Today I studied typesetting and how important it really is. It seems to effect the way we read on a mental level without us really noticing. A river can disturb our reading and track our eyes elsewhere. Things like the ragged edges can be carefully sorted to help us read a document without getting lost. This is done by having each line finish in the order of overhanging and then the next line finish before the previous. This alternates back and forth each line keeping your mind at ease when reading each line and not getting lost on the page. Leading is used to decide the spacing between each line and takes it names from the leading you would use for the same function in letterpress. Kerning also has a similar use but is used to distance each letter from each other. All of this can be used to achieve some aesthetic value of some kind or to create a paragraph that can be read with ease and simplicity.
I had the task of typesetting the text from the first page of Great Expectations. I used the Rasta Systeme to do so. This grid system is used a lot to set type and is a great base for any type setting project. The grid seems invisible but perhaps the most important part design and typography. Using the grid controls the appearance of the page. Here is a few examples I generated.
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