Basic Typography Flashcards
Cap Height
The distance between the baseline and the top of a capital letter.
Baseline
The imaginary, yet crucial line where all obedient letterforms sit.
Counter
The enclosed negative space within a letter.
Ascender
Quite ambitious, this part of a lower case letter rises above the x height.
Set Width
Width of a character in relation to the height. Being wider than you are tall isn’t always a bad thing.
X Height
The height of a lower case x or the height of lower case letters.
Descender
The male anatomy of a lower case letter that hangs below the baseline.
Terminal
The endpoint of the letterform.
The Point System
An archaic system, using points and picas, measures typographic dimensions.
Point size has very little to do with the actual size of your type anyway. Some typefaces can appear much larger than others at the same point size. So measure however you want – points, picas, inches, centimeters, or (gulp) millimeters. Just remember to always print a test page before committing to a size.
X Height vs. Point Size
When concerned about readability, pay as much attention to the x-height as the point size. X-heights that are too small or too large can dramatically affect readability.
Serifs
Based on the carvings of the ancient Romans, serifs feature small ‘feet’ at the end of the letterforms.
Sans Serif
…designed for the industrial age. They’re hard- working and modern, with no need for fancy serifs.
Slab Serif
The big-boned cousin in every type family–their serifs are blunt and opinionated. No nonsense here–say I love you like you mean it.
- The traditional type family includes roman, italic, bold, and small cap styles. Modern families can break the mold and include other styles.
- Extended families can branch out to include not- so-distant cousins like hairline, black, extended and condensed styles, to name a few.
- Super Family: the yours, mine, and ours of typography. Some families include serif, sans serif, and every style in between. They begin to work as complete typographic systems–in-laws and all.
LIGATURES
An elegant expression of typographic fondness, ligatures create a single character out of two.
NUMBERS
Old style figures1 are designed to work within text, while lining figures2 align better in charts and graphs.
SMART QUOTES
Make sure to always activate smart quotes and standard ligatures in your application preferences.
SWASH CHARACTERS
On occasion, some typographers prefer characters with a little more style and flourish than those set in straight letterforms. Used in moderation, these alternate or swash characters are a great way to dress up boring type.
