Going by loads of pieces when browsing deviantArt, I don't really think about which pieces I view. I just notice the colours - and the composition. Cause when you look at pictures at a distance this is mostly what you'll notice.
Working with especially typography this is really what it's all about. Colours, but especially composition. I haven't read books about og studied typography, but in this article I'll try and share my thoughts on how to create a beautiful typographic piece using different pick-outs as examples.
This guide is mostly for beginners but hopefully people who has more experience with typography can find it helpfull as well.

Phase 1: Brainstorm and inspiration
Some people can more or less effortless come up with great ideas, whereas some need to force them. The first thing I do is I'm taking a clean piece of paper and a pensil. I imagine the paper as my canvas in Photoshop and then I start drawing: Shapes, patterns, letters - whatever pops into my mind. Just shapes and especially compositions, which I think would look cool when executed digitally. Mostly I don't even write the words - later on I just figure out what the theme of the piece are going to be.
As a footnote, what you want to do is write where on your canvas there should be texture (if any) and, which colours the different elements in the piece should have.

If your mind is empty for ideas for your typographic piece, just use the good old trick: Browse deviantArt and get some inspiration from other artists (this does NOT mean that you should copy other artists ).

Phase 2: Choosing a style
One of the most important things in a typographic piece is awareness of your style. You don't want to be placed between two chairs and a strong general style can be alpha and omega.
Examples of different styles:

Clean and simple

Textured and connected

Messy

When you choose a style you may want to consider what your message with the piece is. E.g. if your message is dark and melancholic you'll often choose dark colours. You can also use the classic means when it comes to colour choice: Red equals love, green equals envy - and so on.

Phase 3: Executing your idea
If you know how to use your software this should be the easy part. I won't guide you through, which techniques you can use when making typography but I'll give some suggestions on how you might want to handle your process.

Firstly, if you haven't decided when you were brainstorming you'll need to choose, which colours should be in the piece. Try out some different combinations - many possibilities to choose from gives you a better outcome. When you've picked your colours you can start creating you composition, and this is really the funny thing about typography - it's just like Lego's: You put different words and elements together untill an entirety is made. Typography can be hard when it comes to connecting words to each other and creating fancy shapes, but the hardest part is, in my opinion, the composition. When you've nailed the composition you've succeeded. Just have a look at these pieces; they are really simple and might not me techniqually challenging, but the composition is great and that's what makes an exceptional piece:


When you've reached your final composition, the elements are at their place and you're satisfied with the general feeling of it, you can start looking at the following things:

Adding texture
This is a really good way to give your piece the final touch. You'll notice how great it works in the second feature.

Connecting words
I'm still struggling with this one at times, but if you're a capable pen-tool or Illustrator user this can really add a great touch to your piece. Here's an example on how different elements can be stringed together:


Also such things as adding filters, gradients, gradient maps and different patterns can add something to your piece.
This was my thoughts on typography. I hope some of you found it useful.

Artists in this article
~error-message
~skryingbreath
~boss13055
~rizn
~Bobbyeagle