The job printer, it is reasonable to suppose, is more interested in proportion as it refers to display typography. He asks: What relation has type, in the shape of its face, to the page of which it is a part? And the answer is: A type-face should conform in the proportion of its letters to the proportion of the page. Let us thoroly understand this. In Example [52] there are shown three widths of type—condensed, medium and extended. The type of medium width is more used than the condensed or extended kind, and most pages have a proportion such as Example [55]. From viewpoints of both economy and art, the type-face of medium width should be given preference when selecting type equipment. Condensed types are properly proportioned for use as headings in the narrow columns of newspapers and for narrow folders and booklets.
EXAMPLE 55
The conventional page shape, with type and ornament in proportion
EXAMPLE 52
Three widths of type-faces
EXAMPLE 57
Compare with Example [56]
Many of the laws that are necessary to good typography also govern the other arts. As an instance, in architecture it is requisite that a tall and narrow building contain a preponderance of vertical lines, a feature most noticeable in church buildings of Gothic style (Example [54]). Because the extent of vertical lines is greater than that of horizontal ones in a condensed type-face, such a face is proper for a long and narrow page (Example [53]). The proportion of page shown by Example [55] is about that met with most frequently in printing production. Here the vertical lines are in a slight majority, but it is interesting to observe that in Example [56] where the page is more wide than long, horizontal lines are more numerous than vertical ones.
