Typography is a subtle art that is often overlooked. Focusing instead on the graphics and colours in an artwork can be to the detriment of the design. All the design elements need to be consistent in portraying your message and there are many different aspects of typography and many terms. Here is a short list of terminology that you may not know (even the design experts out there).
Kern
to squeeze together characters, for a better fit of strokes and white space. In display type, characters almost need to be kerned because the white space between characters at large sizes is more noticeable.
Pica
A measurement used in typography for column widths and other space specifications in a page layout. There are 12 points in a pica, and approximately 6 picas to an inch.
Point
A measurement used in typography for type size, leading, and other space specifications in a page layout. There are 12 points in a pica, and approximately 70 points to an inch.
Leading
The space between lines of type, traditionally measured baseline-to-baseline, in points. Text type is generally set with one or two points of leading; for example, 10-point type with 2 points of leading. This is described as 10/12, read “Ten on Twelve” or “Ten over Twelve”.
x-height
The height of the lowercase “x.” More generally, the height of the lowercase letters.
Want more? Talk to the amazing Dobson's team today and make sure to follow us @dobsonsprinting and @ddesignoz on Twitter.
This is obviously not a comprehensive list so if you have more typography terms, then post a comment below!
