A Visual Guide to the Anatomy of Typography [Infographic]

A Visual Guide to the Anatomy of Typography [Infographic]

Written by:
Orana Velarde

Jul 06, 2023
type anatomy A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography

As a designer, you know that typography is much deeper than knowing the difference between
serif and sans-serif fonts. In fact, each letter, like designs or even people, can come with its own meaning, moods, styles—and even anatomical features!

Whether you’re a new designer or you’re an expert who needs a good refresh, in this article, we’ll walk you through types of typography anatomy, such as different parts that make up letters, their real-life counterparts, and how each type is manipulated to fit in spaces so that it looks balanced and easy on the eye.

So the next time you download a set of fonts with “extra swashes,” you will know exactly what they mean and how to use them.

 

Table of Contents

 

Quick Read

  • The anatomy of typography or type refers to understanding the visual elements that come together to form letters in a typeface.
  • Typography anatomy includes an arm, leg, spine, spike, ear, shoulder, and tail.
  • Understanding typography anatomy is important because it provides a framework for designers to learn and implement visual structure, correctly use characteristics of typefaces, and font psychology.
  • Five main principles of typography anatomy include making fonts legibility, using hierarchy, and ensuring font alignment, contrast, proper spacing, and lastly consistency.
  • Typefaces can be styled to showcase various styles, meanings, and tones.
    You can manipulate type space with three main measurements called kerning, tracking and leading.
  • Visme offers font combinations, editing and modification features to help designers maximize their font or design creation to help users successfully implement font principles.

You can view the visual summary of this post below or skip ahead to read a detailed explanation of the different parts that make up letters.

 

Type Anatomy A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-Infographic
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What Is the Anatomy of Typography?

The anatomy of typography or type refers to the visual elements that come together to form the letterforms in a typeface. Each letterform comprises of various components like the spine, stem, and stroke.

When type designers create typefaces, they carefully craft these components, which are essential in determining the overall look and readability of the typeface.

Main Types of Typography?

The three main types of typefaces designers use are serif, sans-serif, and decorative. There are other types of fonts, but these are the most commonly used typeface you’ll see in designs, advertisements and even videos. As you dive deeper into the article, we’ll explore these types of typefaces.

Serif Fonts

Serif fonts are characterized by small lines or strokes attached to the ends of the main strokes of the letterforms Serif fonts are often associated with a more traditional, classic, or formal style.

The serifs help guide the eye along the letters and create a sense of flow. They are commonly used for body text in printed materials like books, newspapers, and magazines, as they aid in readability.

Sans-serif Fonts

Sans-serif fonts, as the name suggests, do not have the small lines or strokes (serifs) at the ends of the main letter strokes.

They have a clean, modern, and often minimalistic appearance. Sans-serif fonts are widely used for both digital and print media, particularly in headings, logos, and user interfaces.

They are known for their simplicity, readability, and versatility across different screen sizes and resolutions.

Decorative Fonts

Decorative fonts, also known as display or novelty fonts, are characterized by their unique and distinctive designs. These fonts often deviate from traditional letterforms and can be highly stylized, ornamental, or thematic.

Decorative fonts are commonly used for creative and attention-grabbing purposes such as logos, headlines, invitations, or special occasions.

However, due to their intricate and elaborate designs, they may be less readable in longer bodies of text and are best used sparingly or for decorative purposes rather than extensive reading.

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Why Is Typography Anatomy Important?

Why is it important that you learn the anatomy of typography? The answer is just as simple as the question. Typography anatomy is crucial because it provides a framework for understanding the visual structure and characteristics of typefaces and implementing font psychology.

By studying and recognizing the various components that make up letterforms, such as the spine, stem, and stroke, designers gain a deeper understanding of how each element contributes to the overall appearance and legibility of a typeface.

This knowledge enables a designer to make informed decisions when selecting and working with typefaces, so they align with the intended tone, purpose, and message of a design.

Ultimately, typography anatomy serves as a shared language that enhances the precision and clarity of typographic design, enabling designers to create visually appealing and well-structured typography.

 

Principles of Typography

The principles of typography follow a set of guidelines and principles that ensures any typefaces used are harmonious with each other and other design elements. These principles include:

  1. Legibility: is the readability of a typeface and emphasizes the importance of selecting appropriate typefaces and sizes for different contexts.
  2. Hierarchy: helps to guide readers' attention by using variations in size, weight, and style to establish a clear visual order.
  3. Alignment: ensures that type is visually aligned and organized, whether it's left-aligned, right-aligned, centered, or justified.
  4. Contrast: created by combining different typefaces, sizes, weights, and colors to add visual interest and differentiate between different levels of information.
  5. Proper spacing: includes leading, kerning, and tracking, ensures readability and prevents overcrowding or excessive gaps between letters and lines.
  6. Consistency: ensures that typographic elements are applied consistently throughout a design, contributing to a cohesive and unified visual identity.

With Visme's font editor, you can upload your own font or choose from our 462 font options. You can also seamlessly follow the typography principles listed above in Visme as it provides detailed editing access. This includes the ability to edit your fonts' spacing, change margins, line height, formats and font direction, allowing you to follow each of these typography principles seamlessly.

