In Modern Publication Design Compiled by Dianne Smith, CJE Alief Hastings High School Houston, TX

Part II:

Anatomy of a Letter Baseline: the imaginary horizontal line upon which all letters rest.

Anatomy of a Letter x-height: The height of a lowercase letter with no ascenders or descenders

Anatomy of a Letter Ascender: The part of a letter which extends above the x-height

Anatomy of a Letter Descender: the part of a lowercase letter which extends below the baseline

Anatomy of a Letter Note: Ascenders and descenders within the same font are exactly the same length

Anatomy of a Letter Enclosed loops in some letters, such as b, p, q, B, D, etc., are called “bowls”.

Anatomy of a Letter Leading: the amount of space between lines of type

Type Measurement In earlier times when type was molded out of metal, it was sold in sizes that were measured in points. Today's digital types can be enlarged or reduced by simply selecting a point size.

Type Measurement A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch. Line is 1 inch long

Type Measurement A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch. Line is also 6 picas long.

Type Measurement A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch. 6 picas=1 inch.

Type Measurement A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch. So 72 points=1 inch.

Type Measurement A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch. And 6 picas=1 inch….

Type Measurement A traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch. So 6 picas=72 points!

Type Measurement The point method of measuring is still used for digital type. Often, because some faces have very long ascenders and descenders, these typefaces look smaller than others when both are printed at the same point size. This incongruity is illustrated below:

Part II: Type Measurement

Type is measured in points. There are 72 points in an inch. 72-point type is 1 inch tall. 36-point type is 1/2 inch tall. 18-point type is 1/4 inch tall.

Type is measured from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender.

An ascender is the portion of the letter which extends above the x-height. A descender is the portion of a letter which hangs down below the baseline. Ascender Descender x-height Baseline

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