Do you need to grow to be a grasp of typography? If that’s the case, it’s necessary that you just achieve a greater understanding of the phrases associated to fonts and typography.
Studying about these ideas may be daunting if you happen to’re simply beginning. That’s why we’ve created this information to demystify 50 key font & typographic design ideas. We’ll present you all the pieces from fundamental typeface terminology to extra advanced ideas. You possibly can bookmark this web page and are available again to it each time wanted.
Contents
- 1 Glossary of Typography Phrases
- 1.1 Typography
- 1.2 Font
- 1.3 Typeface
- 1.4 Character
- 1.5 Glyph
- 1.6 Stroke
- 1.7 Serif
- 1.8 Sans Serif
- 1.9 Slab Serif
- 1.10 Terminal
- 1.11 Script
- 1.12 Monoline
- 1.13 Show
- 1.14 Grotesk
- 1.15 Pairing
- 1.16 Household
- 1.17 Weight
- 1.18 Italics
- 1.19 Indirect
- 1.20 Ligatures
- 1.21 Stylistic Alternate
- 1.22 Swash
- 1.23 OpenType
- 1.24 TrueType
- 1.25 Level Dimension
- 1.26 Uppercase
- 1.27 Lowercase
- 1.28 Small Caps
- 1.29 Physique Copy
- 1.30 Accented Characters
- 1.31 X-height
- 1.32 Main
- 1.33 Kerning
- 1.34 Monitoring
- 1.35 Legibility
- 1.36 Placeholder Textual content
- 1.37 Lorem Ipsum
- 1.38 Baseline
- 1.39 Cap Line
- 1.40 Ascender
- 1.41 Descender
- 1.42 Aperture
- 1.43 Crotch
- 1.44 Arm
- 1.45 Stem
- 1.46 Shoulder
- 1.47 Crossbar
- 1.48 Widows & Orphans
- 1.49 Internet Font
- 1.50 Dingbat
- 2 Remaining Ideas on Typography Phrases
Glossary of Typography Phrases
Typography
The artwork and strategy of arranging sort, typefaces, and fonts to make written language legible, readable, and engaging when displayed. It entails the considerate number of typefaces and character attributes to create compelling visuals that talk a message in an aesthetically pleasing method.
Font
A set of characters, together with letters, numbers, and punctuation marks used to provide written content material in a selected measurement and elegance.
Typeface
A set of letters, numbers, and symbols that share a typical design. A typeface might include a number of variations that come in numerous font weights (e.g. daring, skinny), widths (slender or extensive), italics, and different variations.
Though the phrases “font” and “typeface” are sometimes used interchangeably, the 2 phrases have barely totally different definitions. A font is a selected measurement, weight, width, and elegance of a typeface. For instance, Occasions New Roman is a typeface. Occasions New Roman 16pt daring is a font.
For extra particulars, please learn our article Typeface vs. Font.
Character
A personality is a single letter, quantity, or punctuation mark that’s a part of a font.
Glyph
A glyph is the visible illustration of a personality, equivalent to a letter, quantity, or punctuation mark. A number of glyphs might exist for some characters, for instance, if a font contains alternate variations of letters. A single glyph may be modified by altering its measurement, weight, width, and elegance (e.g. italic) whereas nonetheless preserving the unique design intact.
Stroke
A stroke is a linear aspect of a personality. The load and width utilized to those particular person strokes decide the general feel and appear of the font.
Serif
A serif is a small line or ornamental stroke added to the ends of characters in some typefaces. Serifs add visible curiosity, lead the attention throughout the web page and supply construction to a design. They can be utilized to create distinction between thick and skinny strains and assist information readers alongside texts.
Sans Serif
Sans serif typefaces should not have any extra strokes or ornamental components on the finish of every character. These typefaces are typically extra trendy, minimal, and clear in look, making them a preferred alternative for company branding and signage.
Please learn Serif vs. Sans Serif for extra particulars.
Slab Serif
Slab serif typefaces characteristic blocky rectangular serifs (horizontal strains on the finish of every character’s stroke). These typefaces are designed to be extremely seen and attention-grabbing, making them ideally suited for headlines and titles however much less applicable for lengthy sections of physique copy.
Terminal
The tip of a stroke that doesn’t characteristic a serif.
Script
A method of typeface that imitates the looks of handwriting or calligraphy. Script fonts are characterised by a flowing fashion with distinct strokes. They’re usually used to convey a sense of sophistication, class, and wonder.
Monoline
A kind of font or typeface that consists of all characters with the identical width and constant stroke weight. This typeface usually lacks any serifs and different ornamental components, making it seem trendy and glossy.
