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THE NON-DESIGNER'S TYPE BOOK
Other uses for ornaments
and dingbats
Here are several other ideas for using ornaments. Once you own a font or
two of dingbats and ornaments, you will discover all sorts of places to
throw them in. Don't be a wimp.
? It is very common to see an ornament at the end of a magazine
story indicating the end ofthat article. If you decide to use this
technique, be consistent with the ornament so the reader knows
what to expect when they see the mark. (§)
if Use ornaments in pull quotes to set the text apart, as on the
previous page. This can be a beautiful and interesting alternative
to a simple rule (line).
1? Also experiment with using special dingbats as bullets in a list
of items, or in a row as a border.
1? Try throwing playful dingbats into your memos, letters, faxes,
and other correspondence. There is no excuse for being dull. ^T^o
1 Use a repetitive pattern of dingbats as a background texture,
as shown below. Because the dingbats are a font, you can easily
resize them, space them, and adjust their linespacing to make
the pattern as light or dense as you like.
Typeface is Pierre Bonnard.
Fi and Picture àonts
Ш
Pi (pronounced "pie"), pictograph, and picture fonts are similar to
ornaments and dingbats (see the previous chapter) except that they tend to
be more specific. Many smaller vendors provide these specialty fonts
that don't enjoy a large market, and they are often just what you need for
a particular project. There is a font for just about everything. If you need a
specialty font, order the catalogs of the smaller vendors (check Appendix A
at the back of this book for vendor addresses).
Pi fonts
A pi font is a special typeface with mathematical and scientific characters,
indispensable for use in technical manuals or scientific treatises. What a
blessing these fonts can be! And beyond the obvious practical use, many of
these characters are interesting symbols that can be used in other ways. If
you have one, print up all the characters and keep your eyes open for creative
new ways to use them.
^ВА^І ®Ѳ = Á :: i ♦j-
What would you do if you needed these characters and didn't have this font!
Typefaces are Mathematical Pi 5 and Mathematical Pi 6.
ИЫкіШІЫЫкЫ
bJLJhJ LJLljLlIL!
ВИ ЬИШЕ]
These come in so handy when writing technical manuals.
There is also a companion font to this set that displays all the
other keys, such as Shift, Control, Command, and the rest.
Typefaces are PIXymbols Stylekey and PIXymbols Function.
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