Posted: May 28th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Articles, Quick Blurbs | No Comments »
Using (and even accessing) an en and em dash in your typography can get tricky. Here’s how to properly use (and access) them.
As Bringhurst says in, The Elements of Typographic Style: “In typescript, a double hyphen (–) is often used for a long dash. Double hyphens in a typeset document are a sure sign that the type was set by a typist, not a typographer”
First, the en-dash* (-) is the shorter of the two (about the width of the character N) Access on the Mac is Option + -(minus) For the PC it is: hold Alt then type 0150
It is used to indicate a range of just about anything with numbers, including dates, times, numbers, game scores, and pages in any sort of document.
It is also used instead of the word “to” or a hyphen to indicate a connection between things, like:
- New York-Boston Amtrak
- pp. 13-26
- Nov. 27-Jan 13
- 4:30-5:00 PM
- 40-55 cm
There may (or may not) be space before and after an en dash depending on placement and context.
Second, the em dash, which is about the width of a capital “M” It is accessed on the Mac by hitting
Shift+Option+- (minus) On the PC: hold Alt then type 0151
It indicates a sudden break in thought—a parenthetical statement like this one—or an open range, Doug Farrick, 1987—? or or instead of a colon or semicolon to link clauses.
Typically there are NO spaces before or after an em dash.
Bringhurst also says: “The em dash is the 19th century standard, still prescribed in many editorial text books, but the em dash is too long for use with the best text faces. Like the oversized space between sentences, it belongs to the padded and corseted esthetic of Victorian typography.”
An easy way to remember these is to just think of n is before m in the alphabet, so it it is the earlier or the “shorter” of the two.
* the en-dash might not display properly depnding on what browser you are using. But outside the browser world it should be fine.
Posted: April 11th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Quick Blurbs | No Comments »
Sorry to do this folks, but I have been bombarded with spam on this blog way too much. With spam being such an issue and taking up too much of my time, I have to stop all future postings of comments. I was hoping this would not happen, but these idiot spammers just keep coming and the more time I have to take dealing with deleting spam, the less time I have to create posts on my blog or content on CreativePublic.com. Nothing sucks more than spending a 1/2 hour per day deleting this crap. I am sure all of you understand this in one way or another, we all have to deal with it enough through email.
Don’t forget to follow me on twitter – http://twitter.com/creativepublic
Thanks for understanding, have a great weekend.
Jason V. – CreativePublic.com (http://www.GraphicDesignerBlog.com)
Posted: April 9th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Funny Stuff, Quick Blurbs | No Comments »
Okay, I think this photo says enough. This is exactly why our industry is in trouble due to low end design and cheap ass pricing.
Posted: April 1st, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Articles, Quick Blurbs | No Comments »
I have to say I found these three articles to be to the point. They show what is involved in design and client changes and seeing things laid out like this might be a good idea to slap your bad client around with a printed copy of these just to teach them a freaking lesson. 
13 Reasons Being A Web Designer Sucks
A Website Design & Development Project Checklist
10 Reasons Your New Website Won’t Launch Today
Posted: March 27th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Quick Blurbs | No Comments »
AIGA Philadelphia is looking for sponsors – exposure to 700+ members. If your business is interested, checkout their site for details — http://www.aigaphilly.org/
Posted: March 24th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Quick Blurbs | 2 Comments »
Well, it’s about time that I start blogging. I have been putting it off for years, never thought it was something I wanted to do. Now that I finally signed up for twitter, I have decided that a blog will help me post quick information about related content to the design industry and to CreativePublic.com’s visitors and members more often and easier than I first thought it would. I plan to post regularly, so follow me on my blog or twitter account.
Please keep in mind that this is a work in progress so organization of the blog and content will change over time once I get used to this WordPress stuff.
Thanks, for dropping by.
Jason V. – CreativePublic.com
