Typographic terms to level-up your nonprofit communications
The world of typography can be very intimidating.
Achieving professional-level typesetting skills can take years of practice, and practice can be discouraging. I still remember my first messy forays into typesetting in the early years of design school, and the subsequent years of slow improvement. It’s a skill that requires a trained eye, and a mindset of constant learning.
At the same time, typography is one of the most important tools for achieving trust through design– there are certain visual standards that we take for granted, but which can shape the way we perceive the world. Everyone knows that a brand using comic sans feels less serious than one using Times New Roman, but sometimes the smaller details of typography, such as unnoticed tweaks for legibility, can also affect our perception. Strong typography is tantamount to the communication of trust.
So without dedicating years of study, how can an internal communications team achieve professional-looking typography?
Through my observational research of nonprofit visual communication, I have identified several key typographic practices that have an outsize impact on the way that typography feels to an observer.
If you don’t have time to study and practice applying every typographic term, try to focus on just these. Below I am providing definitions of these key terms, and tips for how to bring that extra level of professional polish to your communications.
Paragraph Alignment
There are four ways to align the text in a paragraph, which you are likely familiar with.
Left-aligned is the primary way that type is set in the US.
Center-aligned can sometimes be used for formal typesetting, such as in invitations, schedules, and programs.
Right-aligned is a less common alternative with limited uses, typically based on visual design
Justified alignment is the last type of alignment, which typically spans the full-width of a column. Justified type creates consistent line lengths, but unless it is done by a professional, the result can look messy due to rivers.
PRO-TIP:
Use left-aligned paragraphs for most or all of your communications– it's the easiest way to achieve professional-looking typesetting if you are not a professional. Reserve center-aligned text for formal uses, or very short items.
Rivers
These are the unusually shaped negative spaces created by justifying your text in a design program. They look like "rivers" running through your paragraphs, which is where the name comes from. These spaces are created by the mathematical alignment of the words.
PRO-TIP:
Never justify text unless you have complete control over how the spacing looks. Text on websites is dynamic– individual users can control their settings, such as the display size. Responsive formatting can change line-breaks between desktop, tablet, and mobile sizes. The easiest way to achieve professional-looking typography in digital formats is to left-align your text. This will prevent rivers and maintain consistency across responsive sizes.
Typeface
A typeface is what we call a specific lettering style, such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Comic Sans. Typefaces can contain multiple weights, such as light, italic, and bold. Typefaces are designed for specific uses, and work best when they are used for their intended purposes. “Typeface” has a different definition than “font”, but you can casually use the two words interchangeably and people will know what you’re talking about.
PRO-TIPS:
Use a limited number of typefaces in each communication piece, ideally sticking to ones outlined in your brand guidelines. This helps with brand recognition, information hierarchy, and consistency.
Use typefaces for their intended purpose– for example, a "display" typeface should not be used for body copy. Some typefaces are meant to be read from a distance, like as part of a display at a store, while others are designed to be read comfortably at small sizes. If you use a display typeface in a dense paragraph of text, it can cause eye strain and may even reduce comprehension.
Paragraph Styles
Paragraph styles are predefined formats for text that can be applied to whole paragraphs or groups of paragraphs. This way, you can define the settings you want once, and apply them to text throughout your document with a single click, saving time and effort in the formatting process. Instead of selecting the typeface, size, weight, color, line-height, and other settings for each instance of text, paragraph styles allow you to apply those settings to text all at once. An additional benefit of paragraph styles is that they allow you to make changes across your entire document– by updating the settings of a paragraph style, you update it across every instance of text it has been applied to. This means it’s easy to make document-wide changes to a color or font.
PRO-TIPS:
Define your styles once. At the beginning of a project, identify your information hierarchy to know how many levels of headings and body copy you will need. Then create a paragraph style for each level of typography. Look at how they communicate as a whole: are the different levels legible, and scannable? Adjust them together until you are happy with the results.
Once you have set your paragraph styles, use them across all documents. Professional-grade software like Adobe InDesign makes it easy to import paragraph styles from one document to another. Other software commonly used by nonprofits, such as Canva or Adobe Express, also allow typographic styles to be saved as part of a brand kit. Brand Guidelines are another great way to standardize your typography across communication.
A few extra pro-tips:
Space helps us separate ideas. Space around something helps us isolate it as a piece of information, which helps us process it on a subconscious level. Add extra space after a paragraph, after an item in a bulleted list, or after a heading, to make each of those things easier to read and understand.
Less is more. It’s easier to scan and understand something when it has fewer typefaces, fewer weights, and fewer type sizes. We consciously and unconsciously use headings to find our way around a document, and the typeface, weight, and size of a piece of text are all navigational cues that we are interpreting. Be intentional with your typography to help the reader better understand your text.
When in doubt, print it out. If you aren’t sure how something on screen will look once it’s printed, do a print test at 100% scale to double check it. Even better, incorporate a print test into your process whether or not you feel confident in your choices. Through looking at the printed type, you may make an unexpected design discovery.
Good communication should be accessible.
As always, my primary recommendation for significant communications pieces is to work with a professional, however my mission is to ensure that every nonprofit doing important work has the power to communicate effectively, and that includes equipping internal teams with the knowledge and confidence to execute trustworthy communication. I view this education work as part of that mission.