.. . . a Quick Reference Ascender Stem Terminal Ear Bowl Eye Shoulder Serif - - Aperture BracketHandgloveCrossbar Counter Axis Overshoot ry Link/Neck Loop/Lobe Tail Descender The upward vertical stem on some An imaginary line drawn from top to The curved part of the character that Typeface lowercase letters, such as ‘h’ and ‘b’, that bottom of a glyph bisecting the upper and encloses the circular or curved parts extends above the x-height is the lower strokes is the axis. (counter) of some letters such as ‘d’, ‘b’, ‘o’, ascender. ‘D’, and ‘B’ is the bowl. Anatomy The imaginary line upon which the letters The aperture is the partially enclosed, in a font appear to rest. The bracket is a curved or wedge-like somewhat rounded negative space in connection between the stem and serif — Basic parts some characters such as ‘n’, ‘C’, ‘S’, the of some fonts. Not all serifs are lower part of ‘e’, or the upper part of a bracketed serifs. of a typeface double-storey ‘a’. ../ . . a Quick Reference The height from the baseline to the top Typically found on the lower case ‘g’, an The descending, often decorative stroke of the uppercase letters (not including ear is a decorative flourish usually on the on the letter ‘Q’, or the descending, often diacritics). upper right side of the bowl. curved diagonal stroke on ‘K’ or ‘R’ is the tail. Further Reading The enclosed or partially enclosed circular Much like a counter, the eye refers or curved negative space (white space) of specifically to the enclosed space in a The end (straight or curved) of any stroke • FontShop Fundamentals 2 some letters such as ‘d’, ‘o’, and ‘s’. lowercase ‘e’. that doesn’t include a serif. • Erik Spiekermann's Typo Tips • Type Glossary / - The (usually) horizontal stroke across the The stroke, often curved, that connects The height of the lowercase letters, • Type Anatomy middle of uppercase ‘A’ and ‘H’ is a the bowl and loop of a double-storey ‘g’. disregarding ascenders or descenders, crossbar. typically exemplified by the letter x. The Online Resources / relationship of the x-height to the body In a double-storey ‘g’, the loop is the defines the perceived type size. A typeface • Fontshop.com Any part in a lowercase letter that extends enclosed or partially enclosed counter with a large x-height looks much bigger • FontFeed.com below the baseline, found for example in below the baseline that is connected to than a typeface with a small x-height at • Spiekermann.com ‘g’, ‘j’, ‘p’, ‘q’, ‘y’, etc. Some types of the bowl by a link. The enclosed or the same size. descenders have specific names. partially enclosed extenders on cursive ‘p’, ‘b’, ‘l’, and similiar letters are also called loops. FontShop Education About FontShop Colophon Without training the best typefaces can Founded by Erik Spiekermann and Neville This document is set in Meta Serif for ©2010 FontShop International. All rights reserved. All Trademarks named herein remain the property of only go so far. That’s why FontShop is Brody in 1989, FontShop is the original titles, and Unit for captions and text. their respective owners. The contents of this more than a shop that sells fonts — we independent retailer of digital type. publication may not be repurposed or duplicated want to help you do great work too. Get We offer more than 100,000 fonts from without express prior written permission. more typography tips and tutorials at dozens of expert-selected foundries, fontshop.com/education. including our house brand: FontFont..