Before & A f t e r ®Selecting text type 3 of 8Xi BAmagazine.com U  3 of 8 Selecting text type 0269 1. Pick a typeface with similar character widths For the smoothest appearance, an alphabet’s charac- ters should have similar widths. Reading has a nat- ur al rhythm; an alphabet such as Futura (below, top) with widely varying character widths disrupts it.aefjsrm Widely varying widths Futura Lightaef jsrm Similar widths Times ew Roman2. Medium height-to-width ratio We identify letters by their physical characteristics— stems, bars, loops, curves and so on; the clearer they are the more legible the letter. As letters are compressed (or expanded), these features get dis- tor ted—diagonal strokes, for example, become quite vertical—and so are harder to identify. Medium height- to-width ratio ITC Stone Serif Compressed height-to-width ratio Racer53 1SS
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