Type Terminology

glossary ampersand a symbol that stands for the word and an ampersand is one of the most well known typography terms you’ll use it’s a character symbolizing “ and ” , helpful when you’re trying to save space it was created from the saying “and per se and”, which eventually was shortened by english speakers to ampersand arm the horizontal or diagonal stroke of a character that does not connect to another stroke at one or both ends this typographic term refers to a segment of any letter not attached to a vertical bar some examples of arms are the side of a "v" or the middle bar of an "e" in both of these examples you have a piece free on one side just like the top of a "t" ascender the vertical stroke of some lowercase letters that extends above the typeface’s x height line the part of some lowercase letters, such as the strokes on the letters b, d, or h, that rises above the meanline apex the typographic term apex refers to the top of a symbol or character where two lines or strokes meet for example, an “a” has two strokes that form an upside down “v” at the top, and this point forms the apex this makes sense when you think about the fact that an apex is defined as the peak or highest point baseline the guideline upon which a typeface’s characters sit blackletter a style of typefaces designed according to the heavy, angular, and condensed calligraphic method of writing prevalent during the 13th through 15th centuries also known as gothic or old english bowl the enclosed rounded part(s) of a letter, as seen in characters like the uppercase p and b, and the lowercase d and q brush script a casual style of script typefaces that emulate the look of letters written by hand using ink and a brush calligraphic script a more formal style of script typefaces that replicate the look of calligraphic writing done with a broad tipped pen or brush callout a brief caption or notation related to a key point of a photo or an illustration callouts are often connected to their subject with an arrow or a line cap height line the guideline that establishes the height of a typeface’s capitals and ascenders capital an uppercase letter caption a short passage of text usually related to the content of a photo or an illustration case configuration the way in which case has been applied to a word or a group of words the three main case configurations are all uppercase, all lowercase, and inital cap (first letter is capitalized and the rest are lowercase) centered justification lines of text that are centered along a vertical axis character any member of a typeface—letter, numeral, punctuation mark, or symbol the individual letters, punctuation, numerals, and other elements that are used when setting type column a rectangular container for text, usually vertical layouts often feature between one and five columns of text counter the space within a closed—or partially closed—part of a letter the lowercase e demonstrates both a closed and an open counter—closed in its top portion and open in its lower cross stroke a horizontal stroke that intersects the stem of a lowercase t or f a cross stroke, unlike a crossbar, connects with the rest of its letterform at only one—or neither—of its ends crossbar a horizontal stroke that connects on each end with a stroke or a stem the uppercase a and h feature crossbars, as does a lowercase e descender the part of a lowercase letter that extends below its baseline the part of some lowercase letters that falls below the baseline, such as the strokes on the letters p, y, and g dingbat a typographic symbol, ornament, or illustration some dingbat fonts are heavy on symbols, and others contain mostly ornaments or imagery display font expressive fonts that are meant to be used for headlines and word graphics serif and sans serif fonts that have been expressly designed for use at larger sizes are also sometimes called display fonts dot matrix font a font specifically designed to print well using a dot matrix printer even though dot matrix printers are rarely used these days, certain dot matrix fonts remain in use, chicago and new york among them drop capital a large capital letter used at the beginning of a paragraph drop caps (as they’re also known) are usually sized so that they drop down two or more lines into a paragraph ear the small detail extending from the upper bowl of a serif font lowercase g (as seen in the large sample on page 13) em a flexible unit of measure that equates to the size, in points, of the type being used em quads the em quad is the square of a specific type size and therefore varies according to type size for example, if the type is 10 points, the em quad is a square that occupies a space of 10 points by 10 points if the type is 72 points, the em quad is 72 points square as the em varies with the type size, any visual effect created by a one em space will be consistent regardless of type size in traditional metal typesetting, em quads, like leads, did not print but were simply used for spacing since 1 em was too much space to leave between words, the em quad was subdivided to produce smaller spaces for wordspacing with the exception of the em, these metal type designations for spacing are no longer used a 1 em space is still utilized as the standard paragraph indent and is called a 1 em indent to get an idea of what a 1 em space looks like, just check the beginning of this paragraph since the type size is 8 5 points, the 1 em indent is also 8 5 points eye the closed counter of a lowercase e flush left justification lines of text that are vertically aligned along their left edges the right edge of a flush left column of text is allowed to be ragged flush right justification lines of text that are vertically aligned along their right edges the left edge of a flush right column of text is allowed to be ragged font a specific style of type within a typeface family glyph a symbol, ligature, or alternate typographic form within a typeface glyphs can be accessed through pull down menus in indesign and illustrator grid a set of reference guidelines that can be used to generate cues for the placement of a layout’s components gutter the space between columns hairline stroke the thinnest stroke within typefaces that feature strokes of different widths nearly all serif typefaces feature a hairline stroke and a thicker stroke illustrator an adobe program that specializes in the creation and handling of vector based graphics indesign an adobe program primarily used to create layouts for both print and the web initial cap a case configuration where only the first letter of a word