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Home , Ascender (typography), Counter (typography), Ligature (writing), Serif, Swash (typography), Typeface anatomy

1:

A letter is defined as a character or that represents sound used in speech. The English has 26 of these characters, from which all of the is derived.

Each character is unique, it has it’s own sound, it’s own shape, its own characteristics and its own rules of use.

A designer can not properly create good typographic design without a proper understanding of the characters that make up a word, sentence, or .

Images from this slide show come from: http://www.graphictivitis.com/index.php/the-anatomy-of-type/ Typography 1: Letter

The is made up of uppercase letters, lowercase letters and a full complement of symbols, including periods, , exclamation points, question marks, numbers, , brackets, etc.

The overall look and design of these letters is called a . The complete set of letters, numbers, and symbols together is called a .

Samples of (left) and (right) Typography 1:Letter

The two main categories of are or sans serif.

Fonts are often divided into serif and sans serif. Serif are distinguishable by the extra stroke at the ends of the character, known as a serif (aka as a tail).

Sans serif is a letterform without structural extensions or tails. Sans is french meaning without. Typography 1:Letter

Examples of serif and sans serif typefaces Serif:

Sans serif is a letterform without structural extensions or tails. Sans is french meaning without.

Cave Paintings in Zimbabwe Typography 1: Letter

Heavy rectangular shaped serifs are called typefaces

What are some examples of slab serif typefaces in your collection of fonts? Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Cap height: The height of the uppercase letters. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

X-height: height of lowercase letters, specifically the lowercase , not including ascenders and . Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Baseline: The imaginary line on which the majority of the characters in a typeface rest.

Ascender: The part of lowercase letters (such as , , and ) that as- cends above the x-height of the other lowercase letters in a face. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Ascender: The part of lowercase letters (such as k, b, and d) that as- cends above the x-height of the other lowercase letters in a face. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Descender: The part of lowercase letters (such as , p, and ) that descends below the of the other lowercase letters in a font face. In some typefaces, the uppercase and Q also descend below the baseline. Typography 1:Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Crossbar or Cross Stroke: A horizontal stroke connecting two stems as in A and , or a simple stroke as in and . Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Ball Terminal: A circular form at the end of the arm in letters such as a, c, f, j, and y. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Bowl: In typography, the curved part of the character that encloses the cir- cular or curved parts () of some letters such as d, b, o, D, and B is the bowl. Some sources call any parts of a letter enclosing a space a bowl, in- cluding both parts of a doule storey and the straight stem on a D or B. The curved strokes of a C are sometimes also referred as bowls although they aren’t closed. Also called eye.

The shape and size of the counter and bowl can affect readability and is also an identifying factor for some typefaces. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Counter: The white space enclosed by a letterform, whether wholly - closed, as in d or o, or partially, as in c or . Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Ear: The stroke attached to the bowl of the lowercase g. Some typographers use the same term for the lowercase r. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Arm: The arm of a letter is the horizontal stroke on some characters that does not connect to a stroke or stem at one or both ends. The top of the capital T and the horizontal strokes of the F and are examples of arms. Ad- ditionally, the diagonal upward stroke on a K is its arm. Sometimes arm is used interchangeably with or crossbar or cross stroke. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Stem: A main stroke that is more or less straight, not part of a bowl. The let- ter o has no stem; the letter I consists of stem and serifs alone. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Loop/Lobe : The lower bowl of a lowercase g. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Spur: Similar to but generally smaller than a serif or beak, a spur is a small bit at the end of certain curved portions of a letterform such as the end(s) of a C or S or the middle of G. also known as barb, cat’s ear. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Bracket/Fillet: The bracket is a curved or wedge-like connection between the stem and serif of some fonts. Not all serifs are bracketed serifs. Brackets can have different shapes with deep or gentle curves. Brackets may taper all the way to the end of the serif or attach at a midpoint before the serif ends. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Link/Neck: In , the link is that small, usually curved stroke that connects the bowl and loop of a double-storey g. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Tail: the descending, often decorative stroke on the letter Q or the descend- ing, often curved diagonal stroke on K or R is the tail. The on g, j, p, q, and y are also called tails. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Apex: The at the top of a character such as the uppercase A where the left and right strokes meet is the apex. The apex may be a sharp point, blunt, or rounded and is an identifying feature for some typefaces. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Shoulder: The curved stroke of the h, m, n. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Leg: The lower, down sloping stroke of the K and k is called a leg. The same stroke on R as well as the tail of a Q is sometimes also called a leg. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Spine: The main curved stroke of the S. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Hairline: A thin stroke usually common to serif typestyles. Typography 1:Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Ligature: Two or more letters combined into one character make a . In typography some ligatures represent specific sounds or words such as the AE or æ diphthong ligature. Other ligatures are primarily to make type more attractive on the such as the fl and fi ligatures. In most cases, a ligature is only available in extended characters sets or special expert sets of fonts.

Ligatures used to improve the appearance of type are usually character pairs or triplets that have features that tend to overlap when used together. The ligature creates a smoother transition or connection between characters by connecting crossbars, removing dots over the i, or otherwise altering the shape of the characters. Typography 1: Letter

ANATOMY OF A LETTER

Swash: A fancy flourish replacing a terminal or serif.

enabling swashes in InDesign: http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1084741&seqNum=3