tio The FundumencofTypogaphy Relive and able meu Relative and absolute measurements Typography uses two types of measurements, absolute measurements and relative measurements. It is important to understand the differences between these to understand many of the typographic processes. Absolute measurements Relative monsurements ‘Abnolute menorements ae ey to ndertand a they are In ypography, any meaturement such as character resurement of feed valves For example, a millimetre it spacing ae linked 2 type sic, which means that thee reciely defined increment ofa censimete. Equa, points reasonthipe are defined by a series of reative meanirements pica, the basic typographic meanirements have Exed En and es for example are relative measurements that hae values, All absolute measurements are expressed in finite terms no prescribed, absolute size. Their size is relative to the size that cannot be altered Pictured below ae four measurement of spe thats Being set j sytem that expres the sme physical dence Leading x another exarople ofthe we of rave measaremest Mos desktop publishing programs asign an automatic percentage vive for fanctions ike leading The characters below (lef are Ope, 0 wi leading seta 120 percent, chey ae efeciey being ston 12pt lading As the ope bigger. 4 does the leading wit is eave to the type size If this did not happen and the leading remained constant, as the character gt bigger they would eventually crash into one another, in the bottom row eRR Pe“The Fundamentals ot Typopsshs huss and abote meuemens 1s the unit of measurement used to measure the ‘Type sizes traditionally bore a relationship to the 72 point ofa font, for exemple, 7pt Times New Roman.This inch (sx picas) but with divitsed PostScript eypefices, cn refers to the height of the type block, not the it is now easy to use irregular sizes such a5 10,2pt.TThis ss shown below (righ). his basic typographical _ relationship is reflected in the old naming system for sent is an absolute measurement equivalent to 1/72 hese common sizes, with 12pe type being referred to a¢ c or 035mm and its creation is attributed to French Pict, Some of the other names have a looser connection, s: Sébastien Truchet (1657-1725). le was farther ‘and indeed the sizes are only approximate translations t0 -s by Pierre Fournier and Francois Didot in the 19th the modern point equivalents. These names are no longer in common use, but the equivalent sizes are, with most software packages using these asthe default sizes. gt Gene 22 in Cam te 4 18 24 36 A8 sl dren piesa the ae ie behave ifeeny ms hee pe ease hove et in 2pt ype sour While they ae te sae ce che se So not necesrly extend 9 the por bation ofthe Bock, “The memuneent of plese bs a impact on Fading values sesed on pape 124°Thewpetces ef monble ne i nite os sxe ate For Jef, nd Foundry Sane righ ‘ete ott ee ofthe chancter beige a unit of measurement equal to 12 points that is commonly = for measuring lines of type. There ae six picas (or 72 points) in ch, which is equal to 25.4 millimetres. his isthe seme for both 3 zonal pica and a modern PostScript pica. There are six PostScript ro an inch.‘The em ‘The em is a relative unit of measarement used in typesetting. to define basic spacing fonctions, and therefore itis linked to the sie of the type. It isa relative measurement in that ifthe "ype size increases, so does the size of the em. Ifthe type size decreases s0 does the era ‘An em equals the size of a given type ie. the em of 72pt type is 72 points and the em of 36pt type is 36 points and so on. Although the name of the em implies ‘relationship to the width of the capital M’, in realty nM’ character will rarely be as wide as an em as the illustration (below) demonstrates. ‘The em is used for defining elements such as paragraph indents and spacing. Different typefaces will produce ‘cerain typographical characters whose sizes differ in relation. to the em of a given point size. The chatacters below are all 48pt and both therefore have 2 48pt em. However, ‘Bembo is clearly ‘smaller’, and occupies less of the em square than Futora —M — The en An en isa unit of relative measurement equal to half of one em In 72p¢ type, for example, an en would be 36 points. An en rule is used to denote nested clauses, but it can also be cused to mean ‘ton phrases such a6 10-11 and 1975-1981 The Fundanentl of Fyporsphy Characters that extend beyond the em Although characters rarely fill