J525 Handout
Typographic vocabulary
Nomenclature of type
Stroke. The straight and curved lines that cre-
ate a letter form. The basic building block of a
character of type, corresponding to movements
of the pen in hand writing.
Bowl. Circular or semi-circular strokes enclos-
ing a space in such letters as o, b, d, p.
Counter. Space inside the bowl.
Ascender. Portion of a letter that rises above
the mean line; tops of the letters b, d, f, h, k, t.
Descender. Portion of a letter that extends
below the baseline; bottoms of g, j, p, q and y.
Serif. Small finishing stroke perpendicular to a
Q
letter’s main stroke. This M has four serifs.
Swash. The flourish that ends
letters or characters in certain
typefaces. For example, exagger-
ated extensions of the descender
of y or the endings of K, Q, R.
Measurement vocabulary
Baseline. Line on which the letters sit.
Meanline. Line defining the tops of lower case
letters without ascenders, such as x, a, o.
X-height. The height of lowercase letters
without ascenders or descenders. That is, the
distance between the base line and mean line.
Note. X-height is more important than point
Uppercase Lower case
Point
size
Typography
Bowl Counter
size. 10-point type in a face with a large x-height
will appear bigger than 12-point in a typeface
with a small x-height.
Em and en, also called “molly” and “nut.”
Spaces and dashes that respectively equal the
full point size and half the point size. An em
space or dash in 12-point type is 12 points
wide. An en space or dash in 12-point type is 6
points wide.
Leading. (Pronounced ledding.) Total space
from the top of a line of type to the top of the
next line below it.
NOTE. When InDesign asks for leading, add
the point size to line spacing, and enter the
total. If, for example, you have 12-point type
and want 9 points extra spacing between
lines, enter 21 points. Type size and leading are
expressed as a fraction. Thus, 12/21 means 12-
point type on 21-point leading.
Measure. The width of a line of type. Measure
is expressed in picas.
Pica. One of two basic typographical measure-
ments. 6 picas = 1 inch.
Point. The second basic measurement. 12
points = 1 pica. 72 points = 1 inch. Type size and
leading are expressed in points, abbreviated pt.
Other key vocabulary
Body type or text type. Refers to the for-
Mean
Stroke Ascender
line
X-height
Base
Serif Descender line
matting of the stories. Do not use a script, text,
or decorative typeface for body type.
Display type. Used for headlines.
Font. Often used incorrectly as a synonym for
typeface. More precisely, all the characters (let-
ters, numerals, punctuation, spaces) of a given
typeface at a single point size.
Kern. To adjust letter spacing so part of a let-
ter extends into the space of an adjacent letter.
kearned not kearned
AVA AVA
Kerning is often necessary to achieve optical
spacing. Do this only in display type.
Optical spacing. The appearance of equal
space between letters, as opposed to mechani-
cal spacing, which is true equal space. Optical
spacing is desirable in display type.
Legibility. The quality of a typeface that makes
its letters recognizable. Factors affecting leg-
ibility include type design; type size; x-height;
measure; spacing between letters, words and
lines; and contrast of thick and thin strokes.
Readability. The quality of a typeface that
makes it comfortable to read for a sustained
period. A typeface may be legible but not read-
able. Such a face might work well for headlines
but not for body type.
Roman. A family of type with serifs and thick
and thin strokes. Sans-serifs cannot be Roman.
Palatino is a Roman face.
Italic. A Roman typeface which slants to the
right. All Italic type slants, but not all typefaces
that slant are Italic.
This is Palatino’s italic version.
Sans-serif. A typeface without serifs.
Helvetica is a sans-serif face.
Oblique. A non-Italic type which slants.
This is reverse type.
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© Claude Cookman, 2005
This is Helvetica oblique.
Reverse type. White type against a black, gray
or colored background.
Weight. Relative thickness or thinness of a
typeface. Important for creating mood.
Some type families offer a variety of weights:
Gill Sans light
Gill Sans regular
Gill Sans bold
Gill Sans extra bold
Many fonts, especially decorative fonts, come in
only one weight, which may be thin, like
Edwardian Script
or heavy, like
Braggadocio
Widow. A short line of type at the bottom of
a column. Undesirable in quality design.
Orphan. A short line of type at the top of a
column. Undesirable in quality design.
Type density. The overall gray tone of a page
of type. Factors affecting density are weight, and
spacing between letters, words, lines.
Upper case. Capital letters.
Lower case. Non-capital letters.
U&lc. Upper and lower case letters.
Wrap. The arrangement, or flow, of a story’s
body type on a page; generally in columns.
InDesign calls this a story thread.
Alignments
Left. Lines of type aligned at the left of the
measure and unaligned, or ragged, at the right.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel
Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant after-
noon when his father took him to discover ice.
