Glossary of terms

Alignment:
A term used to refer to the proper positioning of all typefaces and size variations along an imaginary reference line.

Ascender:
The part of a lowercase letter which rises above the main body, as in the letters “b”, “d”, “h”, and “k”.

Baseline:
An invisible horizontal line on which the feet of all characters on a line of type are set, used for proper alignment of type.

Bleed:
A printed image that extends beyond one or more of the finished page margins and is later trimmed so that the image “bleeds” off the edge of the sheet.

Body copy:
The main portion of a book or other document, excluding front matter and back matter.

Cap height:
In typography, the distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.

Descender:
In typography, the portion of lowercase letters that extends below the character’s baseline as in “g”, “j”, “p”, “q”, and “y”.

Font:
In typography, a set of all characters in a typeface.

Gutter:
In typography, the term refers to the space between columns of type, usually determined by the number and width of columns and the overall width of the area to be filled.

Heading:
In typography, display type used to emphasize copy, act as a book, chapter, or section title, or otherwise introduce or separate text. More commonly referred to as simply a head.

Kerning:
In typography, the reduction of letterspacing between certain character combinations in order to reduce the space between them, performed for aesthetic reasons.

Pantone:
A brand-name for a popular color matching system, or series of printed color swatches used to match, specify, identify, and display specific colors or colored ink combinations.

Sans serif:

In typography, characters (or typefaces) without serifs, which are lines crossing the free end of the stroke. “Sans serif” means “without serif”.

Serif:

In typography, an all-inclusive term for characters that have a line crossing the free end of a stroke. The term serif refers to both that finishing line and to characters and typefaces that have them.

Typeface:

In typography, a specific variation within a type family, such as roman, italic, bold, etc.