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Typography > Typography Master Vocabulary > Flashcards

Typography Master Vocabulary Flashcards

1
Q

Abugida

A

a writing system which is phonetic and modular, making for large and complex character sets with a clear and logical structure

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2
Q

Absolute Keywords

A

a set of predefined words used to set a font size directly ot a specific size as defined by the browser

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2
Q

Alignment

A

aligning elements on a single axis in which the brain interprets as related; referred by Gestalt as “common fate”

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3
Q

Alt Text (alternative Text)

A

written descriptions of images used by accessibility readers

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4
Q

Aperture

A

The partially enclosed space of a letterform

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5
Q

Apostrophes

A

indicate a contraction or a possessive noun

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6
Q

Arm

A

a horizontal or diagonal stroke in a letter that is attached at one end and free at the other

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7
Q

Arts and Crafts Movement

A

the late 19th century design and architecture movement that sought to improve the quality of decorative arts and the standards of craftsmanship

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8
Q

Ascender

A

An upward vertical stroke that extends beyond the x-height

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9
Q

Asymmetrical

A

layout which utilizes counter balance

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10
Q

Axis

A

a single aspect of a typeface’s design that can be altered by the user

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11
Q

Back Slant Italics

A

Dissident form of italics where the characters lean to the left

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12
Q

Baseline

A

One of the main axes of alignment in Latin typography along with cap height and x-height (Thinking with Type by Ellen Luton); invisible line upon which letters rest; used as a point from which other elements are measured

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13
Q

Baseline Grid

A

works in the background creating micro-alignments, controlling the vertical spacing of a page or screen from top to bottom

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14
Q

Baseline Shift

A

moves characters up or down in small increments; used to correct appearance of uneven spacing that occurs between varied sizes or styles of type

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15
Q

Bauhaus

A

German art school

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16
Q

Beak

A

a decorative stroke found at the end of an arm that looks like a more pronounced serif

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17
Q

Body (aka running text)

A

Main mass of text in a document

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18
Q

Borders

A

element used as boxes, frames, vertical or horizontal lines within the layout; focus the eye and gather content into groups defining large areas of breaking space into smaller chunks

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19
Q

Bowl

A

The generally round or elliptical forms which are the basic body shape of letters.

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20
Q

Calligraphy

A

beautiful handwriting

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21
Q

Cap height

A

one of the main axes of alignment in Latin typography along with x-height and baseline(Thinking with Type by Ellen Luton); the height of the typefaces uppercase letters, measured from the baseline to the top of flat-topped glyphs, usually slightly lower than the ascender height

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22
Q

Capitals

A

Based of Roman carvings using the Latin alphabet, uppercase (capital) letters are used in typography to mark importance and formality

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23
Q

Capital line (cap line)

A

an imaginary line that defines the height of capital letters of a particular typeface (

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24
Q

Caption

A

optical size intended for small type sizes 6-8 pts; may have tall x-height to maintain legibility

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24
Q

Constructivism

A

an art and architecture movement that emerged in the Soviet Union in the 1910s

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25
Q

Copy

A

text supplied to printer

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26
Q

Column Grid

A

has two or more vertical zones

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27
Q

Counter

A

The white space enclosed by a letterform

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28
Q

Cross bar

A

The horizontal stroke in letters

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29
Q

Cyberspace

A

an infinite grid that was hands-free and device independent

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29
Q

Custom Axes

A

axes that a font designer creates to control any aspect of a typeface’s design

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30
Q

Dada

A

an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement (Wikipedia) an international art and literary movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland during World War I

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31
Q

De Stijl

A

Dutch art movement and publication that ran from 1917 to 1931

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32
Q

Deconstruction

A

theory by French philosopher Jacques Derrida intended to challenge traditional meanings and truths; meaning of a text or idea is unstable and can have multiple meanings ; language can not provide objective meaning or truth because they can never be fully defined

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33
Q

Default Tracking

A

without customized tracking; word spaces are even throughout

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34
Q

Descender

A

A downward vertical stroke that extends beyond the baseline

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35
Q

Display

A

optical size designed to be used in headlines 24pt or larger

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36
Q

Dot

A

Also known as a tittle, is a small diacritic on a lowercase i or j.

