Lesson 2.3
Type Design Techniques
PHOTOSHOP
DOWN & DIRTY TRICKS TOUR
Principles of Designing with Type
1. Using ascenders & descenders as design
helpers
2. Unlock the power of Open Type Fonts
Using Ascenders & Descenders as
Design Helpers
 Ascenders—parts of lowercase letters that
extend above the lowercase letter’s x-height
(or centerline)
 Descenders—parts of lowercase letters that
descend below the invisible baseline that
type sits upon
RubyTuesday
 Example: so, the stem on the lowercase “d”
extends upward above the centerline, & the
descender on the lowercase “y” extends
below the baseline
 Why this is important, is that we can use
these as little holders for secondary lines of
text –if you’ve got 2 ascenders or 2
descenders in the same word, it’s almost
screaming for you to put something in there!
RubyTuesday
SIMPLE FRESH AMERICAN DINING
 The new Ruby Tuesday logo, which uses the
font Clarendon, makes use of the ascenders
of the lowercase letter “y” as a visual divider,
so the words “Simple fresh American dining”
could fit right in between these “y’s”
The 40-Year Old Virgin
 Example: you can also make artificial
ascenders using larger capital letters to start
a word like they did in the movie 40 Year Old
Virgin, where the capital letter V was
enlarged making a perfect space to hold the
word s“40 year old” to the right of it
In the Exorcism of Emily Rose
 In the movie title the 1st letter, & last letter of
“Exorcism” were made much larger, then
descended below the baseline using the
Baseline shift in the Character panel
 The minus sign in front of the number shows that
the baseline shift is below the baseline
 Positive numbers move the letter above the
baseline
Ruby Tuesday
 Now, the new Ruby Tuesday logo used both
upper & lowercase letters in their logo, but if
they had used all uppercase (caps), there’s
another design technique they might have
used
 That’s a stacking technique where each word
is expanded in size to match the word below
it
R U B Y
TUESDAY
SIMPLE
F R E S H
AMERICAN
DINING
Unlock the Power of Open
Type Fonts
 CS4 comes with about 180 fonts, & many of
these are Open Type fonts which offer you
loads of flexibility
Lorello’s
 Making a typeface look less plain
 Ex: Lorello’s (a fictitious Italian restaurant) logo
looks kind of plain, in particular because the
uppercase “L” looks kind of plain
 However, a much more ornate & artistic “L” is
possible—just use an Open-Type font!
 Just highlight the “L”, go to the Character panel’s
pop-down menu, under Open-Type, choose Swash
(a specially designed more ornate version of the
letter that is highlighted)
 Also try turning on the Stylistic Alternates
More Movie Logos
Internet Movie Poster Awards Gallery
http://www.impawards.com/gallery.html
Each year, typically in the first two weeks of January, the nominations for the Annual IMP Awards are named.
Before the end of the month the winners are announced.
Any theatrical posters for films receiving a North American release during the previous year are eligible.
Categories include:
Best Poster
Worst Poster
Best Teaser
Worst Teaser
Funniest Poster
Creepiest Poster
Bravest Poster
Best Character Posters
and Best Tag Lines