their em, some special chara such asthe per thousand symbol (below, left) extend beyons their em, which may cause a spacing problem. yo %0 ‘Ems, ons and hyphens ‘Both the em and en are used in punctuation to provide 2 ‘measurement for dashes. These are very specifi pieces of punctuation and should not be confsed with a hyphen, although they are all inked. An en is half of an em while = hyphen is one third of an em, siplcide splalcte Word space ‘The standard word space is defined as a percentage value an em, which sakes it relative to che size ofthe type be set As you can see from the example above, diffrent fons have different word spacing values, wth some being gh ‘han others. Tis value is fixed in the PostScript infor that makes a font but it can be controlled by adjusting che yphenation and jawication values (8 page 122) 7The em ‘The em is a relative unit of measarement used in typesetting. to define basic spacing fonctions, and therefore itis linked t0 the sie of the type. It isa relative measurement in that ifthe "ype size increases, so does the size of the em. Ifthe type size decreases s0 does the ex ‘An em equals the size of given type ie. the em of 72pe type is 72 points and the em of 36pt type is 36 points and so on. Although the name of the em implies ‘relationship to the width of the capital M’, in reality nM’ character will rarely be as wide as an em as the illustration (below) demonstrates. ‘The em is used for defining elements such as paragraph indents and spacing. Different typefaces will produce ccerain typographical characters whose sizes differ in relation. to the em of a given point size. The chatacters below are all 48pt and both therefore have 2 48pt em. However, [Bembo is clearly ‘smaller’, and occupies less of the em square than Futora —M — The en An en isa unit of relative measurement equal to half of one fem In 72p¢ type, for example, an en would be 36 points. An en rule is used to denote nested clauses, but it can also be cused to mean ‘ton phrases such a6 10-11 and 1975-1981 The Fundanenel of Fyporaphy Characters that extend beyond the em Although characters rarely ill their em, some special charac seach asthe per thousand symbol (below, left) extend beyo their em, which may cause a spacing problem. yo —%0 ‘Ems, ons and hyphens ‘Both the em and en are used in punctuation to provide 2 ‘measurement for dashes. These are very specifi pieces of punctuation and should not be confsed with a hyphen, although they are all inked. An en is half of an em while = hyphen is one third of an em, sPidide spl Word space ‘The standard word space is defined as a percentage value an em, which makes it relative to che size ofthe type Deis set.As you can see from the example above, different forss have different word spacing values, with some being ts than others. Tis value is fixed in the PostScrip infor that makes a font but it can be controlled by adjusting the yphenation and jawication values (8 page 122)are not constant ‘ypefaces may have the same point size their ar likely to be different. The typefaces above are = duced at 60pt.Their x-heights ar clearly diferent, = zample, Monaco (below lef) with its lange x-height Scion to is ascender and descender height creates a solid idea we_xcheights of different fonts vary sof size as can be seen above. Monaco, ven, ath its large x-height in relation ‘hile a = its ascenders and descenders creates solid block of copy when compared 2 Zenbo, opposite. This concept of aviness and lightness in a text cock is often referred to as colour, Ie “ich is described on page 136. ing x-beight scheight isthe measurement ftom the baseline » the cline of a typeface. The x-height i the typographical le of nt ofthe length ofa skie inthe fashion world, as being. = both tend to rite and fll as design tases consimvally ge. Facade Condensed (below left) is practically all is a relative measurement that varies from typeface to typeface. The eight is also used as key reference point in the layout of a design. x X X X il X-height = {x xX text block in comparison to Bembo (below right), with ts smaller x-height that looks a lot lighter. ‘This is Bembo, which has a smaller x-height than Monaco (def) Although both of these typefaces have the same point size, Bembo appears to be much smaller than Monaco, nd ina text block, appears much lighter. x-height, surrendering little space to its ascenders or descenders. The majority of fonts are, however, more _gemerous with the space they provide for their ascenders and descenders, particularly when legibility is important. Times (Gelow right) has a proportionally much smaller x-height.