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A Visual Guide of Anatomy Typography

This document provides an overview of the anatomical terms used to describe the different parts that make up letters in typography. It defines terms like leg, arm, ear, shoulder, tail, spine, x-height, cap height, stroke, ascender, descender, swash, bar, serif, terminal, bowl, counter, spur, stem, link, and loop; and provides a simple description and example image for each term. The purpose is to explain the technical vocabulary used to analyze the detailed structures within letters of different typefaces.

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YALARASI KUMARAVEL
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641 views15 pages

A Visual Guide of Anatomy Typography

This document provides an overview of the anatomical terms used to describe the different parts that make up letters in typography. It defines terms like leg, arm, ear, shoulder, tail, spine, x-height, cap height, stroke, ascender, descender, swash, bar, serif, terminal, bowl, counter, spur, stem, link, and loop; and provides a simple description and example image for each term. The purpose is to explain the technical vocabulary used to analyze the detailed structures within letters of different typefaces.

Uploaded by

YALARASI KUMARAVEL
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The words you see on a page are so much more than just letters.

Like people, they have personalities, moods, styles—and even


anatomical features! Here's a quick overview of the different
details that make up letters and their real-life counterparts.
Leg
A portion of a letter that
extends downwards,
attached at one end and
free at the other.

Arm
A straight or curved
portion of a letter that
extends upwards or
outwards, attached at
one end and free at the
other
Ear
The small stroke that
extends outwards
from a lowercase g in
some typeface styles.

Shoulder
The stroke that curves
downwards and to the
right of the lowercase h,
m and n.
Tail
The decorative curved
descender of a capital
Q, R and K. The
descenders of the
lower case g, j, p, q,
and y are also
sometimes called tails.

Spine
The spine is the main
curved stroke inside
the upper and lower
case S.
Other kinds of
internal letter parts
X-height
The x-height isn’t exactly a part but rather a measurement. It measures the height
of all lowercase letters that are part of the same typeface. It’s called x-height
because the letter x of each typeface is what determines the measurement.
Cap Height
The cap height is a measurement of capital letters. All capital letters in the
same typeface have the same cap height. The most accurate
measurement is taken from flat-bottomed characters like the letter E.
Stroke
A stroke is the main vertical diagonal line in a letter.
Ascender
An ascender is a
vertical stroke that
extends upwards, over
the x-height.

Descender
A descender is a vertical
stroke that extends
downwards, below the x-
height.
Swash
A swash is a fancy or
decorative replacement
to a terminal or serif in
any capital letter.

Bar
A bar is a horizontal
stroke in letters like A,
H, e and f.
Serif
A serif is a short line
added at the
beginning and the end
of strokes. Serifs are
what make a typeface
a serif or a sans serif.

Terminal
When a letter
doesn’t have a serif,
the end of the stroke
is called a terminal.
Bowl
A bowl is a stroke that
creates an enclosed
curved space, like in
the letters d, b, o, D
and B.

Counter
The counter is the
enclosed space in
letters like o, b, d, and a.
Counters are also
created by bowls.
Spur
A spur is a small
projection that veers
off the main stroke
on many capital Gs.

Stem
The main vertical
stroke in upright
characters. The first
diagonal in "A" or "V" is
also called the stem.
Link Loop
A link is a stroke connecting A loop is an enclosed counter
the bowl and loop of a two- connected to a letter, most
story, lowercase g. specifically the double-story g.
Source:
http://blog.visme.co/type-anatomy/
Made With Visme

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