Chapter 2 Summary: The Anatomy of
Typography
Chapter two’s main focus is on the anatomy of
Typography. Typographic forms started out through the evolution of our
handwriting, and hand writing typography all has to do with the marks. Because
of this, the element that is essential to making a letterform is a linear
stroke. The section continues to talk about the major components of a
letterform. Imaginary guidelines are important for a letterform. Examples of
these are the baseline, beard line, capline, meanline, and x-height. There are
also specific pieces of a letterform that can be adjusted. These are made up of
the apex, arm, ascender, bowl, counter, crossbar, descender, ear, eye, fillet,
hairline, leg, link, loop, spine, spur, stem, tail, and terminal. Serif can
also contribute to the overall letterform, which consists of tiny strokes that
extend from at an angel to the upper or lower ends of a major stroke.
I particularly liked this chapter because it
explained every piece of a letterform in a very clear and specific way. The
proportions of a letterform can also be changed. Factors to consider are the
stroke-to-height ratio, the contrast in stroke weight, the potential of
expanded or condensed styles, and especially its x-height and proportion. All
of these elements can influence the look of a letterform and give some sort of
overall message to the reader. Certain fonts can also include particular types
of characters, like Capitals, lowercase, small caps, old style figures, lining
figures, ligatures, and more. The rest of the chapter goes into detail about
the large variety of type styles. For example, Old Style, Italic, and Transitional
type are all very different in comparison. Italic is slanted to the right, Old
Style has many of its serifs bracketed, and Transitional has a sharp contrast
between its thick and thin strokes.
Measurement is also brought up in this section of
the book, which talks specifically about word spacing such as spatial
measurement and metal type measurement. This reminds me of the exercise we did
in class where we relied heavily on the type gauge to recreate a page from our
book.
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