Anatomy and terminology of type
What is/ was type?
Type + typeface
Type is the physical embodiment of letters.
A typeface may include letters, general, punctuation and symbols; all known as glyphs.
Typeface is an artistic interpretation, or design of a collection of alphanumeric symbols. A typeface is usually grouped together in a family of fonts. e.g. italic regular, bold.
Text typeface would be used for large bodies of text and display typeface would be used for titles and headings. They are separate because the x-heights and spacings vary so that they read better in large amounts or as a short phrase.
Font
Fonts are a collection of letters, numbers, punctuation and other symbols used to set text.
Font refers to the physical embodiment, whereas typeface refers to the way it looks.
Bold fonts, regular fonts, italic fonts are all variations of one typeface.
A font is what you use, a typeface is what you see.
Lettering
Lettering is the illustration of letters, words and phrases to produce a unique image. The difference is that typefaces are a system and can be rearranged endlessly and still work together. Lettering is a set design and would not work together is rearranged to try and spell out a different word. This is because it is meant to be seen and used in that configuration and that configuration only.
Jessica Hishce
Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and author with a tendency to overshare and a penchant for procrastiworking.
Anatomy of type
 |
| x-height and cap-height |
Cap-height is the height from the baseline to the top of the uppercase letters. (not including diacritics)
X-height is the height of the lowercase letter, not including the ascenders and descenders. (x is the best example of this)
The relationship of the x-height to the body defines the perceived type size.
A typeface with a large x-height would look bigger than a typeface with a small x-height, even if they were actually the same size.
 |
| serif |
A serif is the little extra stroke found at the end of the main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letterforms.
Sans-serif is the term that comes from the French word sans, meaning “without”. Sans-serif typefaces have no serifs at the ends of strokes.
The bracket is the curved or wedge-like connection between the stem and the serif.
Brackets are usually found on old-style or transitional serifs. Not all serifs are bracketed serifs, these are called rational serifs.
Italic is a mostly slanted type style which takes shape from a stylised form of handwriting. It is usually narrower than the roman counterpart and often only found in serif designs. Italics are mainly used for emphasis in text.
An italic typeface is a redesigned version of the roman version and not just slanted.
Oblique is the slanted versions of sans-serif typefaces. They are simply mechanically slanted (sheared) and not individually redesigned or slimmed down.
 |
| descender |
A descender is any part of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline e.g. j, p, q …
An ascender is any part in a lowercase better that extends above the x-height e.g. b, d, f, h …
 |
| ascender |
A diacritic is mark or sign added to a letter to indicate sounds which are not conveyed by the basic alphabet.
 |
| diacritic |
A tittle is the dot on the ‘i’ and the ‘j’.
Uppercase is the capitals in a typeface, referring to the days that metal type and that capitals were kept in the upper part of the type case.
The counter is the enclosed or partially enclosed circular or curved negative space of some letters such as d, o + s.
The bowl is the curved part of the characters that encloses the circular or curved parts of some letters such as d, b, o …
The crossbar is the horizontal stroke across the middle of the uppercase ‘A’ and ‘H’.
 |
| aperture |
The ear is typically found on the lower case ‘g’, an ear is a decorative flourish usually on the upper right side of the bowl.
The eye refers specifically to the enclosed space in a lowercase ‘e’.
The aperture is the partially enclosed, rounded negative space in some characters such as n, a, e …
The link/neck is the stroke, often curved, that connects the bowl and loop of a double-storey ‘g’.
 |
| bowl |
The tail is the descending, often decorative stroke on the letter ‘Q’ , ‘K’ or ‘R’.
 |
| ligature |
A ligature is when two or more letters are joined together to form one glyph.
 |
| evolution of ampersand |
The ampersand (&) is used in place of the words ‘and’.
Tschichold believes that the ampersand should only be used between personal names.
The ampersand originates from the connected letters of ‘e’ and ’t’.
& (italic Baskerville very clearly shows the ‘e’ and ’t’)
The first recorded instance of the ampersand was preserved by the 79AD eruption or vesuvius in the Bay of Naples. A piece of graffiti on a wall in Pompei is the ampersand as a typographic form.
Fortnum & Mason have a specially designed ampersand stencil, so it can be used on the famous iconic hampers. It has been so strongly branded that the ampersand alone now is recognisable enough to represent the whole company without even the F or M.
The @ symbol dates back to the mid 1300s in religious manuscripts in place of the word Amin or Amen.
But it was in 1971 when an American computer programmer called Ray Tomlinson was contracted toe connect all computers over America. He decided to use the @ symbol.
No comments:
Post a Comment