Anatomy of Type

p a t y ft y e na o m

o

cboln t w uoer

wt er n ob uo c

counter

bowl

The enclosed or partially enclosed circular or curved negative space (white space) of some letters such as ‘d’, ‘o’, and ‘s’.

The curved part of the character that encloses the circular or curved parts (counter) of some letters such as ‘d’, ‘b’,‘o’, ‘D’, and ‘B’ is the bowl.

r c

ra

.

case ‘g’, an

Much like a counter, the eye refers specifically to the enclosed space in a lowercase ‘e’.

eye

In double storey ‘g’, the loop is the enclosed or partially enclosed counter below the baseline that is connected to the bowl by a link. The enclosed or partially enclosed extenders on cursive ‘p’, ‘b’, ‘l’, and similiar letters are also called loops.

ob e

ear i s

ad eco

o

e lower n th

Ty pic al

nd ou f ly

ear

r

g e bowl lly on the uppe the h usua r ri s f i r o g h de u t si flo it ve

l / p l oo

e Th

li n e/ n

rv connects the bowl lyph bise ed, that an cti d n

str oke cu , of t e n

lo

o

m to

bo t

to

ag of

f

o ad

-storey ‘g’. uble

a gnl line dra r strokeswin from s t h e ax t o p i s.

op

k ec

he gt

s

ary we in d lo g a an

edm c Q

O

An up i m

axpier

al d The en

( st

te

c ft y raig ht or curved) of any

roke

do

esn’

.

like conne r ‘Q’

een the stems and scending, often cu

p

bracket

serifs o f s o m nt rved dia e fo trok gonal s

escending,

The bracket is a cu r k often decorative stro

ction betw , or the de

t include a se

r if

The d

st

that

tail

v e o ed or n th wedge e lette

O

rm inal

s. e o Not all s erifs are bracketed serifs. n ‘K ’ or ‘R’ is the tail.

m r

cap height

d

r x n h r np

eca

e

np

r

eic h

e

descender

c

ie ah h

r

hi gh ge at

d

Any part in a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline, found for example in ‘g’, ‘j’, ‘p’, ‘q’, ‘y’, etc. Some types of descenders have specific names.

g

ah c r ep

x

r

d

xti c hee h g a

h

t

x e aehi

h

The height from the baseline to the top of the uppercase letters (not including diacritics).

p

c

g f

t

The height of the lowercase letters, disregarding ascenders or descenders, typically exemplified by the letter x.

The relationship of the x-height to the body defines the perceived type size.

A typeface with a large x-height looks much bigger than a typeface with a small x-height at the same size.

e

hdi gxx x de d e h hi

x c n x e n r c p re neecn c p x x c c e pecn x

n

p e p e e p e h h d ae a e e e c p h h aer n xaeh

ic

h

e

h

p

n

h

a

ae h

pr c rn

pecn r

d

f

h

ec n

c

pecn

d

gc

ea

d

xd

e

h h

a

t

g

c

f

t

c

ecc n d

The imaginary line upon which the letters in a font appear to rest.

e

c

baseline

ht g

htei d g hgei g de e i ae c

e

t

hg

j

m

ei

c

x-height

c h t

The upward vertical stem on some lower case letters, such as ‘h’ and ‘b’, that extends above the x-height is the ascender.

m

hdei

a

ascender

e

a

e

de hi c

m

c

e

t

e h h e i e hi g d g