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Carla748

: Why is it much harder to see non-italics in a block of italics than the opposite? Blockquotes are often shown in italics. If properly done (I guess), any italics in the actual quote is then

@Carla748

Posted in: #Typography

Blockquotes are often shown in italics. If properly done (I guess), any italics in the actual quote is then "reversed", becoming upright. I generally have a much harder time discerning upright type in a block of italics than type in italics in a block of upright, often having to look twice to make sure the text I just read was actually upright (I assume I'm not alone). In short, upright inside italics always seems to interrupt my reading.

Why is that?

Example (may or may not be a good one depending on the font):


Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin enim elit, porta et pulvinar a, molestie vel dui. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Fusce congue, augue non dapibus dignissim, justo diam luctus justo, vel eleifend urna dolor nec quam. Sed quis varius velit, ut lacinia risus. Curabitur efficitur ultrices tellus nec finibus.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin enim elit, porta et pulvinar a, molestie vel dui. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Fusce congue, augue non dapibus dignissim, justo diam luctus justo, vel eleifend urna dolor nec quam. Sed quis varius velit, ut lacinia risus. Curabitur efficitur ultrices tellus nec finibus.

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@Lengel450

The design of italics is that they will stand out inside a regular font face, this means that they catch our eye more that the regular text. So a word with italic styli in a regular text will pop out and stand out. But when a large paragraph of the text is italic and only one word is with a regular font, the "noise" from the italic text is so hard that the regular word is swallowed and not noticeable as in the opposite example.

According to practicaltypography.com


Use bold and italic as lit­tle as pos­si­ble.
They are tools for em­pha­sis. But if every­thing is em­pha­sized,
then noth­ing is em­pha­sized.


Here is an additional source talking about ITALICS WITHIN ITALICS


The idea with italics is generally to set apart the text so you know
it’s special.


In conclusion


In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylized form
of calligraphic handwriting.


wikipedia - Italic_type


italic is especially useful for creating a sense of contrast with the
regular.


designwithfontforge.com -Italic

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