Show
A classification of font or typeface used particularly for headlines, titles, and huge textual content blocks (not for physique copy). The characters are usually ornamental, permitting them to face out towards the opposite typography on the web page. Show fonts usually characteristic distinctive components equivalent to uncommon letter shapes, stylized serifs, or ornamental strains that may create a visible impactful.
Grotesk
A kind of sans serif font characterised by its easy and minimalistic look, that includes uniform line weight and an absence of ornamental components. In contrast to different sans serifs, the strokes of Grotesk fonts are barely thicker and wider, giving them an total bolder look. This typeface additionally has terminals on the finish of every character.
Pairing
The method of choosing two or extra typefaces that work harmoniously collectively in a design. It entails combining fonts with complementary traits, equivalent to totally different weights and kinds, to create aesthetically pleasing and legible distinction.
Household
A set of typefaces that share widespread design traits, equivalent to stroke weight and serifs. It normally contains variations on the identical fashion, equivalent to totally different weights, widths (condensed or prolonged), kinds (italics), and many others. Font households are sometimes categorized by functions or visible appearances, equivalent to show or serif fonts.
Weight
The thickness of a typeface’s strokes. A font’s weight could also be expressed numerically from 100 (lightest) to 900 (boldest). The upper the quantity, the thicker and darker the strokes grow to be. Descriptive phrases like skinny, mild, common, medium, daring, and black can even point out weight.
Italics
Italics is a method of typography that slants the characters to the proper, usually used to emphasise sure phrases or phrases. It can be used so as to add visible curiosity to a design.
Indirect
A slanted typeface. Obliques are barely totally different than italics as a result of they’re created by merely slanting the characters of an everyday font relatively than designing them particularly for that objective. Italic fonts are typically narrower.
Ligatures
Pairs of characters which can be joined collectively in a single glyph. (Not all typefaces embrace ligatures.) They’re usually used to create a extra aesthetically pleasing and legible design, equivalent to when two letters overlap. Ligatures usually exist just for letter combos which can be incessantly used collectively, equivalent to “tt.”
Stylistic Alternate
A model of a personality with a barely totally different design. Like ligatures, alternates aren’t offered for each font. They usually add visible curiosity and provides designers extra choices when creating type-based designs. Alternates mean you can create textual content that has a custom-designed look.
Swash
A typographic embellishment that provides character to letters. It consists of prolonged or exaggerated strokes and curves, usually in script fonts. Swashes are sometimes used for a phrase’s first or final letter to ornamental contact. Some typefaces embrace swashes, however many don’t.
OpenType
A format (.otf information) for digital typefaces that features superior options equivalent to ligatures, stylistic alternates, swashes, fractions, and many others. This permits designers extra flexibility when creating type-based designs. Designers might have software program (like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator) that helps OpenType options to take full benefit of those capabilities.
TrueType
TrueType is a well-liked font format developed within the late Nineteen Eighties. It’s a vector-based sort format that shops information on the outlines of characters, permitting them to be scaled and manipulated with out dropping high quality or decision. This makes it ideally suited for displaying typefaces on pc screens and printing them in excessive decision. Nonetheless, TrueType doesn’t help superior OpenType options like ligatures, alternates, and many others.
For extra particulars, please learn OTF vs. TTF: Which Font Format is Higher?
Level Dimension
Level measurement is a measurement that signifies the scale of the characters in a typeface. It’s measured from the highest of the tallest ascender to the underside of the bottom descender after which rounded as much as the closest complete quantity. Level measurement is often expressed in factors (pt) equal to 1/72 inch.
Uppercase
The bigger type of letters in a typeface. Uppercase letters are used initially of every sentence for correct nouns and acronyms. Fonts with uppercase characters have larger x-heights than fonts with out uppercase characters.
Lowercase
The smaller type of letters in a typeface. Lowercase letters are usually used for almost all of phrases in a sentence. In comparison with uppercase letters, lowercase characters have a a lot decrease x-height. Most fonts and kinds embrace each uppercase and lowercase letters.
Small Caps
Small caps are a method of typographic lettering barely bigger than the lowercase letters in a typeface however nonetheless smaller than the uppercase letters. With small caps, all characters in a given phrase or phrase will seem on the identical peak and measurement.
Physique Copy
Physique copy is the principle textual content or a protracted part of the textual content, normally set in a serif or sans-serif font. It contains letters, phrases, and sentences organized cohesively to speak info or inform a narrative. Physique copy may be set in any measurement or fashion of typeface, however usually it’s set in a legible, readable typeface.
Accented Characters
Accented characters are typographic characters modified to incorporate particular accents or diacritical marks. These marks, generally present in languages equivalent to French, German, and Spanish, differentiate comparable sounds and alter the pronunciation of a phrase.
