Font Terms Glossary

September 11, 2014

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Find Your Font Photo

Finding your perfect font can be quite the process. It is important to find the right fit that will help define and shape your company’s image.

Fonts have the power to evoke emotions or feelings, which is why it is crucial to choose the right font to represent your company. Below is a small portion of our e-book Finding Your Perfect Font Style to help give you an idea of what types of fonts are available for your choosing. If you like what you see, but still wish to learn more about choosing the perfect font, feel free to download our free e-book and gain more valuable knowledge!

Featured definitions will include:

        • Descenders
        • Ascenders
        • Stroke Weight    
        • Character Shape
        • Stroke Contrast    
        • Serif Weight 
        • X Height                   

Glossary

Descenders

Descenders are characters that drop below the baseline. The line or area that the descenders reach down to is known as the baseline.  Letters this can be seen on are: g, j, p, q, y. Sometimes f can even be a descender too!

Ascenders

Ascenders are characters that extend above the middle line or the top of other characters. Letters that this can be seen on are: d, f, k, l, h, t.

Stroke Weight

The thickness each line within a character is called stroke weight. Stroke weights are measured from Ultra Thin (-7) to Ultra Black (+7).

Image from idsgn shows the difference between stroke weights.

Image from idsgn shows the difference between stroke weights.

Stroke Contrast

Not to be confused with stroke weight, stroke contrast is the variation of thickness to thinness in the lines of each character.

Image from Soma shows the differences between minimum contrast and extreme contrast.

Image from Soma shows the differences between minimum contrast and extreme contrast.

X-Height

X-height is the distance between the baseline and the mean line within a typeface. The picture below outlines where each line is located for better illustration.

Typeface Terms

Image from Wikipedia

Serif Weight

Serif weight refers to the amount, or heaviness of the serif font. Compare and contrast the following serif fonts styles. Deviant Art lays out 12 different fonts for you to view:

Image from Deviant Art.

Image from Deviant Art.

Character Shape

The character shape looks at the overall appearance of the character. Is it round, oval or square? If you are having troubles determining the character shape, look at the letter “O” as a reference. Take a look at Dafont’s Techno Hideo font to better understand what I mean. If you reference the O in this font, you will see a more square appearance to the letters.

Image from Dafont.

Image from Dafont.

 

Finding Your Perfect Font Style

If you would like to learn more about the various terms listed above download our free e-book Finding Your Perfect Font Style. Our free e-book is an easy-to-follow guide that will help you break down common fonts and find which ones really strike your fancy.

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Who Manifested This Madness?

Monica Maye Pitts

This fabulous human, that's who.

Monica Maye Pitts

Monica is the creative force and founder of MayeCreate. She has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with an emphasis in Economics, Education and Plant Science from the University of Missouri. Monica possesses a rare combination of design savvy and technological know-how. Her clients know this quite well. Her passion for making friends and helping businesses grow gives her the skills she needs to make sure that each client, or friend, gets the attention and service he or she deserves.

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