Type Anatomy
Our type anatomy chart, which was inspired by a similar diagram in U&lc magazine in the early 1980s. Access a high resolution pdf here. Besides typographic parts, we’ve included some diacritical marks, punctuation and common sorts.
Quotation marks & apostrophes versus primes
Single primes are used to mark feet, and double primes for inches. They are no substitute for apostrophes and quotation marks—a mistake made even in (shudder) company logos. read more…
Favicons: tiny branding
A favicon (or “favorite icon”) was the 16 pixel square image that precedes the website title in browser window tabs (see illustration). Favicons are now used for tile and touch icons, read more…
One plus one makes three
Old fashioned two and three color printing often overprinted spot colors (colors generated by a single press run) to create a third color. Both of these Hungarian matchbooks are two-color press runs of the same red and turquoise green. The print on the left makes use of a third, “black” color by running the red on top of the green (overprinting). read more…
The long s is often mistaken for an f
The long s (∫) has its roots in Roman cursive and was common in print in Europe from the 15th through the 18th centuries. It still appears in the German Eszett (ß), which is an sz ligature (a connected long s and short z). read more…
Optima’s monumental elegance
The names sandblasted into the dark granite of the Vietnam War Memorial were set in Hermann Zapf’s Optima. The elegant typeface is tightly leaded in all upper case to stunning effect. The dots that separate the names recall classical chiseled inscriptions. read more…
Lovely, short letterpress documentary
“If I were to be sat down at a computer and told, ‘here, you can do whatever you want,’ I wouldn’t know what to do. There would be too many choices,” says John Kristensen, of Firefly Press in this gorgeous short film. Take a moment to enjoy the rich artistry and craftsmanship in the everyday work of the Firelfy Press in Sommerville Massachusetts.
Always optimize images for your website
Image files should not go straight from camera to website
Large image files take up space and increase load time. Fast-loading websites require small image file sizes. read more…
The exclamation point —“a sign of failure”
The punctus exclamativus (or punctus admirativus) first appeared in the latter half of the 14th century to mark the end of an exclamation. The Italian poet Iacopo Alpoleio da Urbisaglia claimed to have invented it. The influential Italian humanist Coluccio Salutati revived the exclamativus and its use spread in the 15th century. read more…
Raster (or Bitmap) vs Vector images
Raster (or bitmap) images are fixed-resolution, made of a grid of pixels. Enlarged they will be blurry and pixelated, with a jagged edge.
Common raster file formats are jpg, gif, tiff, bmp and png. read more…