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37
Q

Em Dash

A

used in place of commas, colons, or parentheses to set off a phrase; create a dramatic break

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38
Q

Em Spacing (Quad)

A

fixed unit the width of the letter’s cap height

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39
Q

Em square

A

a vertical dimension that usually encompasses the tallest ascender and the longest descender determining the size of a typeface

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40
Q

En Dash

A

used to indicate a range of time or span of numbers

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40
Q

Engraving

A

process which involves a tool called a graver to incise a copper plate

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40
Q

End-user License Agreement (EULA

A

Agreement between the creator and end-user which defines the limits in which a purchased font may be used

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41
Q

Enlightenment

A

an age of scientific and philosophical inquiry

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42
Q

Eye

A

The closed counter of a lowercase e

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43
Q

False Italics

A

Roman typeface that is slanted by computer programs when true italics is unavailable

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43
Q

Finial

A

A tapered or curved end on a letterform

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44
Q

Fixed Letter Space

A

letter spacing set to specific number so software is only able to use word spaces to adjust each line

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45
Q

Font

A

the software or hardware required to print or display letterforms

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45
Q

Flexible Letter Space

A

letter spacing set to a range of numbers allowing software to adjust automatically

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45
Q

Font Format

A

The specific file type or digital structure that a font is stored in (Google AI Overview); help typefaces work with different printers, browsers, operating systems and devices

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45
Q

Furniture

A

in print, wider blocks used to define margin space

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45
Q

Futurism

A

exposed the technological grid of the letterpress while pushing beyond it

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45
Q

Gender-Inclusive Language

A

rejects universal masculine forms and binary gender distinctions

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45
Q

Geometric Sans Typeface

A

type of sans serif font that uses simple geometric shapes, such as circles, squares, and triangles, to construct its letters

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45
Q

Gender Star (Gendersternchen)

A

Used in Germany, an asterisk used to signal the inclusion of all genders; introduced in 2013; appears between the stem of the word and the feminine ending

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45
Q

Gestalt Psychology

A

how perceptions organizes visual stimuli into meaningful patterns

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45
Q

Grid

A

a system of horizontal and vertical invisible lines that divide a page into columns, rows, and modules Google AI Overview used to define areas within user space

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46
Q

Grotesque sans Typeface

A

an early style of sans-serif font characterized by clean, geometric lines, minimal stroke contrast, and often distinctive features like a spurred G

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46
Q

Guillemets (chevrons)

A

Quotation marks used in Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Danish, etc. which sit on the baseline; primarily point out except in Germany and Denmark where they point in

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47
Q

Grouping

A

building larger sets by using related elements

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48
Q

Gutters

A

gaps between columns which hold areas of white space

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49
Q

Hatch marks (Prime Marks)

A

indicate dimensions in feet (single prime) and inches (double prime)

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50
Q

Hanging punctuation

A

when punctuation, such as quotation marks, are pushed into the margin

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51
Q

Hanglines

A

horizontal alignment lines within a grid system where elements like text are aligned to the top edge,creating a visual effect of “hanging” from the line; topmost line of a text block that other elements can be aligned to, similar to a baseline but at the top of the text

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52
Q

Headline

A

Optical size meant to be used in larger text

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53
Q

Horizontal or vertical scale-

A

changes the width of a typeface; may distort line weight of the letters forcing heavy elements to become thin and thin elements to become thick

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53
Q

Humanism

A

Movement of the Renaissance (rebirth) of classical Greek and Roman art, architecture, and scholarship

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53
Q

Humanist

A

typeface which emulate Renaissance calligraphy and handwriting

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53
Q

Humanist sans

A

sans serif font that is inspired by the proportions and forms of humanist or old-style serif fonts

