Can you find the fractions on your keyboard? If not, you’re not alone. Believe it or not, there are no designated keystrokes for fractions on a Mac. PCs offer a few (1/4, 1/2, 3/4), but they’re so well-hidden most users can’t find them anyway. Yet fractions appear fairly often in copy, so what’s a person to do?

Almost everyone who uses a computer can identify Zapf Chancery. Alphabetically, it’s at the very bottom of the font directory – but as a system font on both Apple and Windows operating systems, it’s frequently top of mind in the calligraphy-inspired class.

Even with all the technology at the disposal of today’s designers, in the end it’s what the human eye sees that counts. That’s why hung punctuation is one of the skills to master when you’re ready to add professional finesse to your typography.

Can you find the fractions on your keyboard? If not, you’re not alone. Believe it or not, there are no designated keystrokes for fractions on a Mac. PCs offer a few (1/4, 1/2, 3/4), but they’re so well-hidden most users can’t find them anyway. Yet fractions appear fairly often in copy, so what’s a person to do?

Albertina was a typeface ahead of its time. It was in the early 1960s when designer Chris Brand, an accomplished calligrapher, aspired to draw a typeface based on the principles of calligraphy. Unfortunately, typesetting machines of that era put many restrictions on designers. Characters had to be drawn within a very coarse grid, which also defined their spacing.

Modern Baskerville fonts are based on the type of John Baskerville, the distinguished eighteenth-century English printer and type founder. His original type was based somewhat on Caslon, but is a more precise design with more contrast in character stroke thickness.

OpenType Pro fonts offer an extended character set supporting most Central European and many Eastern European languages, as well as English. Many also contain small caps, old style figures, extended ligature sets, swash and alternate characters.

Vincent Connare designed Comic Sans in 1995, for applications intended for children. Fifteen years later, the font is wildly popular with users of all ages – except for graphic designers, most of whom love to hate it.

When you select type that’s going to be read, legibility is key. But when you use type as decoration, creativity wins the day. Designing non-typographic elements out of type used to be painstaking work. Thanks to today’s robust software, you can create original ornaments by having fun with fonts.

In Part 2 of a two-part series, Ilene Strizver takes on the question: what makes a typeface a good choice for display settings? Once you’ve made your choice, a few simple adjustments will get your display copy the attention it deserves.