Friday 9 October 2015

OUGD403: Anatomy of Type Lecture



Typeface: A family containing individual fonts for italic, bold and other variations of the primary design.

Font: A collection of letters, numbers, punctuation etc.
(Font refers to the physical embodiment as opposed to typeface which refers to the design.)

Lettering: This is essentially illustrations of letters, words and phrases, which will only work in one configuration and wouldn't look right if it was rearranged.

Display Typeface: This is used for headings.

Text Typeface: This is used for large bodies of text.

Cap-Height: The height from the baseline to the top of the uppercase letters (not including diacritics).

X-Height: The height of the lowercase letters, disregarding ascenders or descenders typically exemplified by the letter x. The relationship of the x-height to the body defines the perceived type size. A typeface with a large x-height looks much bigger than a typeface with a small x-height at the same size.

Baseline: The imaginary line upon which the letter appears to sit.


Serif: is the little extra stroke found at the end of main vertical and horizontal strokes of some letterforms.

Sans-serif: Is without no strokes which is called a Terminal Bracket

Italic: Slanted type style which takes its basic shape from a stylised form of handwriting, usually narrower than its Roman counterpart.

Oblique: Mostly Slanted type style but been skewed from the original letter form. Not redesigned unlike with italic.

Descender: Any part of a letter form that extends below the baseline.


Ascender: Any part of a letter form that extenders above the x-height.


Diacritic: Ancillary mark or sign added to a letter. Used to change the sound value of the letters.


Superscript: A letter figure or symbol that is placed or printed above the normal line of type.


Subscript: A letter figure or symbol that is placed or printed below the normal line of type


Strike through: Used to signify a mistake or recently deleted information.


Counter: Enclosed or sometimes partially closed circular or curved negative space of some letters such as o & d.


Eye: Refers to the space enclosed within a 'e'.


Bowl: The curved part of the character that encloses the circular or curved parts (counter) of some letters such as d, b, o, D, and B is the bowl.

Aperture: Partially enclosed somewhat rounded negative space in some characters such as n, C, S

Crossbar: Horizontal stroke across the middle of an A or H.

Ear: Typically found on the lower case g, an ear is a decorative flourish usually on the upper right side of the bowl.

Colophon: Typographic specifications usually listed at the end of a publications. Usually contain information about typefaces used, the publisher, place and date of publication.

Ligature: Used on a letter form that connect to each other

Kerning: Refers to the process if adding or subtracting space between specific letters or characters


Tracking: Refers to the process of loosening or tightening of a block of text



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