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54
Q

Hyphens

A

appear in compound words and some words beginning with a prefix; break up words at the end of a line to improve justification; not to be confused with en or em dashes

54
Q

Inclusive Design

A

content that anyone can understand regardless of cognitive, sensory, physical abilities or language or background

55
Q

Indents

A

start or position further from the margin than the main part of the text (Oxford Languages); signals a break or separation, not needed when text has just begun

56
Q

Inktraps

A

Notched out areas in type which prevent ink from filling the letterforms when printed in smaller sizes

56
Q

Intrinsic Web Design/Fluid Typography

A

dynamic solutions allow typography to change gradually as the user drags a screen into a taller or wider shape. Helps retain proportions and avoid rough transitions between viewports

57
Q

Italics

A

originally based on handwriting, it is now a commonly slanted style used for lyrical details and urgent headlines

57
Q

Iterative Design

A

creating multiple layouts or prototypes

57
Q

Kerning

A

adjusting the space between two letters

58
Q

Layered Hierarchy

A

uses a variety of weights and styles; starts with the vessel, add in main text, use memorable typeface for headline, detail with text styling, and finish with a unique element

59
Q

Layout

A

an arrangement of elements

59
Q

Layout Men

A

Print artisans which helped found graphic design

59
Q

Legibility

A

the process of seeing and identifying words and glyphs

59
Q

Letter Spacing

A

adjusting the space of a single word or phrase

59
Q

Lettera Antiqua

A

classical script with wide, open forms

59
Q

Lettering

A

custom characters created by hand or software, often combining diverse techniques

60
Q

Ligatures

A

characters combining two or more letters into a single mark (Thinking with Type by Ellen Luton) Two or more letters tied into a single character

61
Q

Line

A

grouping more than one element together in a single direction

61
Q

Line Height

A

includes the space above and below a line of text, measured from between two lines

61
Q

Line length (measure)

A

length of a horizontal string of text within a column; recommended length 35 to 75 characters

61
Q

Line Spacing (leading)

A

distance from one baseline to the next

62
Q

Lining Numerals

A

numerals which resemble capital letters who are uniform in height so they align horizontally; work well with uppercase; create technical or factual feel to type

63
Q

Localization

A

process of defining a font’s style’s attributes, such as its size and typeface, for a specific language

63
Q

Lowercase

A

A smaller form of letters in a typeface

63
Q

Manuscript Grid

A

frames a single block of text; aka text grid

63
Q

Media Queries

A

key part of a responsive web design which allows different creations according to viewport size but also used to detect other things regarding the environments ex; mouse vs touchscreen

63
Q

Micro

A

In optical sizes, contain details to be optimized for tiny type

63
Q

Minimal Hierarchies

A

few sizes and weights of type

64
Q

Modern typeface

A

font style characterized by high contrast between thick and thin strokes, very thin serifs, and a vertical stress (Google AI Overview); created by Bodoni and Didot as the beginning of 19th century

64
Q

Modular Grid

A

divides vertical columns into a series of horizontal rows which govern the size, shape, and placement of text blocks and pictures

64
Q

Monospace

A

every character has its own width

64
Q

Movable type

A

invented by Johannes Gutenburg; considered the first form of mass production; letters are cast from a mold and assembled into forms for printing.

64
Q

Negative Tracking

A

decrease tracking

64
Q

New Typography

A

an artistic movement in Central Europe in the 1920s and 1930s that rejected traditional type arrangements in favor of a more striking, asymmetrical style

65
Q

Oblique

A

sans-serif italic typeface

66
Q

Oldstyle numerals (text or nonlining numerals)

A

resemble lower case letter; have ascenders and descenders which extend above and below the baseline and x-height; create graceful and literary feel to type

66
Q

Optical Sizes

A

within a type family, different fonts designed to be used at different sizes of output; may include headline, display, titling (for large sizes due to delicate details) and text, caption, and micro are used from smaller sizes due to sturdier strokes, taller x-heights, and larger counters; variable fonts automatically use optical sizes based on context

