font: Quick Facts

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The term font commonly refers to a type family such as Bodoni or Helvetica, which includes the entire alphabet in various weights (regular, bold, extra bold, etc.) and styles (roman, italics, or display type such as Bodoni poster). Type can be set in capitals (“caps”), lowercase, or small caps. The x-height of a font (the height of a lowercase letter that has no ascender or descender) will vary from typeface to typeface. The space between lines of type is referred to as “leading”—a term that dates back to a time when spacing was added with strips of lead. The specification of the example above is indicated as 10/11, or 10-point type with 11 points from baseline to baseline.

Title page of an advertising brochure for Cooper Black typeface, featuring bold black text reading First Showing Cooper Black and information about Oswald Cooper and Barnhart Brothers and Spindler.

Type sample sheet showing hand-drawn Cooper Black letters in various sizes and phrases, including pack my box with fv and comply HOME RRE, on an off-white background.

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Topics

typesetting Lorem ipsum

Key People

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Paul Chan

Hong Kong-born artist and activist

Fraktur fonts

Rudolf Koch

German artist