Basic Elements of Graphic Design: Typography

The role of typography in creating Visual Communication Design is very important, because the letters can provide a form of verbal communication consists of words and phrases which are arranged in alphabetical order.





Keep in mind that there are differences between font and typography, typography can be interpreted as the art of planning, organizing, and arranging letters for printing and reproduction of requirements, while font can be interpreted as the shapes of the letters are made ​​by hand which by default sorted alphabetically starting with A to Z.

Anatomy of Letters

Each alphabet from 'A' to 'Z' has a different anatomy of the height, width and thickness. In the anatomy of letters that have been described have known that each form has a meaning. Here are the anatomy of letters:

1. Baseline

Is a bottom line or the horizontal direction and become the base limit in any capital or small letters.

2. Capline

is a line of the very top or bottom of the upper horizontal direction to the limit in all capital or small letters.

3. X-Height

height is the distance from the baseline to the bottom line of the lower case (meanline), called high lowercase.

4. Ascender

is the stalk on the lower case with a position pointing up.

5. Descender

is the stalk on the lower case with a position pointing down.

6. Lowercase stalk (stroke)

is the stalk on the letter that lead upright or tilted.

So each letter has different characteristics that can be called the names listed in alphabetical order. The letter will have a sense of when it has become a word or sentence.

Typeface

In general, each letter consists of upper and lower case, and is also divided into three forms, namely:

1. Serif

Serif has a form letter that has a large and a small stalk contrast. serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”.

2. Sanserif

Sans-serif, sans serif, san serif or simply sans typeface is one that does not have the small projecting features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without". Sans-serif fonts tend to have less line width variation than serif fonts.

3.Script / Cursive

Cursive, also known as script, joined-up writing, joint writing, linking, running writing, or handwriting is any style of penmanship in which the symbols of the language are written in a conjoined and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster. However, not all cursive copybooks join all letters. Formal cursive is generally joined, but casual cursive is a combination of joins and pen lifts. In the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets, many or all letters in a word are connected, sometimes making a word one single complex stroke.