66
Q

Ornaments

A

decorative typographic elements

66
Q

Orphan

A

Starting a new paragraph on the last line of a page or column

66
Q

Overhang

A

curves pass slightly beyond the baseline and the x-line

67
Q

Pantograph

A

a tracing device that, when linked to a router for carving, allows the designer to make variants of one parent drawing, creating alphabets with different proportions, weights, and details

68
Q

Paragraph

A

a passage of writing devoted to a theme or topic

69
Q

Paragraph Spacing

A

vertical space before or after a paragraph

70
Q

Parametric Axes

A

used to control aspects of a typeface’s design, such as weight, width, optical size, italic, and slant (Google AI); allows the fine tuning of just one singular aspect of a typeface

70
Q

Percentage Values (%)

A

Scalable like ems, however, 100% is equal to the current fonts size

70
Q

Phono-semantic (logosyllabic) character

A

characters that contain a component that signifies and approximate sound and a component that signifies approximate meaning

70
Q

Pixel (px)

A

a unit of measurement for font size that’s usually equal to one dot on a screen (Google AI overview); is usually assumed to be 1/96th of an inch

71
Q

Plane

A

grouping multiple points or elements together in more than one direction

72
Q

Points (pt)

A

fixed values (Thinking with Type by Ellen Luton); a unit of measurement used to indicate the size of fonts, leading, and other aspects of a printed page (Google AI Overview); point size refers to the height of the font—not the height of the letter; 1 point = 1/72 of an inch

72
Q

Polyglot

A

written in many languages

73
Q

Positive Tracking

A

increase of tracking; makes light colors easier to see on dark backgrounds

74
Q

Proportional

A

each letter has its own width

75
Q

Proofs

A

test prints before addition copies are printed

76
Q

Proofreader

A

ensure the faithfulness of printed piece to the authors original

77
Q

Proportional numerals

A

numerals with varying widths and/or spacing; kerned to flow well with text; don’t align into even columns

77
Q

Proximity

A

distance between elements; establishes relationships between subheads, labels, captions, images, and other subcontent

78
Q

Punctuation

A

silent glyphs, such as commas, periods, semicolons, and parentheses, which divide text into sentences and phrases; governed by grammatical and typographic rules which vary from language to language

78
Q

Readability

A

supports our understanding of a text

79
Q

Registered Axes

A

axes that are defined in the OpenType file format specification; there are 5 registered axes: italic, optical size, slant, weight, and width; mapped to standard CSS attributes

79
Q

Registered Property

A

in CSS, registered axes correspond to these (ital, opsz, slnt, wght, and wdth); weight is the most commonly included property

79
Q

Regular

A

in optical sizes, this style is intended for sizes 9-14pts

79
Q

Relative Keywords

A

the values larger and smaller scale the type in relation to a parent text element

79
Q

Rem

A

“root em”; browser’s font size; other type sizes can be set as percentage of the rem

80
Q

Responsive Web Layouts

A

the ability of a layout to change according to the device, user preferences

81
Q

Saccades

A

short movement of eye to process information such as characters

82
Q

Script Typeface

A

style of font that imitates the look of handwritten or calligraphic writing

83
Q

Screen Readers

A

vocalized text; may be built into software or used with assistive device

84
Q

Semantic Hierarchy

A

assigns tags to content elements to signal their function and importance. Semantic elements in HTML include regions <main>, <body>, <header>,<footer>, <nav>, and <aside>; Headings include <title>, <h1> through<h6>, and lists</title>

85
Q

Serial Design

A

practice creating systems of grids, components, colors, and hierarchies that host a changing content stream; process of applying typographic hierarchies across multiple pages, publications, posters, media posts, or interface components

