What are small capitals?
Shorter than the capitals of the typeface, usually the same size, or slightly taller than the x-height. Unlike all capitals, they are smaller and designed specifically to be so.
Akzidenz-Grotesk doesn't have small caps, but Mrs Eaves does.
Ligatures
Two letters combined into one character. A way of correcting characters that overlap, such as f and i, when next to each other. They are most commonly used when two letterforms would otherwise overlap in an unsightly manner. Such as, fi, ff, fl, and TH are a few examples. They aren't used when they are not needed, such as with sans serif typefaces, overlap of characters is unlikely or impossible.
AG does not have ligatures, but Georgia does
Foot Mark v. Apostrophe
Foot marks are a lot like an apostrophe, and look a lot like ', but are purely meant to communicate a foot. Apostrophe's are for possessive use (such as Apostrophe's) or conjunctions such as "don't" and "won't". They are not interchangeable, though, and are often confused with one another.
Inch Mark v. Quote Mark
Just like the foot mark and apostrophe, except with " instead of '. Same rules apply, one is for measurement one is for punctuation, and the two are not interchangeable.
Hyphen, en dash, and em dashes
hyphen (-), en dash (–), em dash (—). A hyphen connects two related words, such as pre-school, or x-height. En dashes are used to separate dates such as 1834 – 1906. Em dashes function like parentheses—a form of punctuation—that allow the writer to include information that is more like another thought.
AKZIDENZ-GROTESK
Akzidenz-Grotesk
Sans Serif
Designer: Ferdinand Theinhardt & G.G. Lange
Other Fonts: Theinhardt was a known type-cutter who cut Royal Grotesk which was later renamed Akzidenz-Grotesk when it was combined with other weights and fonts by G.G. Lange.
Date: 1896
Classification: Grotesk
Family Members: Light, Light Oldstyle Figures, Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold Italic, Super, Light Extended, Medium Extended, Bold Extended Italic.
Old Style
Created to replace blackletter, low contrast between thick and thin strokes, bracketed serifs, and left leaning stress on the letters. The typefaces would have been modeled after calligraphy.
Examples: Bembo, Sabon, Caslon
Transitional
Between Old Style and Modern. More contrast between thick and thin strokes, less leaning stress (now more vertical), and sharper serifs. The changes were dramatic for the time, considering fonts has stayed the same for so long.
Examples: Baskerville, Mrs Eaves, Swift
Modern
Incredibly high contrast between thin and thick strokes, thin straight serifs, and a vertical axis.
Examples: Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum
Slab Serif
Thick fonts, with no variation in stroke with, thick straight serifs.
Examples: Volta, Belizio, Clarendon
Sans Serif
Lacking serifs, varies from humanist to geometric. Popular in the 60s with Swiss type designers,
Examples: Akzidenz-Grotesk, Meta, Futura
Stroke Weight
The width or thickness of a line in a character
Axis/Stress
An imaginary line drawn through, where the stroke changes widths, and where that change occurs. The stress can be vertical, left, or right.
Small caps
Shorter than the capitals of the typeface, usually the same size, or slightly taller than the x-height
Lining Figures
The characters align with the baseline and the cap height.
Non-aligning figures
Old-style figures, the characters extend beyond the baseline or cap height, align with the ascenders and descenders of the lower-case letters
Ligatures
Two letters combined into one character. A way of correcting characters that overlap, such as f and i, when next to each other.
Type Measurement:
Points and picas are ways to measure type. 1 inch divided by 6 = One Pica, 1 inch = 72 points.
Sans Serif
Designer: Ferdinand Theinhardt & G.G. Lange
Other Fonts: Theinhardt was a known type-cutter who cut Royal Grotesk which was later renamed Akzidenz-Grotesk when it was combined with other weights and fonts by G.G. Lange.
Date: 1896
Classification: Grotesk
Family Members: Light, Light Oldstyle Figures, Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold Italic, Super, Light Extended, Medium Extended, Bold Extended Italic.
Old Style
Created to replace blackletter, low contrast between thick and thin strokes, bracketed serifs, and left leaning stress on the letters. The typefaces would have been modeled after calligraphy.
