The following article was given to me when I was studying Graphic Design. It is mainly intended for the Graphic Designers and readers who want to learn more about the medium of printed matter. Due to technology limitations, web design has not attained the level of infinite placement possibilities as Desktop Publishing software and should not therefore be directly compared.

For non-designers, this article describes very common problems and should make it clear why hiring a trained professional is so important.

As an active designer, I engage in examining not only the content I read in all printed matter, but the technical aspects as well. Very rarely do I see solid design with stellar typography and attention to fine details.

In a future segment, I will illustrate these rules by taking an actual excerpt from a magazine and illustrate my findings. For now, have a look at the rules.

Desktop publishing has matured from the original classic ransom notes that we were inundated with in the mid-1980s. People have become more visually aware and informed of the professional way to set type and design pages. But telltale signs of do-it-yourself desktop publishing creep into even the most professional work. Some of these signs result from not knowing the software well enough to control certain features, and some are simply evidence of using convenient features that shouldn’t be options—or, in some cases, defaults—on the computer.

1. Helvetica or Arial
Type has trends like music, clothing and architecture. Helvetica (and it’s recent clone Arial) was the most popular typeface in the world in the’60s and ’70s. Just as a beehive hairdo creates a certain look, Helvetica and Arial creates a certain look. A slightly dated look to those who recognize good graphic design. Just because it is on every computer does not mean you have to use it. The best thing to do is to invest/find another sans serif typeface, especially one with a strong bold black version in its family.

2. Straight quotes
It is amazing that people are still using straight quotes. Learn the keystrokes to type real quotes, and, in all your software programs, learn how to use its settings to do it for you automatically. But the reverse is also important–don’t use curly quotes when you need inch and foot marks.

3. Double returns
Hitting the Return or Enter key twice between paragraphs separates the text with large, awkward gaps. Double returns also make it easy to end up with a blank line at the top of a column. Learn to use “Paragraph space after” or the “Paragraph space before” feature in your layout software. Using this feature allows you to determine exactly the amount of space you want between paragraphs, after headlines, above subheads—an elegant space that tells the reader a new paragraph has begun without physically separating the text so dramatically.

4. Two spaces after punctuation
This is a throwback to the monospaced typewriter days. The high-quality type that computers use today, with proportional widths and kerning pairs, do not need our help in indicating the end of a sentence and the beginning of the next. Any professionally designed publication would never use the old two-space rule. Neither should you.

5. Gray backgrounds behind text
Just because you can make gray boxes doesn’t mean that you should. New designers often use gray boxes to make important sections of the text stand out simply because they do not know any options. Unfortunately it makes it too difficult to read and grays out the text.

6. Centered type layouts
Centered type is a safe and easy way to create a stable, sedate and formal look because it is so symmetrical and balanced. It also can be deadly dull and boring. Most effective and dynamic layouts have a flush left or flush right alignment, and the invisible line that those alignments create can give the layout strength and stability.

7. Borders
One border around the perimeter of the page often indicates a beginner who feels unsafe with type that is uncontained. The more boxes within that outer box indicate even more insecurity. But white space is itself a border—it encloses the type, yet lets it breathe; defines the edge, yet allows freedom.

8. Half-inch indents
Old-school typewriter rules once again, when a line of type generally was the width of the page. Now that we have sophisticated layout programs, that rule is worthless in graphic design. Your “Paragraph space after” or “…before” should help you indicate to your reader new paragraphs (see #3) without resorting to huge indents. If you must use indents, it should only be the equivalent to two character spaces.

9. Hyphens for bullets
Another old typewriter technique that needs to be retired. Your computer has a vast array of bullets, dingbats and special characters—put them to use in creative ways.

10. Shadowed outlined type
Never use the shadow feature of any program—there is no control on where the shadow is positioned or how thick it is, and most often looks cluttered and junky. If shadows are needed, copy the set type, paste it behind the original line and manually set it where it looks best to you, not to the unknown software default settings.

11. Twelve point type with auto leading
The default of any program should generally be avoided. For most typefaces, 12pt. is too large for body copy. Experiment with 10, 11 or 10.5pt. and see which one looks more professional. Add 2-3pts. to determine leading. The results can be surprising.

12. Underline
Underlining words is what you would do on a typewriter because you couldn’t type italics. Now that you can use italics at the tap of a button on your computer, don’t use the underline feature. And, unless you have a gun to your head, never underline italics. It is one of the most redundant things you can do. It you want to emphasize a word, use the other wonderful features the computer offers, like bold or even a different font.

13. All caps
All caps are difficult to read. It is a proven fact: we recognize a word not only by its letters, but also by the shape of the whole word. When the text is all caps, every word has the same shape so we have to go back to reading the word letter by letter. And never use all caps on script fonts, which purposely have grand caps designed to boldly start a sentence.

Created for educational use by Don Starr, based off Robin Williams original work.