Parts of a Letter

To begin understanding the different elements of typography, my class looked at the powerpoint "Parts of a Letter." This presentation described in detail the names of the parts of letters. For example, the dash off the top of the lower case "g" is called an ear. The line that goes through "Q" is called a tail. All letters rest on a baseline, and the upper case letters reach the cap height.

In one caption, the author made an interesting point about the fragility of types. It is difficult to put fonts together because there are so many individual parts that have to blend into one whole. The relationship between stems, bowls and arms has to seem natural and fluid.

This presentation helped me understand the complexity of fonts and provided me with some basic type vocabulary.