Packaging Design: Successful Product Branding From Concept to Shelf, 2nd Edition

Typography

The word typography derives from the Greek roots typos (“impression”) and graphein (“to write”). Typography is the use of letterforms to visually communicate a verbal language. Since letterforms are shaped by the culture that gave rise to them, their use for typographic means is part of a culture's visual language.

Legibility (the degree to which individual characters can be recognized and understood), readability (the ease with which text can be read and understood), reading time (how long it takes someone to read the text), size, shape, and style are all characteristics of typography that affect communication. Both the mechanics of reading (for example, from left to right or vice versa) and an individual's perception have a significant effect on the communication of typography.

Typography is the primary medium for the communication of a product's name, its function, and other vital information about it to a broad consumer audience, and thus the typography of a packaging design becomes one of the most significant elements of the visual expression of the product. The common mantra “you can't design without type” is especially appropriate to packaging design. (fig. 3.2)

Fig. 3.2hr line of gourmet food products.Design firm: united*Client: hr

TYPOGRAPHIC TERMINOLOGY

The term typography originally referred to the style or appearance of printed matter and the process of printing ...