X-height
An necessary measurement for typefaces that signifies the peak of lowercase letters. It’s measured from the baseline to the midline of a font and is used as a reference level when evaluating typefaces. X-height usually ranges from 44–48% of the general font measurement and might have a big affect on the readability of a font.
Main
The vertical house between strains of textual content. It’s measured from baseline to baseline and is normally indicated by a quantity equivalent to the typeface’s level measurement. For instance, if you happen to use 12pt sort, the main would usually be 12pt. Growing main provides white house between strains
Kerning
The method of adjusting the spacing between particular person characters in a font. It creates visible stability and ensures an excellent, uniform look of phrases and phrases in a design. Kerning can modify the house between letters, numbers, punctuation, and different symbols.
Monitoring
The method of adjusting the general spacing between a number of characters in a font. It’s designed to offer the textual content a extra uniform, constant look and might make phrases and phrases simpler to learn. Monitoring normally works on a set of characters, equivalent to a phrase, phrase, or line of textual content.
For extra particulars, please learn Main vs. Kerning vs. Monitoring.
Legibility
Pertains to how readable a font or typeface is. It’s decided by components equivalent to x-height, character shapes, and the general spacing between characters. Legible fonts are clear and straightforward to learn, whereas illegible fonts may be tough to decipher and should require larger effort to learn.
Placeholder Textual content
Placeholder textual content is generic textual content used to display the visible look of a doc or web site with out utilizing actual content material. It’s incessantly utilized in typography and graphic design initiatives, equivalent to designing logos, layouts, brochures, and different printed or digital supplies.
Lorem Ipsum
Lorem Ipsum is a placeholder textual content generally utilized in typography and graphic design (normally starting with the phrases “Lorem ipsum”). It’s a dummy textual content composed of a mix of Latin phrases, popularized in the course of the sixteenth century by the typesetting and printing trade.
Baseline
Refers back to the imaginary line on which most letters in a font relaxation. It determines the vertical place of characters relative to one another and units a suggestion for the general peak of a block of textual content. The baseline helps create uniformity and consistency throughout strains of textual content.
Cap Line
Refers back to the imaginary line which caps, or upper-case letters, relaxation on. The cap line permits capital letters to seem the identical peak and measurement as different characters in a font.
Ascender
The a part of lowercase letters that extends above the x-height. It normally applies to sure character units equivalent to d, b, h, ok, and l. Ascenders give visible aid to textual content and create distinction between totally different letterforms.
Descender
The elements of lowercase letters that stretch under the baseline. In a typeface, descenders seem on characters equivalent to g, j, q, p, and y. Descenders serve to create visible stability in a block of textual content and assist present distinction between totally different letterforms.
Aperture
Aperture is the form of the counter, or enclosed house, inside a letterform. It is a crucial think about figuring out the legibility and readability of typefaces, because it impacts how a lot white house there may be between characters. Apertures may be opened or closed relying on the design of a font.
Crotch
The angled intersection between two strokes of a letterform. It’s used to create visible stability and curiosity inside a typeface and to supply distinction between totally different characters. The angle of the crotch varies relying on the design of a selected font, and it may be both acute or obtuse.
Arm
An arm is the horizontal stroke of a letterform which normally extends from the left facet of the baseline to the proper. It may be used to tell apart between fonts and create distinction between totally different letterforms.
Stem
The vertical stroke of a letterform that extends from the baseline to the cap line or above.
Shoulder
The curved stroke that connects the ascender to the stem, offering delicate visible aid and distinction between totally different characters.
Crossbar
A crossbar is a horizontal stroke that connects two distinct vertical strokes in a letterform.
Widows & Orphans
Widows and orphans are phrases utilized in typography to check with remoted phrases or strains of textual content that seem initially or finish of a paragraph, column, or web page. A widow is a single phrase that seems on the finish of a paragraph, whereas an orphan is a single line that seems initially or finish of a column. Widows and orphans can disrupt readability and must be averted if potential.
Internet Font
An internet font is a digital font that can be utilized on an internet site or utility to show textual content in a sure fashion. They’re usually offered in codecs equivalent to WOFF (Internet Open Font Format), EOT (Embedded Open Kind), and TTF/OTF (TrueType/OpenType). Internet fonts permit customers to view textual content in a selected font, even when it isn’t put in on their machine.
Dingbat
A typographical image or decoration that doesn’t signify an alphabetic character. It may be used for ornamental functions. Dingbats are usually small photos equivalent to arrows, stars, checkmarks, and hearts.
Remaining Ideas on Typography Phrases
Studying the phrases related to typography will help you make knowledgeable choices when choosing a font to your venture. It’s important to grasp the fundamentals of letterforms and the way they work together to create readability and legibility in a typeface. With this information, you possibly can select fonts that finest fit your design wants.