 

Type Anatomy

 

Leg

A Visual Guide to the Anatomy of Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-leg

A leg typography is the portion of a letter that extends downwards, attached at one end and free at the other.

 

Arm

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-arm

An arm typography is a straight or curved portion of a letter that extends upwards or outwards, attached at one end and free at the other

 

Ear

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-ear

A typography ear is the small stroke that extends outwards from a lowercase g in some typeface styles.

 

Shoulder

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-shoulder

The stroke that curves downwards and to the right of the lowercase h, m and n.

 

Spine

A spine typography is the main curved stroke inside the upper and lower case S.

 

Tail

A typography tail is the decorative curved descender of a capital Q, R and K. The descenders of the lower case g, j, p, q, and y are also sometimes called tails.

RELATED: 15 Fresh Font Combinations for Your Presentations and Infographics

 

Other Kinds of Internal Letter Parts

 

X-height

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-X-height
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The x-height isn’t exactly a part but rather a measurement. It measures the height of all lowercase letters that are part of the same typeface. It’s called x-height because the letter x of each typeface is what determines the measurement.

 

Cap Height

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Cap-height

The cap height is a measurement of all capital letters in the same typeface. The most accurate measurement is found in flat bottomed characters like the letter E.

 

Ascenders

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An ascender is a vertical stroke that extends upwards over the x-height.

 

Descenders

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A descender is a vertical stroke that extends downwards below the x-height.

 

Stem

The stem is the main vertical stroke in upright characters. When a letter has no verticals like a capital A or V, the first diagonal stroke is considered the stem.

 

Stroke

A stroke is the main vertical diagonal line in a letter.

 

Bar

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Bar

A bar is a horizontal stroke in letters like A, H, e and f.

 

Serif

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Serif

A serif is a short line at the beginning and the end of strokes. Serifs are what make a typeface a serif or a sans serif. Serifs can have different shapes: hairline, square/slab, wedge. They can all be bracketed or unbracketed, meaning that their connection to the stroke is rounded or perpendicular.

 

Terminal

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Terminal

When a letter doesn’t have a serif, the end of the stroke is called a terminal.

 

Bowl

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Bowl

A bowl is a stroke that creates an enclosed curved space, as in the letters d, b, o, D and B.

 

Counter

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Counter

The counter is the enclosed space in letters like o, b, d, and a. Counters are also created by bowls.

 

Link

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Link-and-loop

A link is a stroke connecting the bowl and loop of a two-story lowercase g.

 

Swash

A swash is a fancy or decorative replacement to a terminal or serif in any capital letter used at the beginning of a sentence. Swashes are also used at the end of letters to decorate the composition. Calligraphy is full of swashes of all kinds; at the beginning, at the end and even in the middle, extending from ascenders.

 

Spur

A spur is a small projection that veers off the main stroke on many capital G’s

 

How Type is Styled to Better Suit a Purpose

 

Bold and Italic

There are ways to style typography to more effectively get your message across. The most common typography styles are italic and bold. Regular typefaces can be turned into bold or italic in any graphic design editor. Bold styles are great for headlines and highlighting important parts of text. Using bold styles for links makes them more prominent and easy to see. Italics are used mainly for words in a different language or reference links.

RELATED: A Non-Designer’s Guide to Pairing Fonts

 

Typeface Families

Some typefaces have more options. A typeface family can have as many as 20 styles or more. Futura, a very versatile typeface family, has 22 styles. Some of the most memorable Futura styles are light, condensed, semi-bold, extra bold, bold condensed and book italic.

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Typeface-Families

 

Novelty Styles

Apart from the styles covered above that work for all sorts of text and designs, there are also hundreds of other styles! Novelty fonts have all sorts of different styles, from whimsical and hand drawn, to culturally inspired. These novelty fonts cannot be turned into bold or italics because they only exist in the style they were designed in.

For example, inline is a style in which there is a white line inside each letter:

A-Visual-Guide-to-the-Anatomy-of-Typography-How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-Inline

Ink is a style that resembles letters written with an Asian brush and black ink:

Script (or cursive) is a style of font that resembles letters written by hand; script fonts vary from classic calligraphy to freestyle handwriting.

Novelty styles are great for designs that need a special je ne sais quois, but should still be used with caution since they can become overwhelming quite easily.

 

Cultural Styles

There are other fonts that are purely cultural in fashion. For example, the fonts that look like Japanese characters but aren’t. The ones that look Chinese but are not Chinese characters. Other cultural styles are ones like the Disney font or the Coca-Cola font. Cultural styles are even more limited than novelty styles. They carry so many messages that using them will instantly give your design a preconceived meaning, so be mindful when using these types of fonts.

coca-cola

 

Five Basic Rules of Typography

Earlier, we highlighted some best practices, techniques and rules that will give you a better understanding of how to implement typography, so to help solidify these rules here are some basic rules of typography you should also keep in mind as you apply them to your designs.

