Anatomy of typography(crit thinkin)

The basic typographic element is called a character, which is any individual letter, numeral, or punctuation mark. The capital letters are called caps, or uppercase  characters. Small letters are called lowercase characters. Numbers are called numerals or figures.




Special characters


These characters are called Math Signs and is commonly used in mathematics


These are punctuation marks it is commonly used to quote or express the sentence or word

Character components

Typographic characters have basic parts. The easiest way to differentiate characteristics of type designs is by comparing the structure of these components.

Anatomy of a Typeface

• Aperture

  Opening at the end of an open counter.

• Arm

  A horizontal stroke not connected on one or both ends.

• Ascender

  An upward vertical stroke found on lowercase letters that extends above the typeface’s x-height.

• Baseline

  The invisible line where letters sit.

• Bowl

  A curved stroke that encloses a letter’s counter.

• Counter

  Fully or partially enclosed space within a letter.

• Crossbar

  A horizontal stroke.

• Descender

  A downward vertical stroke found on lowercase letters that extends below the baseline.

• Diagonal Stroke

  An angled stroke.

• Ear

  A small stroke projecting from the upper right bowl of some lowercase g’s.

• Finial

  A tapered or curved end.

• Hairline

  The thin strokes of a serif typeface.

• Ligature

  Two or more letters are joined together to form one glyph.

• Link

  A stroke that connects the top and bottom bowls of lowercase double-story g’s.

• Loop

  The enclosed or partially enclosed counter below the baseline of a double-story g.

• Lowercase

  The smaller form of letters in a typeface.

• Serif

  “Feet” or non-structural details at the ends of some strokes.

• Shoulder

  A curved stroke originating from a stem.

• Small Caps

  Uppercase characters that appear as a smaller size than the capital height of a typeface. Short for “small capitals”.

• Spine

  The main curved stroke for a capital and lowercase s.

• Spur

  A small projection from a curved stroke.

• Stem

  Primary vertical stroke.

• Tail

  A descending stroke, often decorative.

• Terminal

  The end of a stroke that lacks a serif.

• Uppercase

  A letter or group of letters of the size and form generally used to begin sentences and proper nouns. Also known as “capital letters”.

• x-height

  The height of the main body of a lowercase letter.