‘The Fundamental ef Typoraphy Bae terminology Basic terminology Typographic terminology is rooted in the printing industry and developed as a means of communicating what can be the very specific pieces of information needed to set text. Although the technology has changed, the need for accurate communication has not and so the majority of typographical terms are still in common usage. Sect / Sane seri isk ope eerily Gl aes eae erm Fal cases tac maw ‘ Feed este fel aoe in iM go Se Mice cokes es mea oe Serif eee foe Wee Thee line aie ee pol or iy roa Spa ; Sans Serif and help us to read by leading the eve across the page, For this reason, serif typefaces are ‘generally easier to read than sans serif. The clean lines of sans serif typefaces are seen as being ‘modern, while serif are more traditional. lentes can be increased (by lexerspacing) or reduced (by kerning) to give a text Hlock a mote balanced fel Bounding boxes, kerning and letterspacing Like its metal type predecessors, digital type still has 2 bounding box.The bounding box of metal type character The digital boxes are a litle bigger chan the with of traditionally provided spacing between characters to stop the character and so, with the exception of monospaced them crashing into one another when arranged in 2 fonts, che box for 2 lowercase ‘sis thinner than the box. for a capital ‘M’. ON easier Te ete i ree Sr Canta ie sorround digital type chasactrsThe space beowoen, Ma Ma Ma Adjusting the tacking affects the amount of spacing ‘Word spacing adjusts the amount of space between wo Detween characters loose word spacin tightao oo sk. As PouScript bounding boxes (diagram far right) are spaced electronically he norm M Sos econttgion are teceretoomcmocmm MU], ere oh coe scophic measurements normally have two values. For example, 1Opt Futura with 4pt expressed a5 10/14 Furuts, that is expressed as 10"on" 14.This setting could also be “bed at 10pt type with 4pt of ext leading. Type with no extra leading is said to be set solid : es and typetices wy up flo the boom ofthe em square that the lene is Decline isthe iaginay line shat all ype charter st within The baine of Para fs ina diferent place vo che : swith the exception ofthe’ oad oer rounded bse of Perpetn, which s noticeably higher Ths postion rif sctrsthat fill lightly below it.The location of the in embedded into the PosScripe information that the fone varies for different typefaces as its position is fixed by ‘contains, to allow different fonts that are set together to share ‘measurement, normally around one third of the 2 mutual baseline dear d 4d dear own er Tn tne face characteristics fy of the characteristics of ype are based on the characteristics of handwriting, given that forms were originally written. To this day, some of these innate human characteristics are such as seri6. oN item wing 2 Development of the handriaen cin pen ina calizghic * chances progreed 2 more The chil sage ofthe a geomet fem ke Kabel hoses sub bangle w cee 7" her te ar a move even sake ‘rent stoke wid6 ‘The Fundunens of Typography Majscule a miniale Majuscule and minuscule Majuscules are uppercase (or capital) and minuscules are lowercase lette: Both of these character sets have distinct applications and it is importai to note that not all fonts are available in both forms. ‘This ent (fr le) war cst by Made Thougt sgn soo end eames only muscu careers In conta the design (ef) wo crete? Solar ise design sudo and wes only missus. Each expe crs 1 ecu Te and pesoalty that not ony abuts to dhe fypec= select ao 2 she way tht they awe bac wo: In se cx ‘cold be argued thr the vg wing he maja sts more ifr "han te dven wig the mines Connotation Although it could be argued that the majuscule character universal difference or preference beeween majuscules and format generally appears co be more formal or authoritative minuscule. They both work equally well when ased in the ‘than minuscules, such connotations arc linked to many other right context, and with care and consideration. Both offer» factors such asthe typeface itself and the colours used in the cohesive, unified design as the character heights remain universal CAPITALS ‘The consideration when selecting a typeface for a design is whether it is sufficiently flexible for the intended res Some designs can be see unicase, although this can be Not all typefaces are available with both upper~ and lowercases, s the ewo examples above show. Some fonts have been specifically designed as uniease and were never intended to be accompanied by a parincting upper- ot limiting and cause problems. Postal codes, for example, lowerease, In some instances the font name, Capitals (above ‘can be difficult to set in lowercase, and large blocks of bosy sight) indicates is unicase design, and hins ats intended copy canbe tring to read if ct uppercate usage or placement on she page. