Typography
Yesterday, I redesigned this site following my discovery of "Practical Typography" by Matthew Butterick. In the book, he explains the many rules one should adhere to when publishing content on the web, and the importance of typography.
Notable Excerpts
If bad typography can have negative consequences, it shouldn’t be hard to believe that good typography can have positive consequences. Typography can help you engage readers, guide them, and ultimately persuade them. The more you appreciate what typography can do, the better a typographer you can become.
The typographic quality of your document is determined largely by how the body text looks. Why? Because there’s more body text than anything else. So start every project by making the body text look good. Then worry about the rest.
Good typography is measured by how well it reinforces the meaning of the text, not by some abstract scale of merit. Typographic choices that work for one text won’t necessarily work for another. Corollary: good typographers don’t rely on rote solutions. One size never fits all.
Your ability to produce good typography depends on how well you understand the goals of your text, not on taste or visual training. Corollary: if you misunderstand the goals of your text, good typography becomes purely a matter of luck.
Site Changes
Following my reading of the book, I began employing its suggestions, of which a summary can be found here.
The most visible change is the new typeface. While I don't believe my previous selection of Univers was bad, I do believe following typography advice from someone who has visual-studies degree from Harvard University is a better idea.
With that in mind, I reviewed MB's free font suggestions, and chose Charter. In the book, it's described as "a great font, and easily one of the best free fonts available". I agree!
Another reason I chose Charter is because it is rather similar to two fonts offered by MB: Equity and Valkyrie. Although I think they are both superb typefaces, and I'd love to buy both of them, I want to commit to a few more months of writing before moving to fancy paid typefaces.
If you get a moment, I'd recommend you give the book a read - especially if you publish your writing.
Thanks for reading.
James