is capitalized and the rest are lowercase italic a forward leaning style of typeface, often with hints of cursive lettering most italic fonts are paired with non leaning, roman versions of the font see also oblique justified text text that fits within a column with both its left and right edges conforming to a vertically aligned edge from line to line kerning the space between pairs of letters within a word leading the distance between the baselines of stacked lines of type leading, like type, is measured in points ligature two or more letters that are joined together to form a single glyph lowercase non capital letters of a typeface monogram a standalone configuration of one, two, or three (and sometimes more) individual letters monospace a kind of typeface whose characters all fit within the same horizontal measurement monospace fonts were primarily developed for typewriters and early computers novelty a style of typeface that doesn’t fit easily into any other category of type novelty fonts are sometimes highly decorative, sometimes built around peculiar themes, and sometimes made to look damaged or deranged good for certain logos and headlines, novelty fonts are almost never a good choice for text oblique many sans serif fonts use oblique letterforms rather than true italics for leaning letters the difference is that italics conform to certain aspects of cursive writing, while obliques are just forward leaning relatives of their upright counterparts see also italic ornament a decorative typographic design—often found in dingbat families of type and sometimes as extended offerings of regular typefaces orphan a solitary word left over at the end of a paragraph usually something to be avoided photoshop an adobe program designed to enhance and modify pixel based images many art professionals also use photoshop to create illustrations point a unit of measurement equal to 1/72 of an inch reverse to allow an element of a printed piece (type, linework, decorations, and the like) to appear as the paper color within areas of ink coverage white type, for example, has been reversed when it appears within an area of black or colored ink roman the upright version of a typeface—as opposed to its leaning italic or oblique version sans serif a style of type without serifs helvetica, univers, and futura are sans serif fonts script typefaces that generally mimic traditional cursive letterforms that would be drawn with a quill or a metal nibbed ink pen serif projections (usually small) that finish off the main strokes of a serif typeface’s characters see page 23 for examples of different kinds of serifs serif typeface a typeface that has serifs serif typeface characters are almost always composed of thick and thin strokes see page 23 for a look at the four different kinds of serif typefaces shoulder the curved stroke that comes down from a stem small caps an alphabet of all uppercase characters in place of its lowercase letters, a small caps alphabet uses slightly smaller capitals spine the main curved stroke of an s (both uppercase and lowercase) spur a small projection that comes off a main stroke, though not a serif or an ear both serif and sans serif fonts can feature spurs (see the large type sample on page 26 for a look at the spur that surprisingly appears on a lowercase helvetica a) stem the full length vertical stroke of characters like an uppercase t and b, and a lowercase d and l stroke a widely used term in typography that collectively refers to straight and curved parts of letters like stems, arms, and bowls tail a term that always refers to the lower stroke of a capital q (whether the stroke is plain, curved, or decorative) tail is also sometimes used to refer to the descending stroke of a capital k and r—details that can also be called legs target audience the specific demographic being aimed for with a commercially purposed work of design or art terminal the end of any stroke that doesn’t include a serif one kind of terminal, a ball terminal (a roundish feature that usually connects gracefully with a thin stroke), is sometimes seen at the end of the curved stroke of a lowercase r, or on both the upper and lower ends of an italic lowercase f (examples of both of these things can be seen in the word giraffe on page 17) text block an area within a layout that contains one or more columns of text thumbnail sketch a sketch—usually small and quickly drawn—that represents an idea for a layout, a logo, an illustration, or any other work of design or art tittle the dot of a lowercase i or j most tittles are round or oval, but some take on other shapes tracking the relative spacing allowed between the letters of words within an area of text typeface the umbrella term for an overall typographic design—including its light, medium, or heavy weights, its italicized versions, and its condensed or extended alternatives type sizes metal type was cast in a range of specific sizes between 5 and 72 points sizes below 5 points were extremely difficult to cast (and extremely difficult to read), and sizes above 72 points weighed too much if sizes larger than 72 points were required, the letterforms were carved on lighter wooden blocks type sizes were divided into two categories text type and display type the text type sizes, designed for general reading, were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14 points although the difference of a single point may seem insignificant, in smaller sizes it can be very noticeable the traditional display sizes, designed primarily for headlines, were 16, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 60, and 72 points 4 | traditional text and display sizes with today’s digital equipment, type is no longer limited to these specific sizes but can be generated in any size or fraction thereof however, the terms text and display are still used in a general way for type sizes below and above 14 points furthermore, type manufacturers still use the traditional sizes when displaying type specimens uppercase another term for a capital letter value the darkness or lightness of a color on a scale that goes from near black to near white visual hierarchy the apparent visual priority of a composition’s elements a strong sense of hierarchy occurs when on element of a composition clearly stands out above the piece’s other visual components weight the relative thickness of a font a light weight font will have thinner details than the same font in a regular, bold, heavy, or black weight x height line the line at the height of a typeface’s lowercase letters—based on the height of its lowercase x