Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Geometry of Type


Type Terminology.
  • Ascender is the upward vertical stem on lower case letters. Extends above the x height of it, which is characteristic of many typefaces
  • Aperture it the opening of a counter to the exterior of a glyph
  • Bowl is the curved part of the character that encloses the circular parts
  • Baseline is the imaginary line where letters sit on
  • Cap Height is height from baseline to top of the uppercase letters
  • Counter is enclosed negative space
  • Crossbar is the horizontal stroke across the middle of the uppercase, such as A and H
  • Descender is the only part of the lowercase letter that extends below the baseline
  • Ear is typically on lowercase 'g' on the upper right side of the bowl
  • Tail is the height of the lowercase letters disregarding ascenders and discarders, a typeface with a large x height looks much bigger than a typeface with a small x height at same size
  • Spine is the middle of the S



Recommended books on type and the anatomy. 

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