Creative Concepts: 12 Basic Terms Every Aspiring Designer Should Know About Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible and appealing when displayed, and also applies to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Essential to brand's success, typography is a tool which allows designers to convey a brands ethos, personality, and aesthetic. We've compiled a list of basic typography terms all aspiring designers should know.
- Character: a single element of a word or letter
- Type: an individual member or letter of a specific font
- Typography: the art and technique of arranging type
- Typesetting: the process in which a typeface is translated into graphic or printed content
- Typeface: a common design aspect of a particular family of type
- Fonts: grouping of typefaces that have similar physical characters
- Common Font Families:
- Serif: some notable examples are Times New Roman and Georgia
- Sans Serif: some notable examples are Ariel and Comic Sans
- Cap-height: the height of a capital letter
- X-height: the height of a lowercase letters
- One of our in-house Art Directors, Mia Huang, mentioned that one way to increase legibility in some fonts is to increase the x-height.
- Baseline: the invisible line in which each letter rests
- Kerning: the negative space in-between individual characters and lines
If you would like to learn more about typography or logo design, contact our team to discuss your upcoming branding needs!