Page 145 - Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals

Graphic Design 133
Font Management

The development of the PostScript computer language was pioneered by Adobe in creating the first
device independent font files. This invention let consumers typeset their own documents on personal
computers and image their documents on laser printers at various resolutions. To achieve WYSIWYG
on personal computer screens, the font files needed two parts: screen fonts and printer fonts. Screen
fonts were bitmaps that imaged the letter shapes (glyphs) on the computer screen. Printer fonts were
vector descriptions, written in PostScript code, that had to be processed by a RIP at the resolution of
the printer. The glyphs looked significantly different when imaged on a 100 dpi laser printer than they
did on a 600 dpi printer, and both were quite different from what graphic artists/typographers saw on
their computer screen. That was not surprising since the shapes were imaged by completely different
computer files — one raster, one vector — through different RIP processors, on very different devices.
Many graphic designers still do not realize that when they use Adobe type font architecture they must
provide both the raster screen font and the vector PostScript font to another computer if they want the
document that utilizes that font to process through the RIP properly. This was such a common problem
with the first users of Adobe fonts that Microsoft made it the first problem they solved when developing
TrueType font architecture to compete with Adobe fonts. TrueType fonts still contained bitmap data
to draw the glyphs on a computer screen, and PostScript vector data to deliver to a RIP on a print
engine. The TrueType font file is a single file, though, that contains both raster and vector data. TrueType
fonts became widely distributed with all Microsoft software. Microsoft also shared the specifications for
TrueType font architecture so users could create and distribute their own fonts. The problems with the
keeping screen font files with printer font files went away when graphics creators used TrueType fonts.

The quality of the fonts took a nose dive as more people developed and distributed their own font files,
with no knowledge of what makes a good font, and what can create havoc in a RIP. Today, there are
thousands of free TrueType fonts available for downloading from a multitude of websites. So how does
a designer identify a good font from a bad font? The easiest way is to set some complicated glyphs in a
program like Adobe InDesign or Illustrator and use a ‘convert to outlines’ function in the program. This
will show the nodes and bezier curves that create the glyph. If there are many nodes with small, straight
line segments between them, the font may cause problems in a RIP. Remember that PostScript was
meant to be a scalable device independent programming language. If the poorly made glyphs are scaled
too small, the RIP has to calculate too many points from the node positions and ends up eliminating
many points that are finer than the resolution of the raster image. On the other hand, if the glyph is
scaled too large, the straight lines between points make the smooth curve shapes square and chopped-
looking. These fonts are usually created by hand drawing the letter shapes, scanning the drawings, and
auto tracing them in a program like Illustrator. The ‘convert to outlines’ test reveals the auto tracing right
away, and it is a good idea to search out another font for a similar typeface from a more reputable font
foundry.

Another good test is to look at the kerning values that are programmed into the font file. Kerning pairs
are glyph shapes that need the space between them tightened up (decreased) when they appear together.
A good font usually has 600 to 800 kerning pair values programmed into its file. The most common
pair that needs kerning is an upper case ‘T’ paired with a lower case ‘o’ (To). The ‘o’ glyph must be
tucked under the crossbar of the T, which is done by programming a negative letter space in the font
file to have less escapement when the imaging engine moves from rendering the first shape to when it
starts imaging the second shape. If we set the letter pair, and put the curser in the space between them, a