PARTS OF THE LETTER

Typography evolved from handwriting, which is created by making a series of marks by hand; therefore, the fundamen- tal element constructing a letterform is the linear stroke (stem). Each letter of our alphabet developed as a simple mark whose visual characteristics clearly sepa- rated it from all others. PARTS OF THE LETTER

By learning the vocabulary designers and typographers can develop a greater understanding and sensitivity to the visual harmony and complexity of the alphabet. PARTS OF THE LETTER

As with any craft that has evolved over 500 years, typography employs a number of technical terms. We will be learning these terms throughout the semester. The following describes specific parts of letterforms. Knowing the letterform component parts will make it much easier to identify specific typeface in the future. serif: the short strokes that finish off the major strokes of the letterform.

bracket: a curving joint between the serif and the stroke

bracket A baskerville bodoni rockwell Atransitional Amodern slab serif extreme thick and thins nearly mono-weight stroke width A baskerville bodoni rockwell Atransitional Amodern slab serif extreme thick and thins nearly mono-weight baseline: the imaginary line defining the visual base of the letterform. all letterforms sit on the baseline.

baseline xAapdeCGgQk cap height: the height of the upper case in a font, taken from the base- line to the top of the character.

cap height

baseline xAapdeCGgQk x-height: the height lowercase x. if you compare typefaces of the same point size they may not have the same x-height. all of the lowercase x’s are the same point size.

xbembo xbaskerville xbodoni xrockwell xfutura old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif

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descender a stroke on a lowercase letterfom that falls below the baseline. apex

A A A A bembo baskerville bodoni rockwell Afutura A old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif cross bar apex

W W W bembo baskerville didot W old style transitional modern vertex final

bembo baskerville bodoni aold style atransitional amodern

terminal bowl bowl bowl: the rounded form that describes a counter. the bowl may be either open or closed

counter: the negative space within xa letterform either fully or pc partially enclosed. counter counter example: of how counterform can be used in design and especially logos. eye e e e e e bembo baskerville bodoni rockwell meta e old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif cross bar barb

C C C C C bembo baskerville bodoni rockwell futura C old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif b b

G G G G G bembo baskerville bodoni serifa meta old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif

Gspur link: the stroke that connects the bowl and the loop of the lowercase g.

ear g g g g g bembo baskerville bodoni rockwell meta link g old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif

loop the bowl at the lower part of the lowercase letter g. it can be open or continuous. Q Q Q QQ bembo baskerville bodoni rockwell futura Q old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif

tail arm

k crotch k k k k bembo baskerville bodoni rockwell futura old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif kstem leg R R R R R bembo baskerville bodoni rockwell futura R old style transitional modern slab serif sans serif leg stem barb ascender ear final arm bowl link apex cap height x-height baseline xAapdeCGgQk

eye leg cross bar descender spur counter terminal loop tail