Art and Design

Introduction

Typefaces and point size

Task

You will need a programme like Word on a computer.

 

  1. Open a new document. Make sure the scale at the bottom right of your screen is set to 100% to help you see the type at about its real size.
  2. Cut and paste a paragraph of text or write a paragraph.
  3. Make three copies of the paragraph on the same page, one below the other.
  4. Select all the paragraphs together. On the Home menu choose the Palatino typeface from the drop-down ‘font’ box.
  5. Select the first paragraph and choose point size 12 from the box next to the font box.
  6. Select the second paragraph and choose point size 18. This should be 1.5 times the point size of the first paragraph. Notice how there are more lines because you can’t get so many words on a line in bigger text.
  7. Select the third paragraph and choose point size 24.
  8. Look at the three paragraphs. If you can print them out on paper they should appear exactly to scale. Which one is most readable and which is the nicest to look at?

Use the menus again to try out other typefaces and point sizes.