Learning Objectives Atter studying this chapter, you will be able to: Descrihe the development of type styles, Tdonvtify the hasic torms nsed ta describe typo List seven typeface classifications Explain the difference between a family, a series, andl a font of type. Identify the common type sizes and units used in typography. List and explain the factors that contribute to the logihility af type Summarize how the computer has increased the capabilities of typography. Important Terms ascondor descender font justify leaaing legibility point size Roman sans serif acheight Typography This chapter introduces the role that typefaces play in producing printed images. Typefaces arc important, not only to the communication of thoughts, but to the overall appearance or aesthetic characteristics of the printed image. Careful study of this chapter will help you understand the information presented in later chapters. Typefaces ‘Typefaces are distinctive designs of visual symbols (images) that are used to compose a printed page on paper or another substrate (printing surface). Characters are the individual visual symbols in a particular typeface. An assortment of characters — letters, numerals, punctuation marks, and special symbols (such as the ampersand) — is necessary to put words into print Just as every person has a name, every typetace has a name. It would be very difficult to idesify specific typefaces without names, just as it would be difficult to identify individual human beings if there were no names, There are literally thousands of typofaces available to the producor of printed products. With the introduction of computerized typesetting, the number ‘of new typefaces has increased dramatically and continues to grow steadily. Typography Typography is the art of expressing, ideas in printed form through the selection of appropriate ‘ypelace. The. fypgripher (int designer) must \rermine how te ‘manuscript should be expressed in type as well as other details of reproduction and physical format. 6566 Graphic Communisationa For example, if the typographer is selecting a typeface fuse in an advertisement for a new electronic device, he or she would not select an old fachioned appearing type style with orate, curly letters. A modem, clean-looking type would ‘be more appropriate and representative. Typeface terminology The alphabet uscd for English and most Furopean languages consists of only 26 letters However, since there are thousands of typefaces, the letters of that alphabet are represented in many different ways. To he able to differentiate among the various typefaces, you must understand the basic terms relating to type and know how they affect the printed image: The fundamental terms relating to a typeface are shown in Figure 4-1. They include: Uppercase. The capital letters, usually abbreviated “caps.” Lowercase. Ihe body letters, abbreviated ee © Body height. The distance from top to bottom of the lowercase letters, not including the ascenders and descenders. Also called eight. Ascender. The part of a letter that extends above the body height. m Descender. The part of a letter that extends below the body height. © Base line. An imaginary line drawn along. bottom of body height letters. Descenders, go below it. j= Waist line, An imaginary line drawn along tap of hody height letters. = Counter. The nonprinting, area surrounding a letter or inside the loop of a letter, such as d or p. © Point size. A vertical measurement used to identity or specity the size of a typeface, Measurement is approximately from the top of the ascender space to the bottom ot the descender space. Basic terms relating to specific characters. as shown in Figure 42, are. ws Hairline. A thin line or element of the character. Stem. The vertical part of the character. Stroke. The thickness of a line forming a character element. Stress. The slant or tlt of a character. = Serif. The thickened tips or short finishing-off strokes at the top and bottom of character. Set width. The distance across a character from side to side. Later sections of this chapter, and other Guapters, will discuss these terms in greater detail. ‘You will learn how these typeface components and characteristics can be used to alter the form and function of words, sentences, and the general “look of the printed image. Figure 4-1, Basic le relating to a typetace,Heavy stroke] lament Figure 4-2. The oats of a character Type Style Development Thronghont history, hnmans have striven to perfect the art of making written or printed images. ‘The scribes of medieval Europe produced hundreds cof beautiful and masterful letter forms as they hand-lettered book pages. The scribes developed very beautiful lettering, making each character into 4n “art form.” Actoss Europe, the style of the letters varied from country to country, or sometimes even from region to region within a country. When the process of mechanical printing from individual pieces of type was introduced in Curope in the 15th Century, typographers modeled their letters upon those drawn by scribes. Each letter was cut by hand from hard metal to form a punch, ‘which then was driven into softer metal to make a mold, The mold, in tun, was used to produce many copies of the letter. Molten type metal (an alloy of Jead, tin, and antimony) was poured into the mold lo form an individual piece of type that could be aligned with type containing other letters to form ‘words and sentences. higure 4-3 shows a piece of ‘foundry type produced by the modern version of this method. Although it is used only in a few specialized applications today, “hot metal” type (another term for foundry type) was the major form of type for used for printing from the 1400s through the mid-1900s. Chapter 4 Typography 67 Figure 4-3. Foundry type, cast in metal, was the major form of type used by printers for more than 500 years. Ink was appli to the raised surface of the latter and trans- fered to paper lo for a intaye. New printing methods introduced in the past 50 years have given rise to photographic and electronic (computer-based) methods of typesetting. These methods, which will be described later, also made it easier to design and produce new typefaces. IMany of these new faces are radically different from those that have heen widely used for many years. Black letter The manuscript (literally “hand written”) style of lettering used by the scribes of Germany, France, Holland, and othor countries was similar to tho type style known today as black letter, text, or Old English, Tigure 44. This letter style was the basis for development of the earliest metal type, since the typographer or printer typically imitated the manuscript style common to a locality or geographic area. Srapbic Arts Displav of Fine Printing Reveals ‘bulleul Alreangement of Type Figure 4-4, Black letter is a sivle of te based on hand- lettering done by scribes in European countries. (ATF) Development of the. Roman type style ‘As the art of printing developed, changes in type styles also inereased ‘This was espcially trie in Italy, where many of the German printers had