Typography Basics Flashcards
Fat Face
Inflated, hyperbold early 19th century typefaces.
Extra Condensed
Typefaces designed to fit narrow spaces
Egyptian/Slab
Typefaces that transformed the serif from a refined detail into a load bearing slab
Gothic
19th century term for letters without serifs. Originally associated with emotional impact.
Monster typefaces
Typefaces created with an abstract, dehumanized approach
Serif Varieties
Varieties of serifs cut from Egyptian slabs such as Antique, Clarendon, Latin/Antique Tuscan, and Tuscan, based off the shapes of the columns of the same name.
X-height
The height of the main body of a lowercase letter (the height of a lowercase X), excluding ascenders and descenders.
Baseline
Where all letters sit. Important alignment tool.
Ascender height
Height of the ascender above the cap height
Cap Height
The distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letter. Determines point size.
Overhang
The curves of letters hand slightly below the baseline. Appear floating if they do not.
Descender height
Length of the descender.
Point
Size of the letter forms. Made up of picas. 12 pts are a pica and 1 pt is 1/72 in.
Set width
The body of a letter plus the sliver of space that protects it from other letters.
Display/Headline Style
Intended for 24+ pts in size. Higher contrast between thick and thins.
Text style
Designed for 9-14pt font. Strong features but not too bold.
Caption Style
Heavy stroke weight and designed for 6-8 pts.
Humanist/Old style
Emulated classical calligraphy
Tranistional
Sharper serifs and more vertical axis than humanist
Modern
Sharp contrast between thick and thin strokes and thin serifs.
Humanist Sans Serif
Calligraphic variations in line weight
Transitional sans serif
Uniform, upright letterforms.
Geometric sans serif
Built around geometric forms and perfect curves.