Examples: Bembo, Sabon, Caslon
Transitional
Between Old Style and Modern. More contrast between thick and thin strokes, less leaning stress (now more vertical), and sharper serifs. The changes were dramatic for the time, considering fonts has stayed the same for so long.
Examples: Baskerville, Mrs Eaves, Swift
Modern
Incredibly high contrast between thin and thick strokes, thin straight serifs, and a vertical axis.
Examples: Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum
Slab Serif
Thick fonts, with no variation in stroke with, thick straight serifs.
Examples: Volta, Belizio, Clarendon
Sans Serif
Lacking serifs, varies from humanist to geometric. Popular in the 60s with Swiss type designers,
Examples: Akzidenz-Grotesk, Meta, Futura
Stroke Weight
The width or thickness of a line in a character
Axis/Stress
An imaginary line drawn through, where the stroke changes widths, and where that change occurs. The stress can be vertical, left, or right.
Small caps
Shorter than the capitals of the typeface, usually the same size, or slightly taller than the x-height
Lining Figures
The characters align with the baseline and the cap height.
Non-aligning figures
Old-style figures, the characters extend beyond the baseline or cap height, align with the ascenders and descenders of the lower-case letters
Ligatures
Two letters combined into one character. A way of correcting characters that overlap, such as f and i, when next to each other.
Type Measurement:
Points and picas are ways to measure type. 1 inch divided by 6 = One Pica, 1 inch = 72 points.
Who is Wim Crouwel?
He is an award winning Dutch graphic designer who is known for his love of grids. He has designed many posters, as well as several fonts such as New Alphabet, Stedelijk, and the Fodor Alphabet.
Emigre Fonts
Modula
Designed by Zuzana Licko
This is a mono-weight typeface that looks to be composed of mostly straight pieces, with several rounded elements, and straight serifs. The H is a letter that sticks out to me because the serifs only exist on the outside, and don't fill the space in between strokes on the inner of the H. This is seen on other letters, and emulates a wide stance, which resembles a cowboy standing bow-legged.
Western, strong, bold, skinny, and rectilinear.
Cholla
Designed by Sibylle Hagmann
A modular font with smooth round edges, and strong bold strokes. Seems to be constructed of rounded rectangular pieces, as well as squares. The lower case a in interesting for the way the strokes meet, and the width gets dramatically thinner.
Smooth, digital, thin, square, rounded.
Priori
Designed by Jonathan Barnbrook
This fond is very straight, and a clean sans serif. It looks to be constructed of angular pieces, and square. The uppercase N is one that is interesting, the strokes don't entirely meet, leaving a little space that is left defined. The G also doesn't have a spur, or a serif of any sort, just an upward stroke.
Clean, simple, geometric, rectangular, dynamic.
Fuse Fonts
Typeface Four
A very narrow, condensed typeface, with sharp terminals. Constructed with thin pieces and shallow or severe angles. The S's vary in this photo below, one is very sharp and looks nearly paper-clip like, while the other more close resembles a crow-bar and is much more shallow.
Narrow, thin, sharp, retro, and dynamic.
Pop
A modular typeface that is composed of small circles. Resembles a marquee, or perhaps a pegboard. Constructed of tiny circles laid out in a pattern or grid.
Circular, grid, dots, simple, structured
Moonbase
A very bubble-like spacey font. Constructed of rounded rectangles and rounded edges, resembles an oil spill, and appears liquidy.
Round, smooth, liquid, space, bubble.
He is an award winning Dutch graphic designer who is known for his love of grids. He has designed many posters, as well as several fonts such as New Alphabet, Stedelijk, and the Fodor Alphabet.
Emigre Fonts
Modula
Designed by Zuzana Licko
This is a mono-weight typeface that looks to be composed of mostly straight pieces, with several rounded elements, and straight serifs. The H is a letter that sticks out to me because the serifs only exist on the outside, and don't fill the space in between strokes on the inner of the H. This is seen on other letters, and emulates a wide stance, which resembles a cowboy standing bow-legged.
Western, strong, bold, skinny, and rectilinear.
