TYPE TERMINOLOGY & BASIC TERMINOLOGY

TYPE TERMINOLOGY

Every field has its own jargon or vocabulary. It is important to learn the terminology in order to appear more knowledgeable when communicating with a client, another designer, or a printer.

The term serif and sans serif are used when referring to type. Serifs are appendages, or little feet, found on the tops and bottoms of Roman letters. It is assumed that they were derived either from the chisel marks left after letters were cut into stone or from the brushstrokes used to draw the letters on the stone before cutting. Sans serif type (sans, from the French, meaning without) began to be used in the early 20th century by the de Stijl and Bauhaus designers who were interested in simplicity of form.

BASIC TERMINOLOGY

Font

A font is all the letters, punctuation marks, and numerals in the same point size in a particular type style.

Typeface

We talk about typefaces in terms of a family of letters using the same design motif, but varying in style, width, weight, and texture. The term "face" originateds from the days of metal type where the surface of the letters were raised and the face of the letter receiving the ink came into contact with the printing surface.

The Type Family

Each single typeface has variations that include different widths, weights, italics, and styles.

MEASURING TYPE

1. Size

   1. Points

      1. We refer to type in points. Seventy two points equal an inch. The white space between words and lines of type, the width of spaces, the thickness of lines are all measured in points. Type that is 36 points is approximately 1/2 inch in height.

   2. Picas

      1. The term pica is used to indicate 12 points of space. A pica is made up of 12 points. There are 6 picas to an inch. Line length are measured in picas.

2. Width

   1. Type width can be altered horizontally on the computer by expanding or condensing it in a page composition program ora drawing program. Typefaces with thick and thin strokes will not condense well, whereas type with lines of equal weight will.

3. Weight

   1. The weight of type relates to the lightness or heaviness of the strokes. Characters can have different weights or density depending on the typeface and the style used. The weights may be referred to as light, medium, bold, black, extra bold, or ultra black.

4. Style

   1. The type menu on the computer has several style options: plain, bold, italic, underline, outline, shadow, and reverse. You can use the same typeface but change the style in order to get a different effect.

5. Leading

   1. Leading (pronounced "ledding"), refers to the amount of spacing between lines, and like type, is measured in points. Leading should always be one or two points larger than the type size or 20 percent of the point size or auto leading on the computer. If the type is 10 point, the leading would be 2 points (10/12). When you are using all caps the auto leading might seem a little excessive so it is best to adjust it to less than 120 percent, or less than the point size.

6. Kerning

   1. The computer cannot always be relied upon to provide spacing between individual letters that is visually pleasing. Some letters need to be m0ved closer together manually in order for them to look more evenly spaced. Kerning, done manually in either a page layout program or drawing program, can either eliminate spacing between two letters, or add spaces where needed. Kerning should be done with a magnified view of the page (400%) so that you can see very clearly what you are doing. The example below shows the letters that need to be kerned.

-- GRAPHIC DESIGN ON THE DESKTOP, MARCELLE LAPOW TOOR, Page 16, Page 84-88