ABSTRACT
Typography is the art of designing or choosing typefaces and organising their position on the page. It is at the heart of the most common form of visual communication — the printed word. Typography as a distinct profession emerged with the changes in printing technology that began in the nineteenth century. Sound practice in typographic design can result in significant economies, though pedagogic gains in typography as in other aspects of communication remain more elusive and difficult. The treatment of typography as stimulus in laboratory investigations has not been very productive and its advocates have failed to demonstrate its usefulness to typographic practice. There is also the possibility that, like a good piece of music, a well-designed piece of typography will reveal different facets of its composition on successive re-readings so that the reader’s appreciation of the content and its form is constantly renewed and enhanced. But there is one prerequisite which is as important to music as to typography.
