Five Things You Should Know About Typography

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Harrison Weber

Harrison Weber is TNW's Features Editor in NYC. Part writer, part designer. Stay in touch: Twitter @harrisonweber, Google+ and Email. (show all) Harrison Weber is TNW's Features Editor in NYC. Part writer, part designer. Stay in touch: Twitter @harrisonweber, Google+ and Email.

Serving as the intro to Butterick’s Practical Typography, an impressive guide created by type designer Matthew Butterick, Typography In Ten Minutes is a simple list of rules for using type in a meaningful way. In Butterick’s own words: “If you learn and follow these five typography rules, you will be a better typographer than 95% of professional writers and 70% of professional designers.”

Butterick acknowledges this is a bold claim, but, meaningless stats aside, this introductory list covers essentials in an incredibly concise way. This includes: body text, point size, line spacing, and font choice. In other words, it’s well worth a look:

➤ Typography In Ten Minutes