Copy Fitting

User Login

There are several ways to ensure that your copy will fit snugly into a specified space. Most designers and typographers rely on copy-fitting tables. These are mathematical mazes. First, you have to measure character lengths. Next you find the right pica (a unit of measurement used in typesetting) for the selected character. Finally, you multiply the number of characters to each pica by the length of line to be typeset. Believe me, if you think that sounds complicated, it is. Thankfully, there are other methods available.

You could count the average number of words per line, then multiply them by the number of lines per page to arrive at a final total. However, this system is unreliable when your sentences include long words (an extreme case would be 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis' - the longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary, meaning a lung disease occasionally contracted by miners). And a humble, short word like 'a' can confuse matters.

The quick-fix copy fit

There is a way around all of this. Below are examples of type sizes ranging from 9-point type to 24-point type. Newspaper copy often uses 10-11-point type. Most business letters feature 12-noint type. Of course, different type styles affect the space available on the paper. However, you can use the following as a good copy-fitting guide. Here's how it works:

Firstly, decide what type size you wish to use - say, 12 point. This, including spaces, allows for 14 characters per 30 mm, so 135 mm will allow for 63 characters. Program your word processor to take 63 characters per line and you're off and running.

All you have to do from this stage is type until you have reached the permissible number of lines per page. If you are asked to write to a specified number of characters to a page, simply multiply 63 by the number of lines on the page. You can then see how close or how far off you are from your target figure. Here are two examples to show you the difference type size makes:

9 point (Times)
Advertising has been described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. Mind you, few people at the beginning of the nineteenth century needed an adman to tell them what they wanted. At the end of the day, you can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.

12 point (Times)
Advertising has been described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. Mind you, few people at the beginning of the nineteenth century needed an adman to tell them what they wanted. At the end of the day, you can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.

Discuss this item on the forums. (0 posts)

User Login

Recommended

Search

Latest News