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ 1234567890 Camelia Trajan Camelia, degned ty Tony Wenman.sa gh round lower typefice Tigi na mjcie mie font crete by Ca Teombly ei es 10! 190s sling With high height and htine and modern dppewe fon bed og Rosas caved leer 7 Wlks bat at dpay ste sh a nouna oe e ‘he Fundamenais of typography Type mics Type families A type family is all the variations of a particular typeface or font that includes all the different weights, widths and italics, as can be seen opposite. Examples of families include Univers, Times Roman and Garamond. Many families are named after their creator or the publication in which they were first used. ‘Type families offer a designer a set of variations that work together in a clean and consistent way and as such are a useful design tool To achieve clarity and a uniform feel ro piece of ‘work, many designers restrict themselves to using only two type families for a project, mecting, their requirements from the type variations these contain to esablish the typographic hierarchy. a a’ ‘Roman he bai ca Acro alicia deen peice ‘ypeice.so called du wo sergio bed around am angled is These in he ircrpions fund on ae monly designed for seri ‘ypc Obigne dante veions ofuneser ype ther tan a ely dean vn. Rowen renin Rowe it sometines fered 6 2 book, although Book can alo be a igh a Light i ightero hiner vein ofthe Roman ct In rir id Gu page 84 heights cus ae the lowes nomen. Boldface Bold, bolic, ned, bk, super or poser ei peice wid wider stoke the Ronn cut fn Frais) = (he eset ets hae thei lighter wesion of the Resan fe “The fle‘ of Hivetea Neue pierre) acl an bu and noc + uue se Tis is expe Ser om page 1 Condensed Extended Condensed Extendec Condensed and extended ‘Many type families inclade condensed and extended versions that provide additional typesetting esibility: Condensed types are narrower than the Roman cut and are asefl for tight space sinuations. Extended types are wider versions of the Roman type and are offen wed for headlines co dramatically fill 2 space. Both of these versions are often zvailable in weight“HHH HHH H' H’H HH’ H H H'H H’ H'H H HH H HH 2 ean be easly combined using the grid. elow them, but it may offen be necessary to construct these manually. To do this, position ‘he diacritcal mark after che letter and kern it back until it is correctly positioned. >ashes ‘pography provides a designer with various dashes, short horizonte les that serve various specific functions such as em rules, en rules _ d hyphens. X-height Geo-graphy Re-serve ghens yphen is one third of an em rule and is used to link words. It serves as a compound lifer where two words become one, such as height’ breaks syllables of words in text “ks lke geo-graphy; and serves to provide clarity such as re-serve rather than reserve. 70-71 1939-1945 Kent-Sussex border _ dash ‘en dash is half of an em rule and is used to separate page numbers, dates and to replace the 1d‘to in constructions implying movement. Standard—em dash Punctuating—em dash «dash 1 dashes are used to form lines and house nested clauses.A standard, joining em dash can 1se spacing issues as it has no side-bearings and fl its bounding box so that it touches the ‘rounding characters. row of these em dathes would form a solid line. Punctuating em shes are lightly shorter, providing space for surrounding characters to breathe. row of ‘pewatng em dashes form a punctuated ine.8 ‘The Fondamensie of Typogrpty Chance pacing er spacing sentation of different types of information through the use of and special characters often has certain spacing conventions, - examples below illustrate. The ultimate objective is to improve to aid understanding and help communicate the information. set clored-up and not preceded by a space istered® 76° asterisk” secs