Some information for myself from a few sources, to educate me on type, an area I really want to investigate this year and also for Graham's type sessions. The sourced articles, especially Thinking With Type were very educational and actually very interesting. I plan on reading over these regularly till it's engraved in my brain!
Some notes:
OVERHANG - Curved letters often hang a little bit lower than the baseline, as do commas and semi-colons. If they sat on the baseline like other letterforms, rounded letters would look smaller than their flat-footed counterparts
Most typeface aren't divided exactly in half like how kids handwriting books used to teach you to write. The x-height usually occupies a little bit more than half of the cap-height. In a field of text, such a sentense the most density occurs between the baseline and the x-height.
CAP HEIGHT - length from baseline to top of capital letter
ASCENDER HEIGHT - Some elements such as ascenders sometimes progress a little bit beyond the cap height.
HELVETICA 9/8 = Helvetica 9pt with 8pt line spacing.
1 point = 0.35 millimeters
1 point = 1/72 inches.
72 point = 1 inch
1 pica = 12 point
Picas are often used to measure column widths.
A Typeface is measured from the top of the capital-letter (cap-height) to the bottom of the descender (descender height)
When setting type, in metal type. The pt size is the size of the metal slug NOT the size of the actual letterform itself. - this is why sometimes fonts look very different in size even though they're the same point size.
SET-WIDTH : The body of the letter plus a sliver of space next to it to protect it from the letters around it like a buffer.
So for example when you have condensed typefaces. They have narrower set-widths.
x-heights affect the visual effect of a typeface and can make it seem larger than it is, often more delicate and 'decorative' fonts have a smaller x-height than assertive and bold fonts such as Helvetica.
TYPE CLASSIFICATION: HUMANIST/TRANSITIONAL/MODERN - GEOMETRIC
Serif:
Humanist - emulating classic calligraphy, such as Claude Garamond typefaces of the 15th and 16th century
Transitional - Roots in the 18th century. Usually have slightly sharper serifs and more of a vertical axis. The apex of the A's is often sharp, instead of having a little lip like the Humanist typefaces. e.g. Baskerville
Modern - Roots in the 18th and 19th century. Radically abstract from Humanist and traditional forms. Have straight unbracketed serifs. With thicker strokes than previous classifications and more difference between thick and thin strokes. e.g. Bodoni
Egyptian/Slab Serif - More decorative fonts introduced in the 19th century. More bold and have heavy slab-like serifs. They also have less thick/thin strokes with the strokes pretty much even throughout. e.g.Clarendon/Rockwell
Sans-Serif typefaces became common in the 20th century.
Sans Serif:
Humanist: Still referencing the roots in humanist typefaces such as Garamond. For example Gill Sans designed in 1928 has humanistic characteristics. Calligraphic variations in line weight.
Transitional: Helvetica designed by Max Miedinger in 1957 is an example of a transitional typeface and is similar in some ways to the transitional serif fonts of the 18th century such as Baskerville. High x-height and use of the teardrop a.
HANGING QUOTATION MARKS - These are quotation marks which hand off the copy, and enter into the margin so it doesn't carve out chunks of white space from the edge of your paragraph.
To make a hanging quotation mark, insert a word space before the quotation mark. Pressing the option key, use the left arrow key to back the quotation mark into the margin. You can also use the Optical Margin Alignment or Indent To Here tools.
PUNCTUATION:
Use TAB to indent, not space. HTML doesn't even understand a double space.
EN SPACES - A space a bit more pronounced than a word space. Good for separating a sub-heading from the text that follows.
EM DASHES - A dash which is one EM wide. So it's as wide as the pt size of the typeface you're using.
HATCH MARKS - Prime and Hatch marks are often used for feet and inches. Be careful not to use apostrophes or quotation marks in these instances or single quotation marks.
The first step in designing a typeface is to define a basic concept. Will the letters be serif or sans serif? Will they be modular or organic? Will you construct them geometrically or base them onhandwriting? Will you use them for display or for text? Will you work with historic source material or invent the characters more or less from scratch? The next step is to create drawings.
Begin by drawing core letters such as o, u, h and n. Allowing you to build the core visual style and come to terms with the curves and general rules and logic to the typeface.
FONT FORMATS
Purchasing fonts from type foundries such as : Adoba and FontShop.
POSTSCRIPT TYPE 1 - was developed for computers in the 1980s. Type 1 fonts come with two files, a screen font file and a print font file, install both to use properly.
TRUETYPE: Created by Apple and Microsoft for use with their OS. Single file font instead of two like with Type 1.
OPENTYPE: Developed by Adobe, works on multiple formats. Each file supports up to 65,000 characters. in Truetype and Type 1, small caps, ligatures and other special characters must be contained in separate font files but this isn't a problem with Opentype. You can get some "PRO" Opentype fonts which have even more stuff in them.
TYPEFACE OR FONT?
