The art or process of printing with type Typography

Categories of typefaces Serif: has tiny brackets at the end of a letter stroke. This type is a serif font. Sans Serif: No serif. Letter strokes are all the same thickness. They appear streamlined and modern. This is a sans serif font. Script: looks like handwriting or cursive. This is a script font. Decorative: like artwork. They are often called novelty or display type. This is a decorative font.

Typeface families Each type family has a name and a personality. Each member of a “type family” may vary in size, proportion, thickness, and slant. Ex: Arial Arial Black Arial Narrow Arial rounded bold Arial unicode

Typeface terms ASCENDERS: letter strokes that rise above the x-height (b, d, f, h…) X-HEIGHT: the height of the body of a lowercase letter (such as x) w/o ascenders or descenders DESCENDERS: strokes that dip below the x-height (g, j, p, q…) LEADING: also called spacing, it is the space between the lines of type and it’s measured in points

Type is measured in points Point size refers to the measurement between ascenders and the bottom of descenders. 72 points in an inch. 36 pt. font is ½ inch tall. 72 point font 36 point font 10 point font 8 point font

Readability We want our type to be readable, serif or sans serif. It shouldn’t distract reader from content. It need not be extra bold or extra light. Alignment Left: Most readable and natural; type set flush to the left Right: distinctive, but less naturally readable; type set flush to the right Justified: structured and blocky, uneven word and letter spacing Center: symmetrical, balanced, formal, and potentially boring

Typography in design Create contrast Size difference Typefaces Letter shapes (caps/lowercase, roman/italics) Color Horizontal/vertical