85
Q

Sentence

A

a set of words expressing a complete thought

86
Q

Serif

A

A stroke added to the beginning or end of one of the main strokes of a letter

87
Q

Set Solid

A

when line space is equal in size to the font size; often used for large text

88
Q

Set width

A

horizontal measure of each letter in a typeface

88
Q

Short lines (Bad Breaks)

A

a line with few words or less at the end of a paragraph, page or column which disrupts the reading flow

89
Q

Shoulder

A

a curved stroke originating from a stem

90
Q

Side bearing

A

the sliver of space that in addition to the body of the letter, make up the set width

91
Q

Similarity

A

helps organize containers into groups by establishing a unified structure to specific elements (ex; single color for all headlines)

92
Q

Slab Typeface

A

Serif is similar in weight to the letter’s main strokes. Enabled the creation of bolder typefaces for use in advertising or to create emphasis in text

93
Q

Small Capital

A

Short capital letters designed to blend with lowercase text. (Interaction Design Foundation); height is similar to x-height

93
Q

Space

A

grouping elements or points together in more than a single direction while adding depth creating a three dimensional element

93
Q

Spine

A

The main curved stroke of a lowercase or capital letter

93
Q

Spread

A

a set of pages view together, typically the left and right page; two types of spreads: reader’s spread and printer’s spread

94
Q

Stem

A

A main stroke that is more or less straight, not part of a bowl

94
Q

Stroke

A

A straight or curved line that creates the principal part of a letter

95
Q

Symmetrical

A

balanced layouts with the most important information in the middle

96
Q

Tabular numerals

A

numerals with uniform spacing and width; ideal for tables and charts

96
Q

Tail

A

the descending, often decorative, that extends below the baseline of a letter found in the capital Q, R, and K

96
Q

Terminal

A

A circular form at the end of the arm, leg or brow in letters

96
Q

Text

A

continuous sequence of words, distinct from shorter headline or captions

97
Q

Text (Regular)

A

in optical sizes, it is optimized for body text intended for sizes 9-14pts

98
Q

Tracking

A

adjusting the space across a group of letters

98
Q

Transitional typeface

A

a letterform that shares features with both the old-face letter and the modern letter

99
Q

Type Family

A

collection of fonts which may contain a variety of weights and styles that can be used to display complex bodies of text with coordinating elements

99
Q

Tatweel (Madd)

A

Practice of elongating a character to justify a line or provide emphasis

100
Q

Type Scale

A

selection of type sizes based on history or mathematics

100
Q

Typeface

A

the underlying design of letterforms

100
Q

Typographers Quotes (Curly Quotes; Smart Quotes; Open and Close Quotes)

A

enclose dialogue, titles to short works (songs, poems, essays, or an episode of a tv series); opening quotation mark is different from the closing quotation mark; American English uses double quotes while British English uses singular quotes; Slovenian, Slovak, and Polish- first quotation mark sits on the baseline

100
Q

UI Card

A

design pattern that groups related information in a flexible-size container visually resembling a playing card

101
Q

Uniwidth

A

different weights in a typeface which occupy the same horizontal space; unlike monospace font, each letter has its own width; aka equal-width, duplexed, or multiplexed

101
Q

Uppercase

A

A typecase containing capital letters

101
Q

Upright Italics

A

dissident form of italics that does not slant to the left or to the right

101
Q

Variable fonts

A

introduced in 2016, generate multiple weights and/or type styles from a single font file

102
Q

Vertical Text

A

text which runs vertically

102
Q

Viewport

A

available screen space

103
Q

Visual Hierarchy

A

employs size, weight, style, color, and position to express a document’s structure

104
Q

Woodblock printing

A

artisans trace characters onto the block and carve around them

104
Q

Widow

A

starting a new page or column with the last line of a paragraph

104
Q

x-height

A

the main body of the lowercase letter; one of the main axes of alignment in Latin typography along with cap height and baseline (Thinking with Type by Ellen Luton); The distance between the baseline and the height of the lowercase letter ‘x’

105
Q

Weight

A

The thickness of a font’s stroke

Typography (1 decks)

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