Typography Terms
Type families
A combination of all typestyles (roman, bold, italic, etc) of a font.; share common characteristics (design, x-height, etc)
Bold
A thicker, heavier version of the regular typeface
Light
A thinner/ lighter version of the regular typeface. Also called "thin"
Widow
A very short line at the end of a paragraph
Extended
A wider version of the regular typeface; also called "expanded"
Baseline
An imaginary line on which the characters seem to be standing
Contrast
Creating interest and distinguishing different types of information with different typefaces
Similarity and alignment
Creating organization of information
Decorative
General term used to describe fonts that can't be easily categorized
Picas
Larger unit of measurement. 12 points= 1 Pica (6 picas in 1 inch) 72 point type = 1 inch
Serif:
Letters with finishing strokes, or brackets, that project from letters
Legibility
Making sure the audience can read your text
Hierarchy
Organizing information in terms of its importance to the viewer
Text Type
Refers to smaller sizes of type, usually between 5 and 14 points; Used to print books, magazines, newspapers, etc.
Display Type
Refers to the larger sizes of type used to call attention, such as newspaper headlines or posters; usually 16-72 point type or larger
Typeface
Refers to the upper and lowercase letters and numbers of a specific design/ font.
Uniformity and consistency
Repeating elements in a composition to direct the viewer's attention and create design harmony
Italic
Slanting version of a typeface; meant to accompany Roman style letters
Kerning
Spacing in between individual letters and words in a single line of text
Dingbats
Symbols or pictures; used most effectively as a decorative element within a layout or a heading/ sub heading to separate information on a page
Uppercase
The capital letters of the alphabet
X-Height
The height of the body or main element of the lowercase letterform, which falls between the meanline and the baseline
Cap Height
The imaginary line that runs across the top of capital letters and ascenders in a line of type
Meanline
The imaginary line that runs along the top of most lowercase letters, such as i, c, e, m, n, u,v, w and x
Characters
The individual letters, numbers and punctuation used when setting type
Lowercase
The small letters of the alphabet
Leading
The space in between lines of text
Regular
The standard weight of a typeface (also called "normal")
Oblique:
Type that is simply slanted to the right
San Serif
Type with no serif; Also has no variation in the width of its strokes
Roman
Upright letterforms; represents the majority of typeset copy
Points
Very small units used to measure both type sizes and the spaces in between the lines of type
Orphan
a short line that appears at the top of a column; Occurs when the last word of a paragraph continues onto the next page
Script
decorative and suggest a hand written appearance
Condensed
narrower version of the regular typeface to fit letters into small space; also called "compressed"
Rivers
unintentional areas of white space that flow down a page and create a visual distraction for the reader