Typeface is the design of the font. Font is the delivery mechanism. In setting type, the font is the metal is the cast metal printing types. In digital, font is the software which allows you to install and output the font.
Some notes:
OVERHANG - Curved letters often hang a little bit lower than the baseline, as do commas and semi-colons. If they sat on the baseline like other letterforms, rounded letters would look smaller than their flat-footed counterparts
Most typeface aren't divided exactly in half like how kids handwriting books used to teach you to write. The x-height usually occupies a little bit more than half of the cap-height. In a field of text, such a sentense the most density occurs between the baseline and the x-height.
CAP HEIGHT - length from baseline to top of capital letter
ASCENDER HEIGHT - Some elements such as ascenders sometimes progress a little bit beyond the cap height.
HELVETICA 9/8 = Helvetica 9pt with 8pt line spacing.
1 point = 0.35 millimeters
1 point = 1/72 inches.
72 point = 1 inch
1 pica = 12 point
Picas are often used to measure column widths.
A Typeface is measured from the top of the capital-letter (cap-height) to the bottom of the descender (descender height)
When setting type, in metal type. The pt size is the size of the metal slug NOT the size of the actual letterform itself. - this is why sometimes fonts look very different in size even though they're the same point size.
SET-WIDTH : The body of the letter plus a sliver of space next to it to protect it from the letters around it like a buffer.
So for example when you have condensed typefaces. They have narrower set-widths.
x-heights affect the visual effect of a typeface and can make it seem larger than it is, often more delicate and 'decorative' fonts have a smaller x-height than assertive and bold fonts such as Helvetica.
TYPE CLASSIFICATION: HUMANIST/TRANSITIONAL/MODERN - GEOMETRIC
Serif:
Humanist - emulating classic calligraphy, such as Claude Garamond typefaces of the 15th and 16th century
Transitional - Roots in the 18th century. Usually have slightly sharper serifs and more of a vertical axis. The apex of the A's is often sharp, instead of having a little lip like the Humanist typefaces. e.g. Baskerville
Modern - Roots in the 18th and 19th century. Radically abstract from Humanist and traditional forms. Have straight unbracketed serifs. With thicker strokes than previous classifications and more difference between thick and thin strokes. e.g. Bodoni
Egyptian/Slab Serif - More decorative fonts introduced in the 19th century. More bold and have heavy slab-like serifs. They also have less thick/thin strokes with the strokes pretty much even throughout. e.g.Clarendon/Rockwell
Sans-Serif typefaces became common in the 20th century.
Sans Serif:
Humanist: Still referencing the roots in humanist typefaces such as Garamond. For example Gill Sans designed in 1928 has humanistic characteristics. Calligraphic variations in line weight.
Transitional: Helvetica designed by Max Miedinger in 1957 is an example of a transitional typeface and is similar in some ways to the transitional serif fonts of the 18th century such as Baskerville. High x-height and use of the teardrop a.
HANGING QUOTATION MARKS - These are quotation marks which hand off the copy, and enter into the margin so it doesn't carve out chunks of white space from the edge of your paragraph.
To make a hanging quotation mark, insert a word space before the quotation mark. Pressing the option key, use the left arrow key to back the quotation mark into the margin. You can also use the Optical Margin Alignment or Indent To Here tools.
PUNCTUATION:
Use TAB to indent, not space. HTML doesn't even understand a double space.
EN SPACES - A space a bit more pronounced than a word space. Good for separating a sub-heading from the text that follows.
EM DASHES - A dash which is one EM wide. So it's as wide as the pt size of the typeface you're using.
HATCH MARKS - Prime and Hatch marks are often used for feet and inches. Be careful not to use apostrophes or quotation marks in these instances or single quotation marks.
The first step in designing a typeface is to define a basic concept. Will the letters be serif or sans serif? Will they be modular or organic? Will you construct them geometrically or base them onhandwriting? Will you use them for display or for text? Will you work with historic source material or invent the characters more or less from scratch? The next step is to create drawings.
Begin by drawing core letters such as o, u, h and n. Allowing you to build the core visual style and come to terms with the curves and general rules and logic to the typeface.
FONT FORMATS
Purchasing fonts from type foundries such as : Adoba and FontShop.
POSTSCRIPT TYPE 1 - was developed for computers in the 1980s. Type 1 fonts come with two files, a screen font file and a print font file, install both to use properly.
TRUETYPE: Created by Apple and Microsoft for use with their OS. Single file font instead of two like with Type 1.
OPENTYPE: Developed by Adobe, works on multiple formats. Each file supports up to 65,000 characters. in Truetype and Type 1, small caps, ligatures and other special characters must be contained in separate font files but this isn't a problem with Opentype. You can get some "PRO" Opentype fonts which have even more stuff in them.
TYPEFACE OR FONT?
Typeface is the design of the font. Font is the delivery mechanism. In setting type, the font is the metal is the cast metal printing types. In digital, font is the software which allows you to install and output the font.
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