Sunday, 18 November 2012

The Anatomy of Type Part 3: Type & Character

Vocabulary

  • font
  • typeface
  • font family
  • weight
  • stroke
  • uppercase//lowercase
  • tracking kerning
  • serif
  • sans serif
  • script
  • blackletter
  • display
  • monotype
  • symbol
Typeface A collection of characters, letters, symbols, punctuation etc. which have the same distinct design
The letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type. A typeface is often part of a type family of coordinated designs. The individual typefaces are named after the family and are also specified with a designation, such as italic, bold or condensed.

Font The physical means used to create a typeface, be it computer code, lithographic film, metal or woodcut
One weight, width, and style of a typeface. Before scalable type, there was little distinction between the terms font, face, and family. Font and face still tend to be used interchangeably, although the term face is usually more correct.

Font / TYPEFACE Family
Also known as family. The collection of faces that were designed together and intended to be used together. For example, the Garamond font family consists of roman and italic styles, as well as regular, semibold, and bold weights. Each of the style and weight combinations is called a face.

Display Font
A font that has been designed to look good at large point sizes, often for use in headlines. Typically such a font is not as readable at smaller sizes for large amounts of text. If a serif font with optical sizes, it will likely have lighter weight main stems and much lighter weight serifs and crossbars than a text-size version of the same typeface.

Boldface
A typeface that has been enhanced by rendering it in darker, thicker strokes so that it will stand out on the page. Headlines that need emphasis should be boldface. Italics are preferable for emphasis in body text

Categories within a typeface//font family
Gothic - stripped down, sans serif, modernist
Roman - serif
Block - headline, bold
Script - handwritten style

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