upenctip. Degre yma Aster charter Magsieaion or eco te je mark™ 3" 85m 20% 300%0 1* 3" 4% spends Smt oni anaes © i fetcominent eo ee se ne mt ad lone y and paca by # ag pce kme (A&E) 2+2- 3 >4 En rules — such as this — in nested clauses ceenatecmt Ath nr sane 1x2 not followed by a space # 0 £2.50 ser or hah sgn, Dats, pound cu and oder Paso noe den carency gmbolExpert sets and special characters Many different characters are available in a full character set, althou; not all fonts contain the full range of characters. ‘Certain typeses, such as Braille and graphic fonts like UckNPretry (bath belo) contain 2 very limited character seTo insert what may be non-standard characters often requires the ‘use of ausiliary keys such as ‘al’ and shift’, in conjunction with letters. Shown opposite are full character sets for a standard font and for an alternate set that contains fewer, but more specialise rypeforms. Brite ‘The Bale cancer st conn the dot combinations th the Bre writing stem forthe Bind west epen eves nd mabe, abebefyletkimtoreysVWUXYZ 2-017 § UANPretty ‘UekNNPrety is fone that contains no upper or lower lees, and no munen The names generat erate characte 2 highlived above t_a Tay E ‘Swash characters Finial characters The dotless i Ligatures ‘Thee hive extended of ‘These hae extended ot Aloweraze without dt ‘The joining of epee cxagerted Secorsve ceagerted decorative to prevent ineace with charter frm | clip nthe, analy calignpbic ube fond preceding lence ut oo nee on ia, nthe uit Ga) cern combinations lever of tine. PI characters Dingbats Geek ees ed st Acollecion of speci decontve Fonts hate dierent sted acral mat hae chines nd symbol rononcnon of «ese%8 ‘The Pundamenie of Typography Ligatures, dipthongs and sans serif logotypes character combinations create. Trump eoeece AS en Z fi fl ff ff Medizval fi f : Hones Dipthotes so sesriogeee (Meroe eae ania eee he eae ee Many ance oe ee ee Fe dee dere peedereteriane characters (top) and with ligatures ‘represents a unique pronunciation, the letters. Although tec eo) geen eee te ee collision or interference of characters, example is encyclopaedia, in which logotypes or symbols, the oeeceeiine O aeadegicud ima amen cia the‘, and the dot of the '.A. bya single ‘e’. However, dipthongs replace two characters wit es peach icone ee Laec eco an ee ee ae, BICENTENARIO [e810 20 i — — iulietircrendiy Sato) ile ig sae eee) Tl echo caty Cotes tn a ee ee ee A erie eee Siar nes eee tee oa te the doe of the nd ‘drt sorSmatt Capirats (true and false) Computer programs can generate small caps for a given typeface, these are not the same as true small caps. TRuE SMALL Caps have weights that are proportionally correct for the typeface, which me: that they can be used within a piece of body copy without lookin noticeably wrong, while this is a risk with computer generated sms caps. FAKE SMALL CAPS, or computer generated small caps, adjust 4 character size, but not the width, and may look out of place as the: result in a capital that looks heavy when compared to the text surrounds them. Rea Smatt Capirats have line weights that are proportie correct. The advantage of this is that Smart Caprrats can be uss within a piece of body copy without looking out of place. Tn contrast, GENERATED SMALL CAPITALS adjust the charact size, but not the width. The disadvantage of this is that GENE SMALL CAPITALS will look incorrect, as the line weights have manipulated, giving a heavy capital letter in comparison to othe: characters. 7 jctured right is Matrix, a a ‘small ca Mar S (don) ante eget pearadmmmenten terran IMLATRIX SMALL CAR eesmirmoal asmaioseenia ates ee X SMso ‘The Fundamental oTyporraphy atic and Bgue ic and oblique italic is a drawn typeface for a serif font, based around an is angled at somewhere between 7-20 degrees. Italics have raphic style and can sit compactly, in part due to their f ligatures. An oblique is a slanted version of the Roman face company sans serif fonts, which by nature have fewer calligraphic .Confasion between the two often arises when obliques are italics. aod daa ‘Oblique sa cy em (Obligies at slanted versions ofthe Roman font. Italics derived from the subtly angled calligraphic typefaces used in 16th century Italy. Early italics were _ drawn to accompany fonts and were based on the upright Roman forms. This font, Novarese, is based on older italic forms. Note that the capitals are standard Roman