Typographic Skills: Anatomy of Typography

For one to master a skill, he must tackles the basic first. The same goes for typography as we take a step through its' anatomy, letter, and alphabets.





Aperture
The opening at the end of an open counter.

Arm
A horizontal stroke not connected on one or both ends.

Ascender
An upward stroke found on lowercase letters that extends above the typeface's x-height.



Baseline
The invisible line where letters sit.



Bowl
A curved stroke that encloses a letter's counter.




Counter
Fully or partially enclosed space within a letter.




Crossbar
A horizontal stroke.




Descender
A downward vertical stroke found on lowercase letters that extends below the baseline.



Diagonal Stroke
An angled stroke.

Ear
A small stroke projecting from the upper right bowl of some lowercase g's.

Finial
A tapered or curved end.

Hairline
The thin strokes of a serif typeface.

Ligature
Two or more letters are joined together to form one glyph.

Link
A stroke that connects the top and bottom bowls of lowercase double-story g.

Loop
The enclosed or partially enclosed counter below the baseline of a double-story g.

Lowercase
The smaller form of letters in a typeface.

Serif
"Feet" or non-structural details at the ends of some strokes.

Shoulder
A curved stroke originating from a stem.

Small Caps
Uppercase characters that appear as a smaller size than the capital height of a typeface. Short for "small capitals".

Spine
The main curved stroke for a capital and lowercase s.




Spur
A small projection from a curved stroke.

Stem
Primary vertical stroke.




Tail
A descending stroke, often decorative.




Terminal
The end of a stroke that lacks a serif.

Uppercase
A letter or groups of letters of the size and form generally used to begin sentences and proper nouns. Also known as "capital letters".



x-height
The height of the main body of a lowercase letter.





Reference:

• http://typedia.com/learn/only/anatomy-of-a-typeface/