Typography Classifications Flashcards

Typeface and Families

• A typeface is a unified design of characters, distinguished by consistent visual properties.
• A type family includes variations of a single typeface, typically including light, medium, and bold weights along with their italics.
• An extended type family offers more styles than a traditional family, featuring unique styles like hairline, extended, and condensed.
• A super family encompasses various styles across classifications, combining both serif and sans serif, providing versatility (e.g., ITC Stone).

Measurements

• 6 picas equals 1 inch.
• 72 points equals 1 inch.
• 1 point equals 1/72 inch.
• 12 points equals 1 pica.

Fonts

• A font is the digital file containing a complete character set of a specific typeface in various sizes.
• Serif fonts are characterized by small lines or flourishes at letter endpoints; examples include Times New Roman and Georgia.
• Sans serif fonts lack these extensions, featuring straight edges (e.g., Futura, Helvetica). Subcategories include Grotesque, Humanist, and Geometric.

Typeface Classifications

• Humanist typefaces emerged in the late 15th century, with characteristics such as angled serifs and varied stress (e.g., Caslon, Garamond).
• Transitional typefaces, from the 18th century, bridge old style and modern designs (e.g., Baskerville, Century).
• Modern serifs feature high contrast between thick and thin lines, typically with minimal brackets (e.g., Bodoni, Didot).
• Geometric sans serif fonts, like Futura, utilize geometric shapes, resulting in circular Os and sharp letter peaks.
• Slab serifs have strong, block-like serifs with consistent stroke weight (e.g., American Typewriter).
• Blackletter typefaces are based on medieval manuscripts, characterized by heavy strokes and condensed letters (e.g., Rotunda, Fraktur).
• Display fonts are ornate and heavy, used for titles and headers (e.g., Broadway, Copper Black).

Typography Fundamentals

• The baseline is the imaginary line upon which most letters rest.
• Cap height measures from the baseline to the top of capital letters, affecting letter size.
• X-height indicates the height of lowercase letters, specifically lowercase "x," omitting ascenders and descenders.
• Ascenders are portions of lowercase letters (like b, d, f) that extend above x-height.
• Descenders refer to segments of lowercase letters (e.g., g, j, p) that go below the baseline.
• Leading is the space between lines of text, measured from one baseline to the next.
• Letterspacing (tracking) defines the space between letters within a word.
• Kerning is the adjustment of horizontal space between specific pairs of letters for improved visual appeal.

Test your knowledge of typography with these flashcards. Explore key concepts such as typefaces, type families, and understanding visual properties. Perfect for students and professionals in graphic design or typography.