Typography Terms You Need to Know — The Latin proverb “Verba volant, scripta manent” states that spoken words are easily forgotten, but written scripts last forever. As a result, they have become an important means of communication.
The earliest method of recording stories and ideas was through pictures in a cave discovered in 25,000 B.C. These pictures are known as pictograms. A pictogram is a simple, understandable representation of people, places, and objects. Despite its simplicity, this written form of communication is permanent, unlike spoken communication.
The hand painting in Cuevas de las Manos, Argentina (about 9,000 to 13,000 B.C.) is the earliest written form of communication taken from the Atlas Obscura page.
Humans consciously created the first written text, forms, and letters approximately 5,000 years ago. Since then, letters have become an important means of communication, evolving over time alongside the advancement of science and technology, eventually leading to digital communication.
One of the significant elements in graphic design is typography. It can mean the arrangement and pattern of pages or all printed materials. The more specific definition is selection, arrangement, and other things related to stacking lines of letters, excluding illustrations and other factors of non-letters on the printed page.
Then, what is typography? A typography is one of graphic design terms which does not stand alone and is related to other fields of science. In simpler words, a typography is a specific letter design.
For common people, they find typographic terms unusual. If you are interested in designing, especially typography, however, you need to learn various terms used to master it.
Below are the terms of typography explained orderly.
Table of Contents
Different shapes (or glyphs) of the same character in a typeface, such as small caps, swash characters, contextual alternates, case-sensitive forms, and so on.
Semi-transparent pixels along the edges of letterforms to smooth jagged edges
The partially enclosed, slightly rounded negative space in some characters, such as ‘n’, ‘C’, ‘S’, the lower part of ‘e’, or the upper part of a double-story ‘a’, particularly the opening to the counter space.
The point at the top of a letter where two strokes meet, such as the capital ‘A’.
Curved part of a letterform that leads to a straight stem
A stroke that doesn’t connect to another stroke or stem at one or both ends.
In lowercase letters, the vertical stroke that extends above the x-height
It is an imaginary line drawn from top to bottom of a glyph that separates the upper and lower strokes. The slant of the axis (or lack thereof) often aids in type classification.
A circular terminal in letters.
An enclosed horizontal stroke.
The imaginary line on which letters in a font appear to rest.
A sharp spur found at the top of letters in some 20th century Romans.
Serif that extends on both sides of a main stroke
The curved part of a character that surrounds the circular or curved parts (counter) of some letters, such as ‘d’, ‘b’, ‘o’, ‘D’, and ‘B’.
Some fonts have a curved or wedge-shaped connection between the stem and serif. Not all serifs have bracketed serifs.
The height of a capital letter measured from the baseline.
It is an imaginary line that marks the top border of capital letters and some lowercase letters (ascender).
An individual symbol of the full character set that makes up a typeface; may take the form of a letter, number, punctuation mark, etc.
An area partially or completely enclosed in a letterform or symbol, such as an ‘o’, ‘p’, ‘d’ or ‘b’.
A horizontal stroke that crosses the stem of a lowercase ‘t’ or ‘f’.
Inside angle where two strokes meet.
Any part of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline, such as g, j, p, q, and y. In italics, f frequently has a descender. The old-style numerals 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 all have descenders. Certain types of descenders have specific names.
An ancillary mark or sign attached to a letter.
Fonts used for large types, such as banners and headlines.
A type of letter that has two counters (as opposed to the single-story version, which has only one counter).
A small stroke extending from the upper-right side of the bowl of lowercase ‘g’ can also be seen in the angled or curved lowercase ‘r’.
Enclosed space in a lowercase ‘e’, similar to a counter.
Tapered or curved ends on letters, such as the bottom of a ‘c’ or ‘e’ or the top of a double-storey ‘a’.
The horizontal stroke at the top of the numeral ‘5’.
