Typesetting
STYLE GUIDE HOME . TYPE CLASSIFICATION . TYPESETTING . PRODUCTION & IMAGE PREP
Arguably the most important element of graphic design, typography, is essentially the art, design, and placement of letters as a means of communicating written language and/or ideas and messages. The correct application of typographic elements is essential for successful graphic design and the information below is intended to help Penn College graphic design students understand and master this skill as a means of improving their design work and preparing for a professional career in the field.
TYPE ELEMENTS
Typeface vs. Font
The words “typeface” and “font” are often used interchangeably, but in actuality they refer to different things. A typeface is a set of design features that identify a particular style of lettering. Helvetica, Baskerville, and Futura are typefaces. A font is more specific, it articulates the variation in weight, size and style within a typeface. For example, Helvetica Bold 10pt is a font.
Italic
Angled letters, originally based on handwritten script. Italics can be used to emphasize a keyword or phrase within roman text. Additionally, italic should be used for the titles of books and periodicals (e.g., Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison), and non-english terms (e.g., ad nauseam). Modern software allows users to modify the angle of upright letters to create false italics or obliques though this should not be used for professional work.
Weight
Weight is the overall thickness of a typeface’s stroke which contributes to the boldness of the type. Typically, font weights range from hairline and/or extra light at the lightest (i.e., thinnest), all the way to black and/or ultra at the heaviest (i.e., thickest). Note: the actual naming of individual weights is arbitrary and down to the individual type designer or type foundry.
Stress
The thickening of curved strokes and the position or angle of this thickening in relationship to the vertical axis. An important design feature of most typeface and lettering styles, stress is derived from a related feature in writing created with a broad-edged pen. For letters with a monoline stroke width there is no stress.
Glyph
Every character in a typeface is represented by a glyph. It is possible for a single font to contain thousands of glyphs including mathematical and scientific symbols, printer’s symbols, currency symbols, letters unique to particular languages and alternates. A Glyph panel/window is available in typesetting software such as Adobe InDesign as a means of evaluating the suitability and range of a particular typeface.
Anatomy
Letterforms are made up of basic elements which are used to describe the characteristics and defining features of a typeface. Understanding these anatomical features allows us to recognize and describe a typeface for use in graphic design projects.
Small Caps
Small caps are smaller capital letters approximately as high as the x-height of the lowercase letters. Small caps may be used for emphasis, differentiation, or in subtitles and running heads. High-quality typefaces often include a small cap version whose weight, color, and stroke width correspond to that of the full caps, while their proportions are usually wider. When properly designed small caps are not available for a particular typeface, many software packages will create small caps by scaling down the capitals. However these false small caps are often too light and narrow, and lack the design and typesetting considerations of real small caps.
Old-Style Numerals
Also known as non-lining figures or old-style figures, these numbers have varying heights and alignments and are similar to lowercase letters in that they have the same x-height as well as ascending and descending strokes. Old-style numerals are often preferred in running text as they are less intrusive than lining figures, allowing the numerals to blend more seamlessly with the lowercase characters. Old-style numerals also pair well with small caps.