In Modern Publication Design

Compiled by Dianne Smith, CJE

Alief Hastings High School

Houston, TX

Part II:

Anatomy of a LetterBaseline: the

imaginary horizontal line upon which all

letters rest.

Anatomy of a Letterx-height: The height of a lowercase letter with no ascenders or descenders

Anatomy of a LetterAscender: The part of a letter which extends above the x-height

Anatomy of a LetterDescender: the part of a lowercase letter which extends below the baseline

Anatomy of a Letter

Note: Ascenders and descenders within the same font are exactly the same length

Anatomy of a Letter

Enclosed loops in some letters, such as b, p, q, B, D, etc., are called “bowls”.

Anatomy of a LetterLeading: the amount of space between lines of type

Type MeasurementIn earlier times when type was molded out of metal, it was sold in sizes that were measured in points. Today's digital types can be enlarged or reduced by simply selecting a point size.

Type MeasurementA traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or .01384 inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch.

Line is 1 inch long

Type MeasurementA traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or .01384 inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch.

Line is also 6 picas long.

Type MeasurementA traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or .01384 inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch.

6 picas=1 inch.

Type MeasurementA traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or .01384 inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch.

So 72 points=1 inch.

Type MeasurementA traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or .01384 inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch.

And 6 picas=1 inch….

Type MeasurementA traditional point is approximately 1/72 of an inch or .01384 inch. With the advent of desktop publishing, the point became exactly 1/72 of an inch. 12 points = 1 pica, and 6 picas = 1 inch.

So 6 picas=72 points!

Type MeasurementThe point method of measuring is still used for digital type. Often, because some faces have very longascenders and descenders, these typefaces look smaller than others when both are printed at the same point size. This incongruity is illustrated below:

Part II: Type Measurement

Type is measured in points. There are 72 points in an inch.

•72-point type is 1 inch tall.•36-point type is 1/2 inch tall.•18-point type is 1/4 inch tall.

Type is measured from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender.

Type is measured from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender.

An ascender is the portion of the letter which extends above the x-height. A descender is the portion of a letter which hangs down below the baseline.

Ascender

Descender

x-heightBaseline

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