Typeface Design

Question 1

aims (rules)

Answer 1

decide on the purpose, design direction, and technical requirements

Question 2

symmetry / differentiation (rules)

Answer 2

must present a uniform appearance in formal terms (rhythmic details, equal end strokes, visually equal stem thickness, similar bowls, etc), but basic forms differentiate enough to distinguish easily

Question 3

basic framework of the letters (rules)

Answer 3

the letters “H” and “n” convey the essential qualities of a typeface (determine height of the face and its various proportions)

Question 4

character stroke width (rules)

Answer 4

lowercase letters have smaller stroke width than uppercase

Question 5

width of letters (rules)

Answer 5

the “m” cannot be double “n”, the counter of “o” must be same as optical width of “n”, the “u” always a little narrower than “n”

Question 6

round forms (rules)

Answer 6

letters with horizontal curves (“o”, “n”) should come above or below the imaginary type lines, to avoid looking too small in overall picture

Question 7

ascenders / descenders (rules)

Answer 7

the descenders in a typeface should never be shorter than the ascenders. the lowercase ascenders should always be a little higher than the uppercase letters

Question 8

cross bar height (rules)

Answer 8

the cross bar of an “H” is at optical but not mathematical center (applies to all letters divided in 2 horiz)

Question 9

diagonal and bold upstrokes (rules)

Answer 9

upstrokes are thinner than downstrokes. diagonal bars that end freely (“z”) taper towards the intersection point. the lines in the cross of the “X” are not taken through as straights, but offset in relation to each other, and run slightly conically toward intersection point. horiz bars are narrower than stems

Question 10

character set (rules)

Answer 10

the more script and numbering systems, alt characters, variants, symbols, the more applicable it will be

Question 11

spacing a typeface (rules)

Answer 11

create spaces between letters that look the same, and align them with the typeface size, character width, letter counters, and stem weight. primarily done through the adjustment of “H”, “n”, “o”, “O”

Question 12

kerning a typeface (rules)

Answer 12

essential for creating similar-looking white areas between characters. only the most important character pairs should be kerned (e.g. “AT”, “AV”, “Av”, “AC”, “DY”, “FA”)

Question 13

kerning tip

Answer 13

for a normal sans-serif typeface, the distance between characters is about the weight of a stem (the small “i” is ideal for measurement)

Question 14

italics

Answer 14

average slant on italic scripts is 12 degrees