In traditional typography terms, particularly in metal print, a font is a collection of characterized metals that represent all characters from a given design. Today, a font is a digital collection of complete characters from a specific type of design or letter.
An embellishment in a ligature that is not initially part of either letter.
A non-standard variation (sometimes decorative) comes from the existing characters as additional options in the font file.
German name for sans serif.
The thinnest stroke in a typeface design with strokes of different widths.
Curved stroke in a lowercase ‘f’.
To avoid clogging from ink buildup, (usually sharp) interior corners are opened up to trap excess ink. Although ink traps were originally intended to be strictly functional, they are now occasionally used as a formal design element.
A cursive alphabet combined with a Roman font and used primarily for emphasis.
Where a stroke joins a stem
Adjustments to the space between pairs of letters, used to correct spacing problems in combinations like “VA.”
Its original meaning was to increase the vertical space between metal lines by inserting lead strips. In the digital age, it refers to the vertical space between lines of text, measured from baseline to baseline. Also known as line spacing.
The descending portion of a letter.
Two or more letters joined together to form one glyph
A stroke connecting the upper and lower bowls of a lowercase double-story ‘g’.
In a double-storey ‘g’, the enclosed or partially enclosed counter below the baseline that is connected to the bowl by a link.
It means a vertical distance from the text row (from the baseline to the baseline).
The small letters in a typeface. The name refers to the days of metal type, as the small letters were kept in the lower part of the type case.
Invisible line resting on the body of the lowercase letters.
Numbers that have different heights, some aligning to the baseline, some below.
The extent to which a round or pointed letter exceeds comparable letters with flat tops or bottoms. This optical correction prevents the letters from appearing smaller.
A typographic unit of measure corresponding to 1/72nd of its respective foot, and therefore to 1/6th of an inch. A unit of measurement equal to 12 points. At 100% zoom one computer pica corresponds to 12 image pixels on a computer monitor display, thus one computer point corresponds with one image pixel.
Type size is typically expressed in points. The point is a typographic unit of measure equal to 1/12th of a pica. At 100% zoom, one computer point corresponds to one image pixel on a computer monitor screen.
The size of the body of every character in a font
OpenType Pro fonts have the same technical specifications as OpenType Standard (Std, or simply OT) fonts, but they support a broader set of languages. Standard OT fonts support Western languages, whereas Pro fonts support Central European, Cyrillic, and/or Greek.
Standard type style or regular weight of an upright typeface.
Literally “without line”; the general category of typefaces (or an individual typeface) designed without serifs.
Serif is a short line or a lengthwise sticky scratch at the edge of an open area of a letter.
A curved stroke aimed downward from a stem.
The main curve in ‘S’ and ‘s’.
A small projection off a main stroke.
A vertical stroke in an upright character.
It is a single linear element that forms part of a character; may be straight or curved.
It is a decorative ornament replacing a terminal or serif.
The Q descender or R’s short diagonal stroke.
Some typefaces’ letters feature tear dropped stroke ends.
The end (straight or curved) of any stroke without a serif.
The dot on the ‘i’ and the ‘j’.
The uniform amount of spacing between characters in a complete section of text (sentence, line, paragraph, page, etc.).
An artistic interpretation or design of a set of alphanumeric symbols. In typography terms, a typeface may include letters, numerals, punctuation, symbols, and, in many cases, multiple languages. A typeface is usually classified as a family, which includes individual fonts for italic, bold, condensed, and other variations of the primary design.
A letter or group of letters of the size and form that are commonly used to begin sentences and proper nouns; also known as “capital letters.”
It is a point below a character where two strokes meet.
A single style or iteration of a typeface. The weight of a typeface, regardless of its size; can refer to a style within a font family (Thin or Regular).
The height of a lowercase is usually based on the lowercase ‘x’, excluding ascenders and descenders.
These are the terms commonly used in typography. You are welcome to use this article as a typography dictionary with references to learn more about typography. Good luck!
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