  hide cookie message 2,491 Tutorials  Typography for all:
Demystifying text for high-impact messages  Text is incredibly
powerful--whether you're making a business card or a garage-sale
sign, you're sending a message. The look of that message
influences the way the receiver reacts: If the message is
visually pleasing, the reaction is generally positive, but if
the text is hard to read, that feeling of difficulty transfers
back to you, the messenger. Here we'll cover the basics of
everyday typography, font pairings that are pleasing to the eye,
practical formatting tips that work with a variety of software,
and common mistakes to avoid.  Basics of typography  Before
diving into formatting, let's get a grasp on the lingo. Point
size refers to the actual size of the text. The x-height is the
size of the main character body, excluding any ascenders (bits
of the character that extend above the x-height, such as in f
or h) or descenders (bits that extend below the x-height, such
as in g or y). The mean line or bas