Typography news
Typography News
TypeNeu collects typography news and notes for type perfectionists: how fonts reach the screen, how letters get built, and the lettering you pass every day without noticing.
First posted January 2008 · updated 2026-10-28
On the desk
- Web fonts: from Safari 3.1 and @font-face in 2008 to WOFF2 today.
- FontStruct: a typeface built from bricks on a grid.
- Vernacular typography: lettering on signs, menus and market stalls.
- Playful type: display faces made for fun, and where they work.
Type terms in one line each
- Kerning
- Space adjusted between one specific pair of letters.
- Tracking
- Space adjusted evenly across a whole word or line.
- Leading
- The distance from one baseline to the next.
- X-height
- The height of lowercase letters without ascenders.
From typography news to getting better as a speaker
Most typography ends up in front of a crowd. A typeface picked at a desk is later projected on presentation slides, printed on a conference poster or used on the title card of a talk. Once your type is on those slides, the room has to read text and listen to you at the same moment, and the W3C guide to accessible presentations notes that this is difficult for many people. It asks presenters to limit the text on each slide and to choose simple fonts with consistent thickness.
Cut the slide text that far and the message moves off the screen and onto the speaker. What the audience keeps now depends on your voice, your outline and your eye contact, which is the ground covered by the guide on how to get better at public speaking that closes this page, reproduced in full from howtogetbetteratpublicspeaking.com.
| On the slide | What you do as the speaker |
|---|---|
| A few words per slide | Say the full point out loud |
| One simple typeface | Practise from a keyword card |
| Strong contrast | Look at the room, not the screen |
Sources: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Making Events Accessible
The full guide, reproduced from howtogetbetteratpublicspeaking.com
How to get better at public speaking
How to get better at public speaking: know your audience, use a short outline, practise out loud instead of reading silently, and make steady eye contact. Then speak to small groups before big ones.
Nervousness, mindset and feedback decide how fast your confidence grows. Find the one area that holds you back, fix that first, then move up one small step at a time.
- Know your audience
- Practice out loud
- Make steady eye contact
- Start small
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How to get better at public speaking: find your stuck point, then climb
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Prepare and Structure Your Content
Know your audience
A talk aimed at everyone reaches no one.
- Do this today
- Write who is listening and what they need from you.
- It is working when
- You can name the one thing they should keep.
Use a clear outline
A short spine of points stops rambling. Plain definitions of all the public speaking skills used here are collected in one place.
- Do this today
- Fit an opening, three points and a close on one card.
- It is working when
- You get through the talk from that card alone.
Reduce notes to keywords
A script pulls your eyes off the room.
- Do this today
- Cut each paragraph of notes to two or three words.
- It is working when
- You glance down and look up within a sentence.
Practice out loud
Reading silently trains your eyes, not your mouth.
- Do this today
- Say the talk out loud once and record it.
- It is working when
- Take two has fewer stops than take one.
-
Master On-Stage Delivery
Project your voice
A little louder than chat fills the room and sounds sure.
- Do this today
- Read one paragraph to the far wall.
- It is working when
- The back row follows without leaning in.
Vary your pace and pitch
A flat, fast voice is hard to follow. A pause beats "um".
- Do this today
- Mark two pauses and hold each for one breath.
- It is working when
- Your recording has silence where filler words were.
Make steady eye contact
One person per thought feels like a conversation.
- Do this today
- In your next meeting, end each sentence on one face.
- It is working when
- Afterwards you remember who you looked at.
Use purposeful body language
Planted feet and open hands look calm, even when you aren't.
- Do this today
- Stand still and gesture only on key words.
- It is working when
- Your video shows no swaying or pacing.
-
Manage Anxiety and Gain Experience
Reframe nervousness
A racing heart feels a lot like excitement, and the label changes how you perform.
- Do this today
- Before you speak, say "I am excited" out loud.
- It is working when
- The jitters feel like fuel, not a warning.
Shift your mindset
Thinking about what you give moves the spotlight off you.
- Do this today
- Write the one useful thing each listener gets.
- It is working when
- Your worry is about them, not you.
Start small
Low-risk rooms build confidence for big ones.
