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

Chapter 25. Typographic Color

Typographers have always referred to black-and-white type on a page as having “color.” It’s easy to create contrast with paintbox colors; it takes a more sophisticated eye to see and take advantage of the color contrasts in black-and-white. Often, black and white are the only “colors” available, but don’t let that limit you—this chapter will give you some ideas to use to ferment your own.

A gray, text-only page can be very dull to look at and uninviting to read. I’m sure you’ve opened up newsletters or technical documents and found these dull pages, or perhaps you’ve had to create them. It’s not always possible to have graphics on a page to break up the text, but something needs to be done. A gray page can also ...