Tracy Collins gave a great presentation today about good use of typography. I agree with his advice that a publication really only needs three typefaces, a serf for copy, a sanserfif for headlines and a drama type for big stories. I did not realize how important this rule of thumb was until we looked at his examples. My students often want to get cute with type and like the idea of differnt typefaces for different headlines. Just due to a gut feel about design, I made them chosse a typeface for copy andone for headlines and then stick to it. Alothough my paper has a long way to go designwise, this step really helped.
I also appreciated the basic desgn tips about balance and use of color. So often, students want to splash color on the page without really thinking about the overall effect. I think I am going to ban reverse type at least with the white on black. I find it so hard to read and I do not like the dark boxes that get created on the page. I print onnewsprintand the ink bleeds which distorts those reverse sections.
But, what I really liked about this presentation was Tracy's sense of humor. When he found out that it really was Elizabeth's picture on his example I was rolling on the floor. Thank you Tracy for keeping it light and fun,while imparting really good information.
Lisa Shapiro
Northwest High School
Germantown, MD
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