From the course: Introduction to Graphic Design: Concepts

The language of type

From the course: Introduction to Graphic Design: Concepts

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The language of type

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- [Narrator] An understanding of type and typographic is central to graphic design. And here we're going to look at some essential terms that you'll really need to know. Starting with this word here is set along a baseline, all type has a baseline. And although we only see it when we're working with type on a computer, it is always there and is the foundation of all type faces. And that is the name of the design of the letters often mistakenly called fonts, which is actually, the software that delivers the typeface. But in practice, that word is used interchangeably, unless of course, you're talking to other designers. The first glyph, that's how we refer to the graphical representation of a character or letter form is in upper case, and that's what we call capitals or caps for short though their proper name is magic skill. Although hardly anyone uses that word, so I wouldn't worry too much about that upper case all caps will do fine. The lowercase letters or mini skill, if you're interested in technical words, follow on from that. The type of graphic way to describe numbers is as numerals of which there are two forms, lining numerals, which are drawn along the baseline and old-style, which are sometimes used in text and headings for their attractive qualities, but not in tabulation as they often don't align well as lining numerals do. As now we're back to the baseline, let's take a look at some other lines associated with type that you may come across, such as the x-height, which is the line that dictates the size of the lowercase letters, and the cap-height for the upper case. The ascender line sets the limit of the characters that have ascenders and the descender line does the same for descenders. And that will do us for now, it's a lot to take in if you're new to this, but when you're ready to learn more, perhaps check out courses by Ina Saltz and Charles Nix to dive in deeper.

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