While there is no commandment on how large the ideal word space should be, a helpful rule of thumb comes from Spiekermann, who suggests a space equal to the lowercase ‘i’ in headlines. When they appear too big (that is commonly the case with early digital typefaces), increasing the tracking may help. Word spaces are also a fixed element of a typeface design. What was once done at advertising agencies in the 1970s on Madison Avenue in New York City, decreasing the tracking to a point that letters began touching (then called “sexy spacing”), is better not applied from a legibility standpoint. Usually large type such as headlines has less tracking, while small type, e.g. Goudy and Erik Spiekermann have expressed it in metaphors involving sheep: don’t letter-space words set in lowercase! 4 However, there is a certain extent to which letter-spacing is allowed and necessary (this cannot be expressed in a particular value, because – again – this depends on the selected typeface). Tracking is a value that defines space between letters and it is a part of the design. Lowercase letters dominate the text and therefore define the appearance of a typeface. The latter has a much larger x-height, therefore it needs to be decreased in size just slightly (second line). Although Petr van Blokland’s Proforma and Łukasz Dziedzic’s FF Good® are set in the same size in this example (first line), they don’t appear even. When comparing and mixing typefaces, their x-heights should be matched. In fact we cannot compare typefaces well if we match their capitals, instead we should bring the x-heights in line – and only then we can properly mix typefaces, but this is a different story. Lowercase letters usually dominate a text and therefore define the appearance of the face. This is due to micro-typographic characteristics such as ascenders, descenders and counter forms. The choice of the typeface may be made due to aesthetics as well as technical considerations, but most importantly we should not forget that different faces displayed at the same point value in a page description language might appear differently in size. The leading is 6 point, therefore the line spacing equals 30 point. This example shows 24 point Hunt Roman on the left and 24 point FF Franziska™ on the right – both have a fairly large x-height. Line spacing on the other hand (blue lines) is defined from one baseline to another. Leading describes the space between the descenders of one line to the ascenders of the next (light blue space). In metal type the space between lines is made from lead, thus the term leading. When your type size is 10pt and the line spacing is 12pt, then your leading equals 2pt.)
It describes the space between the descenders of one line to the ascenders of the next, while line spacing is defined from one baseline to another. He also points out the mutual dependence of some of the factors, such as type size, line spacing and the length of the line and concludes: “With an increase of line width of the same typeface and size comes a demand for more leading.” 1 (Leading is a letterpress term, from a time when the space between lines was made from lead. For students and practitioners of the graphic arts, it has become, as Hermann Zapf initially proposed, ‘the Typographers’ Bible’.In the subtitle to Detail in Typography (London 2008) Jost Hochuli lists the cast of his famous publication: letter, letter space, word, word space, line, line spacing, column. It rapidly became and has remained the standard reference in its field. When the first edition of this book appeared, in 1992, its status as a classic was recognized at once by both conservatives and members of the avant garde. The last section of the book classifies and displays many type families, offers a glossary of typography terms, and lists type designers and type foundries. Robert Bringhurst writes about designing with the correct typeface striving for rhythm, proportion, and harmony choosing and combining type multilingual typography designing pages using section heads, subheads, footnotes, and tables applying kerning and other type adjustments to improve legibility and adding special characters, including punctuation and diacritical marks. The Elements of Typographic Style is essential for professionals who regularly work with typographic designs.
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