{ 10 Commandments of Typography }

When you ask someone about the Ten Commandants, people go right for the Ten Commandants of a biblical sense. The Ten Commandants relating to ethics and worship that play a huge role in Judaism and Christianity. If you ask a designer they may give you a different Ten Commandants, the Ten Commandants of Typography.

Commandment 1 : Thou Shalt Show Restraint
It can be easy to get carried away when it comes to trying several different types of fonts. Some people like the look of several typefaces within a text or page, but it usually a sign of an amateurs work. The golden rule is to pick two fonts, and sometimes you can get away with three. Just make sure its suitable to the message your trying to send. This can make the text not only readable, but it can give the reader a better indication of who you are as designer.

Commandment 2 : Thou Shalt Space Words Properly 
You may love the look of a certain font, but if there are a large section of text and the words are clustered too closely together it can make it hard to read. Compare the spacing of several fonts you like to see how they read, and don't be afraid to ask a fellow designer for help.

Commandment 3 : Thou Shalt Align
Working on a grid is the easiest way to ensure your paragraphs are lined up correctly. You don't want to have oddly spaced type as you read down the page. Choosing center alignment is always a poor choice, because it can create unwanted rivers that can ruin the way your type is read. Do yourself a favor and take the time to organize the text so it looks professional from start to finish.

Commandment 4 : Thou Shalt Not Over- Decorate
Decorative, ornamental fonts are fun and often quite pretty at times, but they are often difficult to read and don't further the message than your design maybe trying to say. You'll want to use
fancy fonts sparingly, perhaps only as headers or titles. Using a fancy font in regular paragraphs
is frustrating to read and the flourishes seem less thrilling when you have no one looking at
your designs.

Commandment 6 : Thou Shalt Make it Readable
Readability is something very important and has been mentioned several times in this post so far.Make all your hard work worth it by ensuring that your type is readable. The design is important but less is generally more when it comes to type.

Commandment 7 : Thou Shalt Choose Color Wisely
Fancy fonts and pretty colors are fun, but not all colors work well for reading a design. The brighter the color the harder it is to read. So while you don't have to stick to black and white, muted tones and neutrals are the best choices. And remember, some people are partially or totally color blind, so try to avoid red/green combos and other commonly problematic combinations.

Commandment 8 : Thou Shalt Group Similar Information
Don't scatter your info all over the page, logo or flyer. Keep the essentials where they are east to find and grouped together by related category. For instance, location, phone number and event time should be listed together.

Commandment 9 : Thou Shalt Space Words Properly, Again
The actual act of spacing individual words is very important. While every font has different spacing, and that should help you pick a typeface, there's also the option to change the spacing manually.

Commandment 10 : Thou Shalt Kern
Another dictate on spacing, kerning is how much space is between each individual letter, as opposed to each word. Squished together letters are difficult to read, for obvious reasons, and sometimes two overly close letters can seem to be a different letter entirely. Just don't change the aspect of the actual letters in Photoshop, that's a big designer no-no.

So now use these commandments wisely, and you'll never suffer a typography embarrassment again.


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