What is typography?
Type is a
physical embodiment of letters piece of metal or wood.
Typeface is
the design the way it looks.
Glyph are different
designs for the same character.
Font is the
same font even if it’s in italic, bold, thin, regular.
Lettering-
just designing the letters in a word, not in an alphabet.
Text type-
text in a paragraph, a larger amount of quantity.
Display
lettering- initially used for logos.
Anatomy of
type
The grid is
certain layout of type. The Grid contains 3 lines, cap height, x height, and
baseline. The cap height is the height from the baseline to the top of the
letter. The x height is the height from the baseline to the top of the letter.
Finally, the Baseline is where the letters rest on the baseline.
Ascender is
any part of a lowercase letter above the x-height
Descender
is any part of a lowercase letter below the baseline.
Terminal is
the end of a stroke
Italic only
found in serif type. Italic is designed to create a more compressed approach
towards a basic shape letter. The design of Italics was by scratch, hand
written.
Oblique is
a slanted typeface however created mechanically unlike italic which is drawn
and crafted separately.
A serif is
a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter. A san serif is the
opposite, a letterform without a serif. Some san serif typefaces are described
as Grotesque (meaning elaborately decorated) or Gothic (commonly used for
Japanese Gothic typefaces), in addition to serif typefaces as Roman.
Serifs first
originated in the Latin alphabet, where the letters were engraved into stone in
Roman antiquity. Serif fonts are
classified into four groups: old style, transitional, Didone and slab serif.
Old style
Old style
typefaces originated in 1465, just after Johannes Gutenberg’s creation of
movable type printing press. Early printers in Italy created type by using
Gutenberg’s black lettering, where they created italic styles, influenced by
Renaissance calligraphy. Old style serif fonts have remained popular due to
them being readable on book paper. Garamond is an example of old style typeface.
Transitional
Transitional
typefaces first became common around mid 18th century. These font
ways are in-between ‘old style’ and ‘modern fonts’. The ends of many strokes of
the serif are marked with ball terminals. Later on in the 18th
century, transitional typefaces in Britain and American showed influences
through the Didone typeface. Times New Roman is described as transitional and
sometimes old-style as well.
Didone
Didone/
Modern serif typefaces first emerged in the late 18th century. The
didone typeface contrast between thick and thin lines; the serifs tend to be
thin, and the vertical lines very heavy. Many Didone fonts are less readable
contrasted to the Old style and transitional typeface. An example of didone
serif typeface is Bodoni font. Didone fonts are mostly used for high-gloss
magazines such as Harper Bazaar. Didone typefaces are mainly used for display
use.
Slab serif
Slab serif
typefaces originated around 1800. The serifs are thick which was created for
posters, as they were designed to be attention-grabbing. Rockwell typeface is a
more geometric slab serif contrasted to Clarendon.
Latin/
Wedge-serifs
Latin or
wedged serif forms are typefaces with serifs that form a point and visibly
widen outwards. Latin style type and lettering is popular in Europe, particularly
France. Due to the elegance of the serif, which therefore is used for signage
applications such as business cards and shop fonts. Gothic and copperplate
fonts are examples of Latin serif typefaces.
I have created a sketch to show the different elements in type.
Tittle is
the dot on the ‘i’ and ‘j’ lined above the cap line.
Uppercase
is the capitals in the typeface.
Counter is
the negative space, for example in the ‘o’
Eye is the
smaller counter in a lower case ‘e’
Bowl is the
fully closed, rounded part of a letter, for instance in the ‘b’.
Aperture is
a counter which is entirely or partially enclosed by a letterform or symbol.
Tail is a
decorative stroke often on the letter Q.
Ear is a
small stroke extending outwards usually found on a lowercase g and r.
Ligature-
two or more letters joined together to form a glyph.
Ampersand
is a logogram & originally designed with the letters ‘e’ and ‘t’ to
represent the word ‘and’.
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