Creative Cut: The Power of Type

• Reversing out type (printing the letters in white against a darker background) should be done selectively in short bursts, experts agree. If you do it, don’t use a typeface with a lot of “thins,” because they get washed out in print. “You’re printing [on a] web [press], so even if it’s one quarter dot off on registration on one of the plates, the copy will fill in,” Chandler says. He takes a stand against reversing type, because of subconscious aversion on the part of readers: “People will not read reverse type.”