A Minimalists Guide to Typography
Author: Alexandra Meth Text editing and proof reading: Alexandra Meth Graphic Design & Layout: Alexandra Meth Designed in Small Square format 18 x 18cm (7 x 7 in). Soft Cover. Typeset: Open Sans - Steve Matteson Major Tom - Modified typeface by Alexandra Meth Printed by Blurb, Australia. May 2016. Š All rights reserved by Alexandra Meth
A Minimalists Guide to Typography
Alexandra Meth
Contents
09 Introduction 11 The Basics 13 Typeface 15 Character 17 Serif 19 Sans Serif 21 Italic 23 Tracking 25 Kerning 27 Leading 29 Glyph 31 Ligature 33 The Foundation 35 Baseline 37 Cap Height 39 X-Height 41 The Rules 43 45 47 49 51 53 57 59 61 63 65 Bibliography
Intro Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make the language it forms most appealing to transparent learning and recognition.
This book serves as a minimalists guide to typography; including hstory, glossary terms and
09
The Basics
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13
The Basics |Typeface
A collection of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols used to set text (or related) matter.
G
15
The Basics | Character
An individual symbol of the full character set that makes up a typeface; may take the form of a letter, number, punctuation mark, etc.
17
The Basics| Serif
A short line or stroke attached to or extending from the open ends of a letterform; also refers to the general category of typefaces that have been designed with this feature.
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The Basics | Sans Serif
Literally “without line�; the general category of typefaces (or an individual typeface) designed without serifs.
21
The Basics | Italic
A slanted version of a typeface (slants from left to right); a true italic is uniquely designed, more than a tilted version of the upright (a.k.a. “roman�) typeface.
23
The Basics | Tracking
The uniform amount of spacing between characters in a complete section of text (sentence, line, paragraph, page, etc.).
25
The Basics | Kerning
The horizontal spacing between two consecutive characters; adjusting the kerning creates the appearance of uniformity and reduces gaps of white space between certain letter combinations.
27
The Basics | Leading
The vertical spacing between lines of text (from baseline to baseline).
29
The Basics | Glyph
An element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written.
31
The Basics | Ligature
Two or more letters that are connected to form one character; primarily decorative (the embellishment that connects the two letters is called a “gadzook�).
The Foundation
35
The Foundation | Baseline
The imaginary line upon which the letters in a font appear to rest.
37
The Foundation | Cap Height
The height from the baseline to the top of the uppercase letters (not including diacritics).
39
The Foundation | X-Height
The height of a typeface’s lowercase letters (disregarding ascenders or descenders).
The Rules
Glossary. (2016). FontShop. Retrieved 12 May 2016, from https://www.fontshop.com/glossary Kliever, J. (2015). A Beautifully Illustrated Glossary Of Typographic Terms. Design School. Retrieved 4 May 2016, from https://designschool.canva.com/blog/typography-terms/ Lupton, E. (2010). Thinking with type (2nd ed., pp. 81, 102). New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Bibliography