Right. Lines of type aligned at the right of the
measure and unaligned at the left.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel
Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant
afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
Centered. Lines of type centered on the mea-
sure and unaligned at both sides.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel
Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant
afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
Justified. Lines of type spaced out to align at
both the left and right edges of the measure.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel
Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant after-
noon when his father took him to discover ice.
Force justified. Justified type with the last line
of the paragraph, no matter how short, spaced
out to align on the right. Unacceptable in qual-
ity typographic design because it creates bad
word spacing.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel
Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant
afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
Alignment standards. Use only justified or
left alignments for body text. Use centered and
right only on type elements with a few words
such as captions, decks, quotes.
Choosing typefaces
There are more than 20,000 typefaces. Many
are utilitarian work horses; others are expres-
sive. In designing your publications, choose a
typeface that enhances the mood you are try-
ing to create. Here are details to look for:
1. Categories. One classification system that
should help you see and organize typefaces
divides them into five categories:
a. serif, based on Roman letters carved in stone.
Caslon is a serif face
b. sans serif, popularized in Switzerland be-
tween the two world wars.
Geneva is sans serif
c. script, based on handwriting, especially cal-
ligraphy with a quill pen.
Isadora is a script
d. text, based on medieval monks in northern
Europe, writing with reed pens.
LUCIDA BLACKLETTER
IS A TEXT
e. decorative faces, as a group are designed
for a wide range of functions, but individually
limited because of their distinctiveness.
Jokerman is a decorative
2. Serifs. Most type divides into serif or sans
serif, but there are extensive differences among
the kinds of serifs.
3. Proportion: Relationship of the sizes and
shapes of individual letters. Old Style type
AAAAAA
faces, below left, are based on the geometrical
proportions of circles and squares. Modern
typefaces, below right, are based on ovals and
rectangles, which creates more even widths.
4. Contrast: Variation in the strokes between
thick and thin widths.
Times has contrast.
Gill Sans is uniform.
5.Variations among details. Watch, for ex-
ample, for differences in the descenders of the
letter g and the tips of the letter r.
rrr
ggg
6. Figure-ground: In addition to the strokes
E
(the figure), look also at the spaces
they create within and around the
letters (the ground). Most people
never consciously notice the ground,
but it does register subliminally.
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Typographic standards
The standards for quality type setting are much
higher than typewriter conventions. We will
discuss them and show you how to achieve
them. For more on quality typesetting see
Robin Williams’ The Mac is not a Typewriter.
1. Use real quotation marks, not typewriter
marks: “ and ” not “, th e inch symbol.
2. Use real apostrophes: ’ not ‘, the prime
symbol.
3. Use en – and em — dashes where appropri-
ate, not single or double hyphens, - or --
4. Use italic, not underline, for emphasis, for
book titles, and for foreign words.
Simplicity Simplicity
5. If you must use an underline, draw it with the
line tool instead of using the style menu, so it
does not cut through descenders.
6. Use italic and bold sparingly in body text.
They disrupt the type density of the page.
7. Set no more than a few words in reverse
type. For legibility, chose a sans serif face with
a thick, even stroke. Make the size 14 points or
larger and use the bold weight.
8. If you set body text on a background make
the tone light (10–15% gray), and enlarge the
size so the tone/ink does not fill the counters.
This is 10 point type on a 50% gray tone.
This is 14 point type on a 10% tone.
9. Use soft returns to break a line without
starting a new paragraph. For a soft return in
InDesign, hold down the Shift key and tap the
Return key.
10. Protect widow and orphan lines—short
lines at the bottom or top of a column,
Page 4
respectively—with at least one full line of type
above or below them.
11. Do not align tabular material with the space
bar. Create tab settings.
12. Use the spell checker, but also proofread.
Beware the wrong homophone: their for there,
lynx for links, its for it’s, flour for flower.
13. Do not use bold weight, italic or oblique
angles, all caps, decorative fonts or reverse type
for body type. They all reduce readability.
14. Pay careful attention to the relationship
between measure and point size. Small type set
on a wide measure or large type set on a nar-
row measure reduce readability.
15. The computer lets you expand and con-
dense type easily by kerning and tracking. Use
this function with restraint, because it can
destroy the carefully designed proportions of
a typeface’s letter forms. This will compromise
the unity of your typographic design.
Typographic guidelines
Clarity. When selecting type variables, com-
munication should take precedence over
expressive or artistic concerns. Legibility and
readability are the primary considerations.
Simplicity. Use a limited number of typefaces
in a consistent way to establish a style easily
recognized by the readers of your publication.
Unity and variety. In selecting type variables,
try to achieve unity and variety. Unity can usu-
ally be achieved by limiting your design to two
typefaces; you might add a third for the name-
plate. Variety can be created by changing the
size, weight and angle within these two type-
faces instead of selecting several typefaces.
Appropriateness. Pick typefaces appropriate
to the contents of the story, to the audience,
and to the publication and its objectives. Typog-
raphy is a major means that publications use to
create their visual personalities.