Any graphic designer knows that typography is a very important element when it comes to design. Typography is all around us. It’s on everything from the labels on our food to the items on our reciepts. We pass thousands of typographic messages daily, most of which, we don’t even see, but it is still incredibly important in how we communicate.
Typography can be complex at times, after all, it has it’s very own language, so here is a brief guide on type terminology. I hope you find it useful.
Arm/leg : An upper or lower (horizontal or diagonal) stroke that is attached on one end and free on the other.
Ascender : The part of a lowercase character (b, d, f, h, k, l, t) that extends above the x-height.
Bar : The horizontal stroke in characters such as A, H, R, e, and f. Also known as Crossbar.
Baseline : The line on which letterforms rest.
Bowl : A curved stroke which creates an enclosed space within a character (the space is then called a counter).
Cap Height : The height of capital letters from the baseline to the top of caps, most accurately measured on a character with a flat bottom (E, H, I, etc.).
Counter : The partially or fully enclosed space within a character.
Descender : The part of a character (g, j, p, q, y, and sometimes J) that descends below the baseline.
Descender Line : A line marking the lowest point of the descenders within a font.
Ear : Typically found on the lower case g, an ear is a decorative flourish usually on the upper right side of the bowl. Similar to a serif, the ear can be a distinctive, identifying element of some typefaces.
Eye : The enclosed part of the lowercase e.
Finial : The part of a letter known as a finial is usually a somehwat tapered curved end on letters such as the bottom of C or e.
Link : The stroke that connects the top and bottom part (bowl and loop) of a two–story lowercase g.
Loop : In a double-storey ‘g’, the loop is the enclosed or partially enclosed counter below the baseline that is connected to the bowl by a link. The enclosed or partially enclosed extenders on cursive ‘p’, ‘b’, ‘l’, and similiar letters are also called loops.
Lowercase : The little letters or non-capital letters of the alphabet are lowercase glyphs. They make up the bulk of written text, with uppercase or capital letters used primarily only to start sentences or proper names.
Meanline : An imaginary line that establishes the height of the body of lowercase letters.
Serif : The projections extending off the main strokes of the characters of serif typefaces. Serifs come in two styles: bracketed and unbracketed. Brackets are the supportive curves which connect the serif to the stroke. Unbracketed serifs are attached sharply, and usually at 90 degree angles.
Shoulder : The curved stroke of the h, m, n.
Spine : The main curved stroke of the S.
Spur : A small projection off a main stroke found on many capital Gs.
Stem : A straight vertical stroke (or the main straight diagonal stroke in a letter which has no verticals).
Stress : The direction of thickening in a curved stroke.
Stroke : A straight or curved line.
Swash : A fancy flourish replacing a terminal or serif.
Tail : The descender of a Q or short diagonal stroke of an R.
Terminal : The end of a stroke not terminated with a serif.
Tittle : A tittle is a small distinguishing mark, such as a diacritic or the dot on a lowecase i or j.
Uppercase : The capital letters of the alphabet are uppercase glyphs. Uppercase letters are normally used at the beginning of sentances and as the first letter of proper nouns.
X-height : The height of lowercase letters, specifically the lowercase x, not including ascenders and descenders.
