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Oldstyle Figures

h ch are a -cap he ght and typ ca y monospaced a so

ca ed tabu ar spac ng n text aces so that they ne upvertically on charts.

Oldstyle gures have a more traditional, classic look.

They are only available for certain typefaces, sometimes as

the regular numerals in a font, but more often within a

supp ementary or expert ont. They are proport onate y

spaced, e m nat ng the wh te spaces that resu t rom

tabular lining gures, especially around the numeral one.

O dsty e gures are very use u and qu te beaut u

when set w th n text. Un ke n ng gures, they b end nwithout disturbing the color of the body copy. They also

work well in headlines since theyre not as intrusive as

lining gures. In fact, many people prefer them overall for

most uses except charts and tables. Its well worth the

extra e ort to track down and obta n type aces w th

o dsty e numera s; the onts that conta n them m ght we

become some of your favorites.

volume one, number two

ldstyle fgures are a style of numeral which approximate lowercase letter-

forms by having an x-height and varying ascenders and descenders. They are

considerably different from the more common lining (or aligning) gures

by ilene strizver

O

series on

typographic know-how

sponsored byfy )iFOR YOUR(TYPOGRAPHICINFORMATION

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y )i con t

Ilene Strizver, founder of The Type Studio, is a typographic consultant, designer, writer and educator specializing in all aspects of typographic

communication, from the aesthetic to the technical.

For Your Typographic Information and fy(t)i are trademarks of International Typeface Corporation. Copyright 2003 International Typeface Corporation. All Rights Reserved.