Precision

Not sure why I've got this particular bee in my bonnet today, but there you are.

In almost every walk of life, precision is necessary; certainly in professional life. I have ranted before that, if you are a manufacturer of one-yard rules, you can't have a ten-percent margin of error. You can't have a margin of error if you're dispensing or prescribing drugs or medications. Imagine what would happen if airline pilots and air traffic controllers allowed a margin of error.

If you're undergoing surgery, you don't want the surgeon or the anaesthetist to be anything less than precise. Even if you're baking a cake, your measurements and your oven temperature has to be precise. I don't know about you, but I find that cooking pasta requires a huge level of precision.

I've never been lucky enough to sit in a commercial kitchen for a day watching the chefs at work, but if the telly is anything to go by, every parsley leaf is carefully placed and salt is added down to the final grain.

Look how accurate you have to be in sports. If Lewis Hamilton goes just a tenth of a second faster than Fernando Alonso, that puts him on pole. Those stopwatches (which is rather archaic, I think it's a bit more technological nowadays) have to be bloody accurate.

Anyway, enough of the examples, you know I could think of so many more but you get the picture.

Just as everyone realizes that precision is essential in so many walks of live, they are also aware that the same is true of design. But I think the reason for this rant is that maybe not everyone understands how important it is for type.

Because I absolutely LOVE working on publications, brochures, newsletters and anything that involves type, I am obsessive, I know. The placement of a period, the angle of an ampersand, the leading of letters ... are all incredibly important for successful results. They are the difference between a professionally-designed publication and a flyer from your local oil-change shop or Chinese takeout.

Example:
Before:

After:

See?