2/2 of the lectures from Kresge's Typography class (8/28/24)
any letter or number
character
any letter, number, punctuation, dingbat, swash, etc. in a typeface
glyph
straight parts of a letterform
stroke
vertical stroke of a letterform
stem
round stroke of a letterform
bowl
the end of any stroke
terminal
help us to align type properly
rules for alignment
the top height for capital letters in a typeface
cap height
the top height for lowercase letters in a typeface
median
the bottom height for all letters in a typeface (except for descenders)
baseline
horizontal stroke that ends in two stems
cross bar
horizontal stroke that crosses over a stem
cross stroke
a stroke added as a stop to the beginning and end of the main strokes of a character
serif
characters without a serif
sans serif
the contrast between the thickest and thinnest stroke in a character
stress
the tiny bit of letter that hangs over the alignment rule to compensate for the optical illusion and makes it look the appropriate size
overshoot
type’s lightness and darkness compared to the negative space
typographic color
upright, straight characters
roman
characters with a slant; developed to increase the amount of words that can be printed on one page
italic
any typeface that is designed to emulate cursive handwriting
script
typefaces that are designed to be used mainly for large bodies of text; books, newspaper
text typefaces
decorative typefaces that are meant to be used sparingly to attract attention; logos, headlines
display typefaces
symbols, marks, or images that are designed to work as part of a system as a typeface
dingbats
a stroke that attaches to a stem on one side; arm attaches at the top of a letterform, leg attaches at the bottom
arm + leg
small distinguishing mark, such as on a lowercase j or i
tittle
decorative stroke at the end of a curved stroke in a G or S
barb
decorative stroke at the end of a letter, similar to a serif (E, F, T)
beak
the main curved stroke of the S or s
spine
curved stroke projecting from a stem (h, m, n)
shoulder
the part of a character that descends below the baseline (p, y, j, g, q)
descender
small stroke that projects from the top of lowercase g or r
ear
outside point at the bottom of a character where two strokes meet
vertex
part of a letter that extends above the median (b, d)
ascender
partially or fully enclosed space within a character; open or closed
counter
the counter specific to a lowercase e
eye
the opening of an open counter
aperture
the inside area of a letterform where two diagonal strokes converge
crotch
the descender on an uppercase Q
tail
curved bit that attaches the serif to the stem/stroke
bracket
small projection off of a main stroke found on many capital Gs
spur
the point where two diagonal strokes meet at the top (A)
apex
one kind of lowercase g
link + loop
one kind of lowercase g
hook
two varieties of the lowercase a (single story and two story)
stories
ball and teardrop
special terminals
an imaginary line drawn bisecting thinnest strokes in an O
axis
space between the baseline and the median; height of a lowercase x
x-height
symbol to replace the word and
ampersand
two characters joined to make a single glyph; helps with spacing
ligature
exaggerated decorative serif, terminal, or tail
swash