Typeface anatomy

Typeface anatomy describes the graphic elements that make up letters in a typeface.

Strokes

The ''strokes'' are the components of a letterform. Strokes may be ''straight'', as in , or ''curved'', as in . If straight, they may be ''horizontal, vertical,'' or ''diagonal''; if curved, ''open'' or ''closed''. Typographers also speak of an ''instroke,'' where one starts writing the letter, as at the top of , and an ''outstroke,'' where the pen leaves off, as at the bottom of .

A main vertical stroke is a ''stem''. The letter has three, the left, middle, and right stems. The central stroke of an is known as the ''spine''. When the stroke is part of a lowercase and rises above the height of an (the x height), it is known as an '' ascender''.
Letters with ascenders are . A stroke which drops below the baseline is a ''descender''. Letters with descenders are .

An arching stroke is a ''shoulder'' as in the top of an or sometimes just an ''arch'', as in . A closed curved stroke is a ''bowl'' in ; has two bowls. A bowl with a flat end as in is a ''lobe''. A trailing outstroke, as in is a ''tail.'' The inferior diagonal stroke in is a ''leg''. The bottom of the two-story is a ''loop''; the very short stroke at the top is the ''ear''. The letters each have a ''dot'' or ''tittle''.

A short horizontal stroke, as in the center of and the middle stroke of , is a ''bar''. Strokes that connect, as in and , or cross other strokes, as in , are also known as crossbars. A longer horizontal stroke at the top or bottom, as in , is an ''arm.'' The junction of two strokes intersecting above as in is an ''apex'' and the joining of two strokes intersecting below as in is a vertex.

The font shown in the example is ''stressed''; this means that strokes have varying widths. In this example, the stroke at the top of the "g" is thinner at the top and bottom than on the sides – a vertical stress. Fonts without any variation in the stroke width are known as monoline fonts.

Terminals

The ''terminal'' (end) of an instroke or outstroke is often a serif or a stroke ending. A seriffed terminal may be described as a ''wedge, bulbous, teardrop, slab,'' etc., depending on the design of the type. Typefaces may be classified by their look, of which the ''weight'' and ''serif style'' – whether ''serif'' or ''sans-serif'' – are key features. Some designs also have ''spurs,'' which are smaller than serifs and appear on angles rather than at a terminal, as on or .

Space

Areas of negative space (white space) formed by straight or curved strokes are called '' counters''. Closed counters are found in , and open counters in . The closed counter in is also named an ''eye''. The term ''storey'' refers to stacked counters: When the letter a appears with two counters it is referred to as ''double-storey a'', and when the letter g appears with two closed counters it is known as ''double-storey'' ''.''

Angles of white space, as in , are ''corners'' ( has three corners); the term is not used for angles of strokes. The small corner formed by a serif, whether curved or angular, is called the serif ''bracket.''

Inter-letter space can be reduced with kerning. A ''kern'' is the part of a letter that intrudes into the "box" of an adjacent glyph.

Proportions

A subtle change in proportion impacts weight, perception, measure, and legibility. The letterform height compared to its stroke width modifies the ''aspect ratio''; a slight change in weight sometimes helps to create emphasis. The disparity between thick and thin strokes, known as ''stress'', alters optical perception. As an example, the first ''sans serif'' typefaces used strokes of constant thickness, but subsequent technological advances permit drawing thinner strokes. ''Condensed type'' occupies less space than ''expanded type'', so that a whole page of text can be reduced to half a page. The capline and x-height ratio improve or decrease word legibility.

Metal type era

During the late metal type period, many fonts (particularly in American typefounding) were issued to "common line". This meant that they were made to standardised proportions, so that fonts of different typefaces could be mixed with no difficulty. This made it possible to mix typefaces from completely different genres such as sans-serifs and serifs and have the cap height, baseline and linespacing match perfectly, something not possible with most digital fonts. It even allowed mixing of different sizes of type with a consistent baseline. It however had the disadvantage of often forcing typefaces to be issued with cropped descenders compared to historical typefaces, to allow tight linespacing. A "script line" or "art line" was used for more delicate fonts with long descenders. Titling capitals, meanwhile, were issued taking up the whole space of the metal type area, with no room for descenders.

See also

* Type design
* Type foundry
* Typography
* Typesetting

References

Further reading

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External links

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Full-size image (1920×1200)
giving a more detailed list of typeface elements than in this article.
* Dean, Paul (2008). eXtreme Type Terminology �
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* Blog for Coles' 2012 book ''The Anatomy of Type: A Graphic Guide to 100 Typefaces''.
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{{Typography terms

Typography
Terminology