.
2. Contrast, not conflict. Combine styles that are clearly different, such as a serif with a sans-serif, or a heavy display style with a light, plain one. Two styles that are almost the same, such as two slightly different sans-serifs, look like a mistake.
3. Give each style a job. A display style (bold, decorative, script or slab) for the title; a plain, readable style for the information. Use the same style for the same job everywhere in the design.
4. Match the mood. Serif and script feel traditional and elegant; sans-serif feels modern and clear; slab serif feels strong and loud. Choose what suits the message and the audience.
5. Decorative and script styles for a few words only. Never letter a whole paragraph, or a word in all capitals, in script.

3Pairings that work

Worked example: a club notice

Keza letters a notice for the school environment club. The text is: "GREEN CLUB", "Tree planting this Saturday", "Meet at the school gate at 8 am", "Bring a hoe and water".

1. Rank: GREEN CLUB is level 1; the planting and meeting details are level 2; "Bring a hoe and water" is level 3.
2. Choose two styles: a slab serif in capitals for GREEN CLUB, because it looks strong and outdoorsy; a plain sans-serif for everything else, because it is clear to read.
3. Vary within the second style: the level 2 lines in bold sans-serif, the level 3 line in regular sans-serif at a smaller size. Still only two styles.
4. Balance: she centres everything, lifts the block to the optical centre, and checks that the slab title is the heaviest thing on the page.
5. Reject a temptation: she had planned a script style for "Saturday", but a third style would compete with the title, so she uses bold sans-serif instead.

4Make it: final lettering project

1. Brief: letter a poster or sign with a real message for your school or community, such as a health reminder, a club notice or a welcome sign in Kinyarwanda, English or French.
2. Plan: write the text and rank it into three levels.
3. Choose two styles and write one sentence explaining the job of each.
4. Thumbnails: make three, including one symmetrical and one asymmetrical layout.
5. Final: on A3 or A4, rule margins and guidelines, check the longest line fits, letter in pencil, then ink or paint.
6. Evaluate: do the three-second test, then write what you would change next time.

5Look closely

This page comes from a printing-type catalogue (a specimen) made by the English letter-founder William Caslon IV around 1816. A letter-founder made and sold metal type to printers.

• The bottom line, W CASLON JUNR LETTERFOUNDER, is set in "Two Lines English Egyptian", one of the first sans-serif printing types ever made. Compare its even strokes with the thick-and-thin serif capitals of the small labels.
• The decorative word CUMBERLAND, in a slanted serif with a white line inside each stroke, is the display style. The small serif labels (CANON, TWO LINES ENGLISH) are quiet and do not compete with it.

Printers in the 1800s often went much further. This playbill for the actress Louise Pomeroy, printed in the United States between 1871 and 1889, uses at least six styles: tall narrow serif capitals, wide extended capitals, plain sans-serif capitals, a decorative style for MR. ARTHUR ELLIOT, a heavy bold style for OBSERVE THE REPERTOIRE, and small capitals for the days of the week. It stays readable because every line is centred and ruled lines divide it into sections, but today most designers would choose two or three styles and use size and weight for the rest. Which lines would you keep, and which styles would you drop?

Practice