Non-Designer’s Type Book, The, Second Edition

Type Style

The style of the punctuation should match the style of the word it follows. For instance, if a word followed by a comma is bold, then the comma itself should also be bold. You may have a semicolon following italic words; the semicolon should be italic. Follow the same principle for any style change.

Parentheses, though, do not pick up the style unless everything within the parentheses is the same style. That is, if all the text in the parentheses is italic, then the parentheses are both italic. But if only the last word is italic, the parentheses are set in the regular style of the rest of the text. The same goes for bold or any other style change. Like so:

She’s willing (and able) and she’ll be ready in a while.

She’s willing (and ...