- Do this today
- Pick one of these public speaking tips for your next meeting and nothing else.
- It is working when
- You spoke up once and would do it again.
Why learning how to get better at public speaking feels slow
Here's how to get better at public speaking without stalling: swap one habit at a time, said out loud until it holds while people watch.
Speed is a common one. When AmberWillo polled 1,851 new members (December 2025 to October 2026), talking too fast under nerves came second at 21%, after going blank at 38%. Train it with a pace break drill:
- Pick two points from your talk.
- Say the first one too fast, on purpose.
- Stop and breathe once.
- Say one reset line, such as "Let me say that more clearly."
- Carry on with the next point, slower.
A guide to practice exercises from AmberWillo puts new drills at four or more times weekly, and a habit you are changing at roughly a minute, once or twice daily.
Practice out loud, then in front of people
Practice climbs too: alone, then a few listeners, then a room. Screens count: a 2019 meta-analysis of 30 trials (1,355 people) found technology-assisted programs worked as well as face-to-face ones.
Alone, every day
The first rung: one minute out loud on your phone, then a clear look at how it came across. That rung is Confidently, an app built for speaking practice:
- it deals you a random prompt and 60 seconds to answer, or takes a full talk of up to 30 minutes
- it shows whether you sped up and where you trailed off
- it tallies your filler words, reads your face and gives a confidence score
Recordings stay private, with no feed. Across 8,184 sessions it has scored, confidence came out 6.6% higher between sessions six and ten.
The rung after that: the same nerves, but in a small live video room with people who are climbing too. AmberWillo hosts them online: you and no more than fourteen other people chasing the same goal. You talk on camera; a confidence number, some written coaching and a fresh milestone wrap up every round, and signing up is free of charge.
Support groups offer "unbiased, honest feedback", the National Institute of Mental Health notes, in person and online. If you want a teacher in the room, compare public speaking classes by format first. Between sessions, one short rep out loud a day keeps you climbing.
Where the nerves come from
Speaking nerves are the body's alarm ringing with no danger near. The alarm of public speaking rings about specific fears. In a 1996 survey of 499 adults, one third reported excessive anxiety speaking to a large audience. The fears named:
| Fear | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Trembling, shaking or showing anxiety | 80% |
| Mind going blank | 74% |
| Doing or saying something embarrassing | 64% |
| Being unable to continue talking | 63% |
| Not making sense | 59% |
Reframe nervousness
A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General tested two ways to handle jitters before singing, a speech or a math task.
- Trying to calm down
- What most people believe works best.
- Calling it excitement
- Saying "I am excited" out loud left people more excited, and they performed better.
Reader questions
Why do I struggle so much with public speaking?
Almost everyone does. A 2019 review in Frontiers in Psychology calls it the most commonly feared situation, reported by up to one third of people. One stuck point usually drives it. Hearing yourself answer one prompt out loud shows where you stand.
What causes poor speaking skills?
Too few reps out loud and too little feedback. The US Department of Labor's O*NET defines speaking as talking to others to convey information effectively: a skill, so practice moves it.
What are the 5 C's of public speaking?
No one fixed list exists. One version AmberWillo describes is Caring, Credible, Charismatic, Comfortable and Confident.
What is the 3:2:1 rule in speaking?
Versions differ, but the goal is to stop rambling. The 3 is the three things your listener should remember; everything else serves them.
Why am I fumbling my words suddenly?
Usually rushing plus nerves: your mouth runs ahead of your thoughts. Slow down and keep one reset line ready. If your speech changes suddenly and stays changed, talk to a doctor.
Sources
- Psychological Interventions for the Fear of Public Speaking: A Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2019. PMC6428748
- Public-speaking fears in a community sample. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1996. PMID 8629892
- Get excited: reappraising pre-performance anxiety as excitement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2014. PMID 24364682
- O*NET OnLine, US Department of Labor: Speaking
- National Institute of Mental Health: Social Anxiety Disorder: More Than Just Shyness
- AmberWillo: If you talk too fast under pressure, one presentation drill matters most
- AmberWillo: Public Speaking Practice Exercises
- AmberWillo: How to Get Better at Public Speaking
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