OUGD501 - Theory Into Practice: Typography Led Design Content

What is Type Led Design?
Previously, websites were limited to font choice based on what the user had installed on their computer. Designers couldn’t be very inventive, but now, services like font-face and Google web fonts mean a wide range of fonts are available to be used by everyone. This has seen a surge in typography based web designs.

Quote
@font-face brings with it the hope of a standard, cross-platform, cross-browser, lightweight method for referencing font-files not found on end users’ computer - Ian Lynam and Craig Mod

How Does it Improve Accessibility and Usability?
Translation - To get a bigger range of fonts, pictures of text used to be used so they couldn’t be translated into different languages.

Screen Resolution - Due to higher screen resolutions, fonts can be rendered more clearly, making them more legible.

Reliability - Now we don’t have to rely on fonts that the user has by default - you just download the font from your server.

The Debate - Progression
Since the advancement of web fonts and responsiveness, designers have been exploring different ways how it can be a prominent part of design and adapt to these changes. Here are three examples of how type has changed through hero banners, bodycopy and storytelling.

Real Examples

Hero Banner - Charles-Axel Pauwels 
Here type is the main focus when you first enter the site. This is a really popular way of drawing in the user’s attention and letting them know straight away what the content is about. The advancement of web fonts mean a variety can be used to show personality.

Bodycopy - A List Apart

Articles and heavy text based sites have previously been designing for the web the same way print has been designed. But with the emergence of responsive type and layout, this has been changed to make text more readabe and adaptable online. 

Storytelling - Jess and Russ

 Another current trend is parallax scrolling - usually long websites which tell a story with illustrations. This website combines parallax scrolling with a type based design, creating a smooth and legible story.

The question would be what do you think has progressed more?