Typography is important in communication; it makes texts more readable. It is a rather broad discipline in graphic and communication design.
Today we'll talk about punctuation marks, specifically quotation marks.
A good way to improve product communication is to use special characters for their intended purpose.
In Russian typography, there is a rule for using quotation marks depending on the context:
Guillemets « » are used for the primary emphasis of text in a sentence: direct speech, terms, conventional signs, and titles of works. This is the standard type of quotation mark for Russian texts.
Double quotes „ “ are usually used inside guillemets when it is necessary to highlight text within an already highlighted text. These are nested quotation marks.
Example of use:
• Main text in quotation marks: I recommend reading Leo Tolstoy's novel — «War and Peace»
• Nested quotation marks: «She said: „I will meet you tomorrow“»
The French language also actively uses «guillemets» to mark direct speech. In fact, this type of quotation mark is called French or «chevrons pointés».
In English typography, double quotation marks (“ ”) are the standard for indicating direct speech or quotes. And this rule is sometimes carried over to Latin-script texts (in which it is customary to use «guillemets»), especially if the design of Latin-script texts is similar to English-language texts. At the same time, English quotation marks are visually different from Russian „double quotes“.
It's quite simple to remember what “double quotes” should look like: in the Russian version, the opening „double quotes“ (example of use) look like two commas. In English quotation marks, they are always at the top, and the first pair looks like two “sixes” (example of use).
Quotation marks can be used for titles, for example, if they have an ambiguous meaning or it is necessary to indicate a semantic connection between words.
For example: “Yellow Submarine” (song by The Beatles), “The Godfather” (feature film), “The Times They Are a-Changin” (song by Bob Dylan)
Single or Marr's quotes (‘ ’) are used for quotes within quotes or to highlight specific terms.
Quotation marks are not used in the names of animals, plants, geographical objects, and other terms that have become generally accepted and are used without any clarification, for example: T. rex (Tyrannosaurus rex), Amazon (Amazon River), Volkswagen (Volkswagen Group).
There are British and American English. And quotation marks are used differently in them.
If you are writing in American English, use double quotation marks as the primary ones. Single quotes are used inside double quotes.
Example:
She said, “Do you think ‘To be or not to be’ is the most famous quotation in the English language?”
If you are writing in British English, it's the other way around. Single quotes are the default, double quotes are used inside single quotes.
Example:
She said, ‘Do you think “To be or not to be” is the most famous quotation in the English language?’
It is important to remember that in most cases, the choice of quotation marks is determined by the style recommendations of a particular publication or the author's personal preferences. It is also worth considering that regardless of the type of quotation marks chosen, it is more important to maintain consistency in their use within a single text.
More materials on the use of quotation marks:
Article «Quotation Marks in Russian Typography» on the Tilda blog
Article «Quotation mark» on «Wikipedia»
«Gorbunov Bureau» on quotation marks
Artemy Lebedev on quotation marks
«Screen Typography», an article by Artemy Lebedev
«Quotation Marks in English: Which to Use?», Kira Gribova
«Handbook: Quotation Marks», type.today
«British Quotation Marks, Russian Quotation Marks, American Quotation Marks», Etymology tales
In the next note, we will talk about the specifics of using hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. Stay tuned.
More interesting things about design on my blog Lorrrem | The Design of Everyday Things.