Individual letter forms have unique

parts which have changed in visual form

over the centuries. A nomenclature
helps identify major elements of their
construction. The evolution of lettering
styles over time is a result of optical
adjustments to the basic components by
type designers over the ages.
Anatomy of Type
Capline
Meanline
Baseline
x-height
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Unit 1.1 Anatomy of Type
Lindsay Biggins
Type Compendium
Design & Type | October 7th 2014
Instructor : Douglas Higgins
Ringling College of Art + Design
Unit 1: Anatomy of Type
Legibility
Cropping
Typographic Kinetics
Form and Counter Form: Single Letterq
Form and Counter Form: Between Letters
Counter Point and Counter Part
The Structure of Letters
Unit 2: Typographic Page
Unit 3: Typogrpahic Hang Tag
To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can
control or master. - Milton Glaser
Design is the method of putting form and content together.
Design, just as art, has multiple denitions; there is no single
denition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so
simple, thats why it is so complicated. - Paul Rand
Covering the top and bottom halves of
letter forms demonstrates that, in general,
the upper half of a letter is more legible
than the bottom half. Exceptions to this
tendency are letters that extend below the
baseline. Nearly half of any word can be
removed before it is no longer legible, but
some letters are more easily identiable
depending on which half of the letterform
remains.
Anatomy of Type | Legibility
Exaggerations
Exaggerations
Exaggerations
Overlapping classical type families of the
same point size, displays the great range in
character width, x-height and capline. The
only anatomical attributes shared across
all type families are the baseline and the
strokes used to create the characters.
Mixing families of type on a single line or
in a paragraph will create visual discord
due to the many characteristic differences
between the two families.
Anatomy of Type
Exaggerations Exaggerations Exaggerations Exaggerations
Typographic Kinetics
Sequential compositions emphasizing
rhythmic pattern and punctuation as
dynamic ow while pushing the readability
to the extreme. Each example articulates
aurally and visually the typographic
details within each composition as well as
the whole.
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Lindsay Biggins
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Each individual square and its letter form
is seen as an independent typographic
composition that investigates form and
counterform, gure ground relationships,
asymmerty / symmetry, static and dynamic
placement.
Anatomy of Type | Cropping
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Form and Counter Form | Between Letters
The counter form is not just whats left
over in the background. The counter
form shapes the void and helps dene
rhythmic intervals to ease reading.
Typically these counter forms are either
geometric or organic in quality depending
on the structure or style of the letter.
An awareness of this interrelationship
of form and counter form is essential in
typographic design.
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Counterpoint Counterpart
Form and Counter Form | Single Letter
Fundamental to all typographic design
is the interplay between letter form and
counter form. Form and counter form
are reciprocal values and completely
interdependent and integral to a letters
completeness as a design.
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Counterpoint Counterpart
While upper and lower case letters are
distinct in structure, they all are built by
combining 4 strokes; vertical, horizontal,
slanted, and curvilinear. These elementary
strokes form the foundation, a visual
code that is recognizable through our
long experience with reading and writing
LHFETI tlijf
NMYK k
VXW vxwy
AZ z
DPBUJRG bdpqghrmnua
COQS ceos
regardless of style. Letter forms derive
their visual character from combinations
of these basic strokes. An entire alphabet
can be categorized using only six basic
underlying visual combinations of strokes
as the example illustrates.
Counter Part / Counter Point
As in music, design elements can have a
counterpart or counterpoint relationship.
Typographic counterpoarts are elements
with similar qualities that bring harmony to
their spatial relationship. Elements have a
counterpoint relationship when they have
characteristics, such as size, weight, color,
tone, or texture. Counterpoint relationships
bring opposition and dissonance to the
design.
Black circles denote the Counterpart
Red circles denote the Counterpoint
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Counterpoint Counterpart
Using the initials of your designer, impose
the letterforms in a typographic study
that interprets a relationship to the form
of the chair they designed. The goal is to
discover relationships in form and division
of space. Then, using the designers
name, the name of the chair, and the date
of its manufacture, impose the words in
a typographic study that demonstrates
relationships to the chair.
Typographic Page with Chair The Structure of Letters
T
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Since the time of the Greeks, capital
letterforms have consisted of simple
geometric forms based on the square,
circle, and triangle. The basic shape of
each capital letterform can be extracted
from this Roman letterform template found
on the Trojan Colums which is composed
of a bisected square, a circle, a triangle, an
inverted triangle, and two smaller circles.
Typographic Page
size / case
size / width / weight
K
size / weight
size / width
Typographic Page
KKK
Typographic Page
size / weight / slant
size / width / weight / font
K


k
Typographic Page
weight / face
weight / width
k
width / weight / case
size / width
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Typographic Page
Typographic Page
size / weight / face
size / slant / weight
K
Typographic Page
Ray Komai was a textile and furniture
designer born and raised in Los Angeles,
California. Komai earned his degree in graphic
design in Los Angeles at the Art Center
School. Komai was inuenced by Paul Klee,
Pablo Picasso, and tribal masks fromAfrica.
During WorldWar II, Komai was relocated to
the Manzanar Japanese Internment camp to
War II, Komai worked as a layout designer in
New York City, producing work for several
companies including J.G. Furniture and Laverne
furniture designs all reect a tribal inuence.
Ray Komai's side chair No. 939 was originally
produced by J.G. Furniture in 1949 in Brooklyn.
No. 939 was produced froma single sheet of
plywood bent using the latest post-war
technologies, giving it a sleek, modern, and
minimal design. The chair even features and
anthropomorphic element, as its overall design
suggests the formof an African tribal mask.
1949 u
ray
K OM AI
J.G. F U R N I TU R E 1949
brooklyn, newyork
Typographic Hang Tag
size / slant
size / weight
Typographic Page
K
Typographic Hang Tag
Ray Komai's side chair No. 939 was originally
produced by J.G. Furniture in 1949 in Brooklyn.
No. 939 was produced from a single sheet of
plywood bent using the latest post-war
technologies, giving it a sleek, modern, and
minimal design. The chair even features and
anthropomorphic element, as its overall design
suggests the form of an African tribal mask.
Ray Komai was a textile and furniture
designer born and raised in Los Angeles,
California. Komai earned his degree in graphic
design in Los Angeles at the Art Center
School. Komai was inuenced by Paul Klee,
Pablo Picasso, and tribal masks from Africa.
During World War II, Komai was relocated to
the Manzanar Japanese Internment camp to
War II, Komai worked as a layout designer in
New York City, producing work for several
companies including J.G. Furniture and Laverne
furniture designs all reect a tribal inuence.
K


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R a y K o m a i N Y C 1 9 4 9
Typographic Hang Tag
Ray Komai was a textile and furniture
designer born and raised in Los Angeles,
California. Komai earned his degree in
graphic design in Los Angeles at the Art
Center School. Komai was inuenced by Paul
Klee, Pablo Picasso, and tribal masks from
Africa.
During World War II, Komai was relocated to
the Manzanar Japanese Internment camp to
World War II, Komai worked as a layout
designer in NewYork City, producing work
for several companies including J.G.
Furniture and Laverne Originals. Komai's
all reect a tribal inuence.
Ray Komai's side chair No. 939 was originally
produced by J.G. Furniture in 1949 in Brooklyn. No.
939 was produced from a single sheet of plywood
bent using the latest post-war technologies, giving
it a sleek, modern, and minimal design. The chair
even features and anthropomorphic element, as its
overall design suggests the form of an African
tribal mask.



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Brooklyn, NYC1949
chrome and rubber stops
molded walnut plywood