Parts of fonts

Parts of Fonts

There are several technical terms you can

use to describe and categorize fonts.

Many of these terms stem from a time when type was hand-written using

wedge-tipped pens.

All of these terms describe parts of a font that give the eye visual clues to

decoding the letters while reading.

Parts of Fonts

Serifs

Serifs are the flares at the ends of the letters.

sFont with Serifs sFont

without Serifs

The baseline

The baseline is a line upon which the bottom of the main body of each letter

rests.

aThe baseline

X-height

X-height refers to the height of the main body of

the lowercase letters.

aThe X-Height P

Ascenders

Ascenders are the parts of letters that rise above

the x-height.

fThe X-Height

The Ascender

Descenders

Descenders are the parts of the letters that drop

below the baseline.

The Baseline g The

Descender

Weight

Weight is the thickness of line in the font.

thin thick

D d D d

The thick/thin transition

The thick/thin transition is the change in curved portions of a letter from

a thick line to a thin one. Little thick/thin transition

O o O o

Great thick/thin transition

thin

thick

The stress

The stress is the angle of a line between the

thinnest parts of the curved strokes.

Stress

O O

Assignment #2Identifying Parts of Fonts

Directions: For this assignment, your goal is complete the Assignment #2 Worksheet where you will identify different parts of fonts. You may (and should) use your Font Parts hand out to help you with this assignment.

 This assignment is worth 20 points.