Cholla
Designed by Sibylle Hagmann
A modular font with smooth round edges, and strong bold strokes. Seems to be constructed of rounded rectangular pieces, as well as squares. The lower case a in interesting for the way the strokes meet, and the width gets dramatically thinner.
Smooth, digital, thin, square, rounded.
Priori
Designed by Jonathan Barnbrook
This fond is very straight, and a clean sans serif. It looks to be constructed of angular pieces, and square. The uppercase N is one that is interesting, the strokes don't entirely meet, leaving a little space that is left defined. The G also doesn't have a spur, or a serif of any sort, just an upward stroke.
Clean, simple, geometric, rectangular, dynamic.
Fuse Fonts
Typeface Four
A very narrow, condensed typeface, with sharp terminals. Constructed with thin pieces and shallow or severe angles. The S's vary in this photo below, one is very sharp and looks nearly paper-clip like, while the other more close resembles a crow-bar and is much more shallow.
Narrow, thin, sharp, retro, and dynamic.
Pop
A modular typeface that is composed of small circles. Resembles a marquee, or perhaps a pegboard. Constructed of tiny circles laid out in a pattern or grid.
Circular, grid, dots, simple, structured
Moonbase
A very bubble-like spacey font. Constructed of rounded rectangles and rounded edges, resembles an oil spill, and appears liquidy.
Round, smooth, liquid, space, bubble.
What are small capitals?
Shorter than the capitals of the typeface, usually the same size, or slightly taller than the x-height. Unlike all capitals, they are smaller and designed specifically to be so.
Akzidenz-Grotesk doesn't have small caps, but Mrs Eaves does.
Ligatures
Two letters combined into one character. A way of correcting characters that overlap, such as f and i, when next to each other. They are most commonly used when two letterforms would otherwise overlap in an unsightly manner. Such as, fi, ff, fl, and TH are a few examples. They aren't used when they are not needed, such as with sans serif typefaces, overlap of characters is unlikely or impossible.
AG does not have ligatures, but Georgia does
Foot Mark v. Apostrophe
Foot marks are a lot like an apostrophe, and look a lot like ', but are purely meant to communicate a foot. Apostrophe's are for possessive use (such as Apostrophe's) or conjunctions such as "don't" and "won't". They are not interchangeable, though, and are often confused with one another.
Inch Mark v. Quote Mark
Just like the foot mark and apostrophe, except with " instead of '. Same rules apply, one is for measurement one is for punctuation, and the two are not interchangeable.
Hyphen, en dash, and em dashes
hyphen (-), en dash (–), em dash (—). A hyphen connects two related words, such as pre-school, or x-height. En dashes are used to separate dates such as 1834 – 1906. Em dashes function like parentheses—a form of punctuation—that allow the writer to include information that is more like another thought.
Shorter than the capitals of the typeface, usually the same size, or slightly taller than the x-height. Unlike all capitals, they are smaller and designed specifically to be so.
Akzidenz-Grotesk doesn't have small caps, but Mrs Eaves does.
Ligatures
Two letters combined into one character. A way of correcting characters that overlap, such as f and i, when next to each other. They are most commonly used when two letterforms would otherwise overlap in an unsightly manner. Such as, fi, ff, fl, and TH are a few examples. They aren't used when they are not needed, such as with sans serif typefaces, overlap of characters is unlikely or impossible.
AG does not have ligatures, but Georgia does
Foot Mark v. Apostrophe
Foot marks are a lot like an apostrophe, and look a lot like ', but are purely meant to communicate a foot. Apostrophe's are for possessive use (such as Apostrophe's) or conjunctions such as "don't" and "won't". They are not interchangeable, though, and are often confused with one another.
Inch Mark v. Quote Mark
Just like the foot mark and apostrophe, except with " instead of '. Same rules apply, one is for measurement one is for punctuation, and the two are not interchangeable.
Hyphen, en dash, and em dashes
hyphen (-), en dash (–), em dash (—). A hyphen connects two related words, such as pre-school, or x-height. En dashes are used to separate dates such as 1834 – 1906. Em dashes function like parentheses—a form of punctuation—that allow the writer to include information that is more like another thought.
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