Understanding Contrast

Contrast plays a vital role in the world of typography. It involves purposefully incorporating variations in size, weight, color, or style to bring visual intrigue and differentiate between different elements.

By skillfully employing contrast, you can establish a clear separation between headings and body text, effectively highlight crucial information, and effortlessly guide the reader's focus.

Whether you choose to play with font sizes, boldness, or color palettes, comprehending and leveraging contrast will significantly enhance the legibility and overall impact of your typography.

Utilizing Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy refers to the thoughtful arrangement and organization of typographic elements, creating a logical and intuitive flow for readers.

By employing techniques like altering font sizes, weights, and spacing, you can establish a hierarchy that effectively communicates the relative significance of different elements.

This ensures that readers can navigate through your text with ease, capturing the core message and grasping the overall structure effortlessly.

Mastering visual hierarchy enhances readability and comprehension, enabling your typography to effectively convey its intended message.

Grasping and Implementing Grids

Grids serve as indispensable tools in the realm of typography, aiding in maintaining consistent alignment and spacing throughout your design.

By dividing your layout into a grid system, you establish a sense of structure and orderliness, facilitating the harmonious arrangement of various typographic elements such as headings, paragraphs, and images.

Grids play a pivotal role in achieving balance and coherence, contributing to the overall aesthetic appeal and readability of your typography.

Keeping Font Combinations in Check

It is essential to exercise restraint and limit the number of typefaces you incorporate within a single design. An overabundance of fonts can lead to a cluttered and bewildering visual experience.

Instead, focus on selecting complementary typefaces that work harmoniously together, ensuring consistency across your design.

By curbing your font combinations, you create a unified and harmonious typography that is easy on the eyes and conveys a professional and refined impression.

If you’re struggling to combine fonts, Visme offers a Font Pairs feature that you can browse through and add to your designs. Each of Visme’s font combinations were created by an expert designer to ensure that your designs look polished and professional.

Preserving Font Integrity

Distorting fonts by stretching, squeezing, or skewing them can have a detrimental impact on their legibility and aesthetic appeal. It disrupts the proportions and compromises the intended design integrity of the typeface.

Fonts are meticulously crafted to ensure proper spacing, proportions, and visual balance, and distorting them undermines these essential characteristics.

It is crucial to respect the integrity of the fonts and utilize them as intended, refraining from any artificial modifications that could negatively impact readability and overall visual quality.

Easily maintain font integrity and branding when you use Visme’s AI-powered Brand Wizard. Access your company fonts, colors and logo in your Visme editor whenever you design a project.

Simply add the url from your website and the Brand Wizard will grab your brand collateral and add it to your account. You can also manually add create a brand kit and upload the fonts of your choice as well.

 

How Type is Manipulated to Fit in a Space

Sometimes letters need to be adjusted to fit in a certain space. There are three different ways in which type can be moved around in a space so that it looks better. These three measurements are called kerning, tracking and leading.

 

Kerning

How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-kerning

Kerning is the space between two individual letters. It’s used when you need to move only one letter because it is too far or too close to its companions. Some typefaces have a strange spacing between the capital letter and the rest of the word. Kerning helps create a better balance between letters.

When designers create wordmark logos, they usually control the kerning from letter to letter, making sure the the entire word is perfectly balanced and polished.

 

Tracking

How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-tracking

Tracking is the proportional space between all the letters in a body of text. Being able to change the tracking helps fit more letters in a small space or spread out letters if they are too tight. Script fonts cannot undergo too much tracking due to how the ligatures separate and create unbalanced spaces.

Designers manipulate the tracking when they want to accomplish a look that has even edges for all the words. By spreading out the tracking or making it tighter, they can make all the text look unified and justified.

 

Leading

How-the-internal-parts-of-type-are-classified-leading

Leading is the space between baselines. This means that when we manipulate the leading, we are changing the way a paragraph looks.

Leading and x-height have a direct effect on how text will look in a paragraph. There is another measurement we should mention called the baseline, which is the line on which letters sit horizontally. The bottom of the x-height of each letter sits on a baseline.

The lower the x-height compared to the cap height, the more white space there will be between lines. When letters have a higher x-height in comparison to the cap height, the leading looks more balanced and ordered.

 

Easily Add, Design & Modify Fonts with Visme

Not all fonts or typefaces are the same. Some will help you to successfully present your message and tone while others might not.

By understanding and utilizing the best practices and principles of the anatomy of typography, you’ll be able to learn the difference between the two and make better decisions when choosing a font for your graphics or even your entire brand.

With Visme you can easily add, design and modify fonts in your design. Use premade font combinations or create your own. Create designs from scratch or dive into our library of thousands of customizable templates to suit your needs.

Visme provides the sweet spot for seasoned or non-designers to get the most out of their projects, content creation and so much more. Interested to learn more about how Visme can help to elevate your designs or creation process? Click here to learn more about this all-in-one content creation platform.

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    About the Author

    Orana is a multi-faceted creative. She is a content writer, artist, and designer. She travels the world with her family and is currently in Istanbul. Find out more about her work at oranavelarde.com