typography

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitionalw modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold ilatic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

FancyBloodflesh

The cap height is the distance from the top of the capital letter to its bottom. Some vertical elements (ascenders) may extend slightly above the cap height.

Fancy

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

Bloodflesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

The x-height is the height of the main body of the lowercase letter (or the height of a lower-case x ), excluding its ascenders and descend-ers. The bigger the x-height is in relation to the cap height, the bigger the letters will look.

FancyBloodflesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

The baseline is the most stable axis along a line of text. The curves at the bottom of letters such as a or c hang slightly below the base-line. Commas and semicolons also cross the baseline. If a typeface were not positioned this way, it would appear to teeter precariously,

FancyBloodflesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

The stroke of some lower case letters, such as b or d, which is higher than the x-height.

BloodFancy

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

The part of a lower case letter, such as g or q or y that extends beyond the baseline.

BloodFancy

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

Serifs are the beginning or ending strokes added to one of the main strokes of the letter. These are usually short horizontal lines. While there are several types of serif, the major varieties are slab, wedge or hair and these are bracketed or unbracketed. A hair serif ends in a line with minimum thickness. A thicker line becomes a slab.

BloodFancy

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

Stems are the main straight strokes, usually vertical, in a letter such as the F, I or H. Not all letters have a stem, such as C or S. The vertical, non-curved portions of L, l, d, B, and p are examples of stems. H, N, and M have two stems each. Some letterforms such as y and A may have a sloped or diagonal stem.

BloodFancy

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

A bowl is a round or elliptical stroke that en-closes a white space such as seen in the letter O, the letter g, or the letter a.

BloodFancy

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

The part of a letter known as a finial is usually a somewhat tapered curved end on letters such as the bottom of C or e or the top of a

BloodFancy

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

BloodFancy

A terminal is a curved stroke as in the tail of a letter.

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

BloodFancy

The structural portion of the letter S less the arms (ends and serifs).

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

BloodFancy

The (usually) horizontal stroke across the middle of uppercase A and H and B is a cross-bar. The horizontal or sloping stroke enclosing the bottom of the eye of an e is also a crossbar.

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

BloodFancy

In typography, the enclosed or partially en-closed circular or curved negative space of some letters such as d, o, and s is the counter.

flesh

Typographic Anatomy

cap height

x-height

baseline

ascender

descender

serif

stem

bowl

finial

terminal

spine

cross bar

counter

ligature

BloodFancy

Two or more letters combined into one character make a ligature. In typography some ligatures rep-resent specific sounds or words such as the capital AE diphthong ligature or used primarily to make type more attractive on the page such as the fl and fi ligatures.

flesh

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

TYPEFACE A complete set of characters “drawn in the same way with the same weight” and collected under the same name.

For example the type face Futura Bold, Futura Me-dium and Futura Condensed are all separate type-faces. They belong to what is called a type family.

Futura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a familyFutura has a number of typefaces that make up a family

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

FONT A set of 26 to 200 plus characters in one specific type face design such as 10 point Times Roman or 10 point Times Roman bold. Originally, the contents of the upper and lower case of metal type. A complete set of characters for one typeface in one size normally includes capitals, lowercase letters, small caps, lining figures, old style figures, superior figures, inferior figures, fractions, ligatures, punctuation, and some accented characters.

In metal type, a font is a typeface of a particular size such as 10pt font of Caslon Oldstyle italic. Today, in common usage font refers to any digital typeface that can normally be rendered in a variety of sizes.

Futura at 10 pointsFutura at 12 pointsFutura at 14 pointsFutura at 16 pointsFutura at 18 pointsFutura at 20 pointsFutura at 22 pointsFutura at 24 pointsFutura at 26 pointsFutura at 28 points

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

UPPERCASE The capital letters of the alphabet are uppercase glyphs.

The term uppercase is derived from the days of metal type where the lesser used capital letters were kept in the harder to reach upper case while the more fre-quently used letters were kept nearer at hand, in the lower case.

F

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

LOWERCASE See uppercase...

f

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

POINT SIZE A point system is used to measure type size. In North America and Britain, the point is .351 mm (72 points in an inch) while it is .376mm in Europe. Type faces with the same point size but different x-height will appear to be quite different.

fx fx188 point helvetica bold 188 point Mrs Eaves Bold

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

TYPE CLASSIFICATIONA basic system for classifying typefaces was devised in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history. Humanist letterforms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. These three main groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment periods in art and literature. Design-ers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have continued to create new typefaces based on historic characteristics.

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

HUMANIST OR OLD STYLEThe roman typefaces of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries emulated classical calligraphy. Sabon was designed by Jan Tschichold in 1966, based on the sixteenth-century typefaces of Claude Garamond.

Aa

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

TRANSITIONALThese typefaces have sharper serifs and a more verti-cal axis than humanist letters. When the fonts of John Baskerville were introduced in the mid-eighteenth century, their sharp forms and high contrast were considered shocking.

Aa

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

MODERNThe typefaces designed by Giambattista Bodoni in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are radi-cally abstract. Note the thin, straight serifs; vertical axis; and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes.

Aa

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

EGYPTIAN OR SLAB SERIFNumerous bold and decorative typefaces were intro-duced in the nineteenth century for use in advertising. Egyptian fonts have heavy, slab-like serifs.

Aa

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

HUMANIST SANS SERIFSans-serif typefaces became common in the twenti-eth century. Gill Sans, designed by Eric Gill in 1928, has humanist characteristics. Note the small, lilting counter in the letter a, and the calligraphic variations in line weight.

TRANSITIONAL OR ANONYMOUS SANS SERIFHelvetica, designed by Max Miedinger in 1957, is one of the world’s most widely used typefaces. Its uniform, upright character makes it similar to transi-tional serif letters. These fonts are also referred to as “anonymous sans serif.”

GEOMETRIC SANS SERIFSome sans-serif types are built around geometric forms. In Futura, designed by Paul Renner in 1927, the Os are perfect circles, and the peaks of the A and M are sharp triangles.

AaAaAa

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

roman

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

bold

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

italic or oblique

ITALIC While roman typefaces are up-right, italic typefaces slant to the right. But rather than being just a slanted or tilted version of the roman face, a true or pure italic font is drawn from scratch and has unique features not found in the roman face.

OBLIQUE Similar to italic type, oblique type is usually a sans serif font that has been slanted or tilted approximately 12 degrees and then adjusted to improve the appearance. Unlike italic, oblique characters do not have cursive design properties.

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

black

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

condensed

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

expanded (or extended)

General terms

typeface

font

uppercase

lowercase

point size (9 pt)

classification old style transitional modern egyptian sans serif

styles roman bold italic oblique black condensed expanded small caps

Aa Aa Aa AaAa AaApple

small caps