You might know about serifs, stems, and ascenders, but what is a tittle? Check out this infographic about the anatomy of typography and fonts. (Click to see full-size version.)
Here’s a quick breakdown of each term used in the infographic:
Aperture – the open negative space between the inside and outside of a letter
Arm – part of a letter that extends upward by itself
Ascender – upper part of a lowercase letter that’s above the mean line
Ball Terminal – the circular end of a letter stroke
Bowl – round letter stroke that creates a completely enclosed space
Counter -negative space that’s completely or mostly enclosed in a letter
Crossbar – a horizontal line that’s part of a letter
Descender – lower part of a lowercase letter that goes below the font baseline
Ear – small stroke that comes off a letter for decorative effect
Eye – the closed space in a lowercase “e”
Kerning – the space between letters and characters in a font
Leading – the space between lines of letters in a font
Leg – part of a letter that extends downward by itself
Loop – rounded part of a lowercase “g” found below the baseline
Ligature – two letters that are combined to create one new character
Serif – a small line that finishes the end of another stroke
Shoulder – a short round stroke that connects two straight strokes
Spur – a small curve in a letter
Stem – main vertical line in a letter
Tail – curved descender in some capital letters
Terminal – the end of a straight or curved line that doesn’t use a serif
Tittle – a small dot in a font
X-Height – the space between the baseline and the mean line of a font
X-Line – the mean line of lowercase letters in a font
I spotted this gorgeous typography infographic by The Logo Company today and had to pass it on. Know of any other great typography resources for designers? Share them in the comments below!
About The Author
Eleanor Hecks is the Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine, an online publication dedicated to providing in-depth content from the design and marketing industries. When she's not designing or writing code, you can find her re-reading the Harry Potter series, burning calories at a local Zumba class, or hanging out with her dogs, Bear and Lucy.