The Anatomy of Typography
Chapter two discusses the anatomy of typography and the
evolvement over the historical evolution. It starts off describing letterform
and the different vocabulary that goes along with it. This vocab helps
designers and typographers get a better sense of the meanings. Other then the
vocab, there are other aspects to letterform that very important to consider
and take into notice as well. The proportions, stroke-to-height ratio, contrast
in stroke weight, expanded/condensed styles, and x-height are all very
important features. The main thing that distinguishes letterform is the font: a
set of characters of the same size and style containing all the letters,
numbers, and marks needed for typesetting.
There are
an infinite variety of type styles today and in digital photography they have
created an array of typefaces available for contemporary use. How this can
happen is mainly through many step processes. The measurement system has helped
create these today. There is the metal type measurement and spatial
measurement. These both help depict the letter size by point, pica, cap height,
or body size.
Another
thing about the anatomy is that design considerations can be made to any type
style as well. The spacing in digital typesetting is all controlled by a unit
system all revolved around the em and the en. Also, each family can have three
font settings, which are: the roman, bold, and italic. These determine the
different stroke weight and stroke angle. Once these changes are made, then a
whole different series of weight changes and proportions are produced.
There are
two very important families in the type world. The first one is the Cheltenham
family. The design properties of this family are short, stubby slab serifs with
rounded brackets, tall ascenders and long descenders and a moderate weight
differential between thick and thin strokes. The last family described in this
chapter was the Univers family. This family all share the same x-height,
capital height, and ascender and descender length and are produced as a system.
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