New to Typophile? Accounts are free, and easy to set up.
Proper leading for PMN Caecilia
Posted by Erik Fleischer in
14 May 2009 — 5:00pm
14 May 2009 — 5:00pm
I'm tentatively using Caecilia regular for a technical book project. I was setting text 10/12 on a 26p0 measure, but the face's large eye makes the page a tad too dark in my opinion. I'm now playing with 10/14, and was wondering if anyone else has used Caecilia for extended text who would care to share their experiences.
Cheers,
Erik
User login
Support our Sponsors
15 May 2009 — 6:51am
Yep, she's a big girl ;-)
I'm not the most experienced typographer in the room, but I'll say that to my eyes as well, Caecilia seems to be happier with quite a lot of leading. I've set it at 10/15 before, but that was at a measure of 26p8. Come to think of it, I wonder if 10pt on a 26p0 measure isn't a bit on the large side? It seems to accommodate just over 2 lc alphabets (abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabc).
15 May 2009 — 10:03am
Bigger leading and a tad of condensing (horizontal scaling to 92%) has worked for me.
I would go for 10,5 on 15 (maybe 14,5) and the mentioned 92 to 94%.
. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO
15 May 2009 — 10:29am
Thanks a lot for your responses so far.
Come to think of it, I wonder if 10pt on a 26p0 measure isn’t a bit on the large side?
Hm, 26p0 gives me a fairly consistent 60 characters per line, which seems perfect.
a tad of condensing (horizontal scaling to 92%)
Changing the original proportions of the design is something I definitely wouldn't do, but thanks for the suggestion.
15 May 2009 — 11:03am
The slight condensing I suggested is a way to use a slightly larger size and still have the same character/line count. And Caecilia being a very well designed typeface, it can withstand this practice. And 92% is the limit imho. Try it with some arithmatic (characters/line as a constant — stepping up the size in quarter points).
. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO