By Corey Smith - Creative Director at Xapsis Integrated Marketing
Do you know the difference between a tittle and an ear? Are you keeping an eye on your beardline? Are you watching your tail, making sure it's not too close?
Do you know the difference between a tittle and an ear? Are you keeping an eye on your beardline? Are you watching your tail, making sure it's not too close?
I'm sure by now you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about? These are all terms associated with typography. In
our fast-paced society, we rely on typography every single day. Can you
imagine life without words or letters? The invention of writing (over
5000 years ago) fundamentally changed the way human beings communicate
and allowed us to record ideas, share information, and play back that
information years later. Words guide us in our
lives and give structure to our world. Words are everywhere, from street
signs to cell phones to billboards to the internet.
With that in mind, have you ever considered how important the individual letters are themselves? Letters are the foundation of all typographic communication. Chances
are, you haven't given much thought to letters since you were in grade school learning and writing the alphabet!
There is a structure and anatomy to typography that
is more detailed and defined than you can imagine. Let's start by
talking about the individual letters. These are referred to as characters.
A group of similar characters is called a font or a typeface. Fonts and typefaces have unique characteristics that set them apart from one another, bring the
characters to life, and give them definition. We call these characteristics type anatomy.
Letters are built like people, each part of a
character or letter has a unique name that serves to describe a part of
that letter-form. For example, I bet you didn't know that the dot above a lowercase i or j is called
a tittle! Did you know that the enclosed white space inside a lowercase "e" is called the eye? Of course, you knew
that a beardline is
an imaginary line on which the bottom stem of a lowercase p or j rests!
These are just a few of the terms used in the vocabulary of typography.
Typography is a powerful and crucial element when it
comes to communicating visually. Having a basic understanding of type
anatomy is key to creating effective designs with typography. And
remember, the next time you're
out with a friend and reading a word that has a lowercase "i" in it,
reach over and ask: " Do you think the tittle is too close to the
stem?"