capitals.Type classification systems Type classification aims to instil a meaningful order to the plethora of typefaces that exist. The different classification systems allow a designer to make more informed typographical decisions and obtain a better understanding of type. There is no straightforward, standard type classification system — several systems exist, with varying degre of complexity. Typefaces can be classified according to their inherent characteristics, the time period in which they were developed, or their typical usage. A simple classification could be serif, sans serif and decorative. ‘Sans serit Fonts that do not have ‘small serif strokes are that typically ‘ave oe stroke variation, a larger xcheight, and less stress in rounded strokes. This is Helvetica Neustype clasification system uses five basic categories, as shown below: While ‘this system does not differentiate berween serif and sans serif fonts, which is perhaps sy means of distinction between fonts. However, this system is the most used system Block peices ae bed on the orice writing ape pent ding ‘he Mile Ages Nowadays thy appen ear and die wo ead in ge ‘ext locks, and sem angst Ao called Blakes, Gothic, Engl, “Black and Broken Shown i Witenberger Fakta MT. "Roman spe as proportionally spaced ees and sr nd wat ‘cgi derived oes Reman nucipson I the mow radeble pe snd commonly sed for body text. Shown s Book Antiqua, Gothic ypetices donot bie the dacontv sista piv Roman fons “There nd spl design make them ideal for dsay tx tt may snake the dif wo ed in tng page, hough they have teen ceil eloped forse newpaper body tet Abo called nt seria Line. Shown i Grtegque MT. Gap ypetices onsin charset could Be considered mage fa thee own righ a hie etegnry connne he mow dere aay of ye Obes deigned fo pei shamed parpons Shay con provi a age connection 9 the sakes mizer Shows Tae Cea.Classification by date ‘The Alexander Lawson type classification system is based oon date, The names of many type styles derive from the epoch in which they first appeared, for example Old English, and so this method is closely linked to the evelopment of typography. ‘An understanding of this development timelines cexpresed through Lawson's system, can help a designer choose type to be consistent ‘with or convey the impression of a certain period. For example, we may be transported back to the Middle Ages through the use of Blackletter type 14008 1475 1500s FIIO 1750 1775 1825 1900s 1990s Sans serif’ “Types witout seri and Bie saoke weigh vaio Sr ‘Willa Calon in 1916, Show is News Gothic MT: Serif / Sans serif “Thi scent development encompsst paces tt include bot sans seni apabeu such at Rots, Shown i Ress Sem SeHumanist Garalde Transitional Didone Slab Serif Lineale Glyphic ‘Typlics nme by casical and Roman evens sch os Cente and Ital OUd Sole. Shown s Ceasar MT.In detail Presented here are examples from the Vox clasiication system categories, A eiou Old Style follow the design characteristics of Old Style fonts “These fos hve conse character sank and angled ue. ofen combining elements fom dierent ope ses ing. Edvard Bengt 1974 (on amalpation of two eater design, Ronaton and Caton) “Thee aki renter wroke cont ad vera te of curved element tasonal developers ‘nied John Bases. Zapf lsenatioal, Hermann Zap, 1977 Aeiou ‘Transitionals developed during the 18th century inl ‘Modern fonts became more stylised LOU Meccmime beam mee se ny en ene 2tnb-cenary revi dew inpzaion fom Giana Bodoni work a he 1th cetry and sare the charset of Didone Gs (ne revise). esis Aldo Nowe, 1980 Clarendon Neo was first created in the 20th century Aeiou Smitersisss! (Cheestam Toay Sen. 1975 —— APTOU SRE ee caper = A e i Oo Up, Sahaetts ave noo vary sgh, bracketing "Wile o no baci on te ocky da exit ie re wih ain. ‘chen, Col Drip 148The Fundameatis of Typography Type claifeaion tems ee eiou Glyphic types reflect inscription rather than calligraphic style They pose angular eri hat are dawn om pay inserpons, cen caged gies Nove Ade Nowe 190 eR a ete tented pen hn ruher tana double-story.and 3 wh s chin Absiens Gtk, Canter Geshu Lane, 984 NO mem senca renin weep dy splyed stu Kabel Racal Koch, 1976 | Sans Serif Humani I Sr Gert nt bl prin of Ra pit fe re Teter. Hanis fot ao pote splayed chance, bt they have greater rok weight contrat and 2 doublesorey'g. Frage Adrin Fags, 1976 7 OT ee ae tn in tm tenia pi Wacouenmere LOU Srrmemences co ner canny ey eB oon