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So what does adopting a mobile-first, content-first, typography-first approach mean for you as a web designer?

Certainly not that you should start designing sites that resemble an “unfriendly text sahara” as Oliver calls it. But there is a good reason why Google and Apple – arch mediators of our reading habits – have offered their users design-decluttering Reader View modes.

We are also not arguing that choosing to approach your work Typography-First necessarily relegates design to second place – quite the opposite. Typefaces are works of art and knowing how to select and present them in the best light gives web designers more design work, not less. It also gives them – as typography-first designers – a competitive design advantage.

But what we and all the designers and typographers are saying is that design should support and enhance the reading experience, and it should do so in an unobtrusive way. This applies to the typography too.

Tim Brown More Perfect Typography

In 2015, Tim Brown released another video, hilariously titled: "Typesetting Body Text Like a Pirate Jedi with a DeLorean." Here he argues that the aim of your text is to be ‘invisible’:

Body text is everywhere. It’s the majority of text you want people to read. It sets the tone for entire experiences. And when it’s done well, no one notices. So it’s shocking when we see typefaces eliminated from mobile experiences, which are people’s primary computing experiences. Tim Brown · via @nicewebtype

Tim Brown Typesetting Body Text Like a Pirate Jedi with a DeLorean.

The goal of the Typography-First designer is to find that sweet spot where the font, layout, and design work together to serve up the perfect mobile reading experience, one that enables the user – the reader – to feel at home. Stephen Shaw · via @anartfulscience

By now, you’re probably thinking: thanks for the history lesson. But I don’t create the content. I don’t have the time to go to typography school. The client should hire a typographer and a copywriter…

I felt the same way. But then I looked at the stunning work being produced by type-friendly graphic and web designers like Jeanne Bataille or Gracie Smith or Roger Black or Tim Van Damme or Chiara Aliotta or Rina Miele or Trent Walton or Kenneth Ormandy or Antonea Nabors or Marcin Wichary or Jessica Walsh and Jessica Hische. And the clients they work for.

Kenneth Ormandy Efficient Web Type, c. 1556

So I spent a year learning typography and how to use the Golden Ratio to structure content for max readability. I put everything I learnt into this website to see if it worked – it did. Then consolidated all this learning into a ten step guide.

A practical guide designed to help fellow web designers apply a Typography-First methodology into their work. And not a year from now, now-now.

Typefaces give us tone. They give us personality. They give us background. They give us context. They give us dimension. How can you design a page and not consider these things first? You should be able to view a page, without even reading it, and still feel what it’s trying to convey. That’s the power of typography. Rina Miele · via @honeydesign

Enrolment for the Typography First training course is closed. Sign up below to join the waiting list.

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