The anatomy of typography is an important element to be considered in the design hierarchy. It enhances the design value and successfully delivers the message to the audience.
Kindly read this handbook and learn the application to discover how to use typography based on the anatomy. It will help you understand the anatomy of typography, even from the smallest details. Start scrolling down!
Key takeaways:
Among the shapes of fonts, some details represent meaning behind the typography. Start your journey to learn about typography’s anatomy from this section!
It is the most visible detail that extends over the X-Height and Baseline and is used to balance the typography dimension. It is specifically applied in lowercase letters, such as b, d, f, h, k, l, and t. In design, you can adjust the ascender based on the length, curvature, and thickness to enhance readability.
On the other hand, Descender refers to the tail anatomy of typography that is created below the Baseline. The example of Descender letters are g, j, p, q, and y. Dercender is crucial since it used to distinguish between lower and uppercase letters in the design message.
To enhance the readability, you can determine the spacing and margins between the typography. The clean look of typography descender arrangement will guide the audience’s focus to the body text.
The difference between Ascender and Descender | Source: Binus International – BINUS UNIVERSITY
Baseline is the most basic anatomy of typography that can be a guide to balance the typeface in a straight line. Almost all of typography’s anatomy uses the Baseline as the essential line to align fonts. This element is specifically to elevate design hierarchy, especially typography alignment.
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Moreover, the use of baseline could be optimized with the Cap Height, especially for uppercase letters. It points to the peak of the typeface that extends beyond the X-Height. However, the Cap Height could vary for each typeface, which will affect the entire proportion.
In contrast, X-Height refers to the height of typefaces that are perfectly placed between the Baseline and the peak of uppercase letters. The X-Height is used to examine the lowercase letters’ height without terminals and curves, which will balance the body text.
For instance, the letters a, c, e, o, r, s, and x have similar height and balanced anatomy of typography. They could not extend beyond the Cap Height and do not have Descenders and Ascenders.
The place of Ascender, Descender, Baseline, Cap Height, and X-Height | Source: iStudio Publisher
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Stem is a dominant stroke in typography that can be vertical, diagonal, or curvature to determine the typeface format. The elements of Vertical Stem are B, D, H, I, K, L, and P. Moreover, the letters V, W, X, and Y have Diagonal Stem, and S is the only letter with Curvature Stem.
The Stem is adjustable by customizing the thickness and angle. The thickness will determine the boldness style, while the angle can create an Italic typography style.
Stem in typography | Source: Design Shack
Aperture is the anatomy of a letter typography with an open space within particular letters, such as a and e. It is set within the curvature at the beginning of the letter a and the end of the letter e. It is slightly different from Counter, yet Aperture is more crucial to examine readability.
The wider space could elevate readability and influence the audience’s perspective to understand the message. It is also used to distinguish between letters, especially in the body text.
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Yet, Counter represents the negative space in all of the typefaces. To deeper learning, Counter is identified into 2 types: Open and Closed. The Open Counter is an Aperture, which represents the space in letters c, e, f, h, m, n, r, s, u, v, w, y, and z.
What’s more, the Closed Counter refers to the letters with blank spaces that are covered by the whole shape. The examples of Closed Counter are o, b, d, p, and so on.
The difference between Aperture and Counter | Source: Font Finder
Practically, the letter b in the word Bowl is the representative of Bowl anatomy of typography itself. It refers to the curvature and round shape of the letters b, d, g, o, p, and q. What’s more, it is related to the Closed Counter with closed spaces within the letters. The consistent Bowl shape will elevate readability and influence user experience.
Serif could be a familiar term in typography design, which refers to the thin strokes at the beginning and the end of the typeface. It is specifically applied to Serif font, yet is barely used in Sans Serif. It is used to enhance the characters and evoke the traditional style of typography.
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You have to be considerate about the anatomy of typography to create a high readability design and engage the user experience. You can take a look at each letters that serve the details to create a balanced match of fonts.To browse the font ideas with complete details of typography’s anatomy, check out Zarma Type. You can purchase the font with anatomy details, which is available at an affordable price to practice your design skills. Zarma Type not only provides modern fonts, but also allows you to explore more into typography design.
