| Typography is the art of arrangement, style, appearance and printing of type and typefaces. Understanding its laws and inner workings is essential for producing quality designs.
Using correct nomenclature is vital to communication, especially technical communication.
Since letters are the foundation of all typographic communication, letter nomenclature is a logical place to begin to build your typographic vocabulary.
The terminology of type is not difficult. Many terms have simple or obvious terms.
Parts of a character:
Apex - The uppermost point of a character where the vertical strokes meet. There are different apex types such as rounded, pointed, hallow, flat and extended.
Arm - A horizontal stroke that is free on one end as in E and F. The sloping stroke in the letter K would also be considered an arm.
Ascender (neck) - The part of lowercase letters, such as b, d, f, h, k, l and t, which ascends above the height of the lower case x or x-height.
Bar (crossbar) - The horizontal stroke in the A, H and similar letters that connects two stems.
Baseline - An imaginary line upon which each character rests. Characters that appear next to each other are usually lined up so that their baselines are on the same level. Some characters extend below the baseline, such as g and j, but most rest on it.
Bowl - The enclosed oval or round curve of letters like D, b, g, and o. In contrast to a closed-bowl, an open bowl's stroke does not meet with the stem completely.
Cap-height - Height from the baseline in any font to the top of most capitals. Note that well-formed rounded characters, like O, Q and S, often are taller than other caps, and may drop below (dent) the baseline; this is considered good practice, making them more legible. The cap height does not necessarily coincide with the ascending line of ascending lowercase letters.
Counter space - The enclosed or partially enclosed space within a character such as c, e, g, H or S.
Descender (tail) - The part of some lowercase letters such as p, q or y that descends below the baseline. In some typefaces, even uppercase letters like J or Q may descend below the baseline.
Ear - Small finishing stroke that projects from the upper right side of the bowl as in many versions of the lowercase g.
Hairline - A thin stroke usually common to serif typefaces.
Link - The stroke connecting the top and bottom of a lower case g.
Loop - the lower portion of the lower case g.
Point Size - Method of measuring the size of type, commonly known as font size. It measures the distance from the top of the highest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender in points. In Europe, type is often measured by the cap-height in millimeters. 1 inch = 12 picas = 72 points = 25.4 mm
Serif - Small, finishing strokes on the arms, stems and tails of characters. Traditionally, Serif typefaces are considered better for large volumes of text because the serifs make it easier for eye to move along, horizontally.
Shoulder - The curved stroke of the h, m, and n.
Spine - The main curved stroke of a lowercase or capital S.
Spur - A small projection off a main stroke; found on many capital G's.
Stem - Straight vertical strokes of letters, most evident in H and I , or a main straight diagonal stroke in a letter such as N.
Stress - The direction of thickening in a curved stroke.
Stroke - A straight or curved line.
Swash - A fancy flourish replacing a terminal or serif.
Terminal - A curved end to a stroke usually apparent on the tail or stem of some letters such as a, j, r, t and y.
Two-story character - Letter that has two counter spaces where one is above the other.
X-height - The baseline is an imaginary line upon which each character rests.
Using the correct terminology makes for simpler, more efficient communication.
Please contact me if you feel I can help you meet your communication
goals. I am available for consulting, contract, and
freelance design projects.
Jeffrey Schipritt
Creative Director, Route 1 Design | 
