Negative Space

The unused or empty space in a composition of images, either two-dimensional (as with paintings) or three-dimensional (as with sculptures).

More terms you might want to know

Emblem

A mark or symbol used to represent an institution, organisation, person, or group, and it is usually displayed on flags and seals.

Alignment

The process of arranging objects in a consistent and even spatial relationship. It can refer to how text is aligned with respect to its margins or how any two or more things are aligned in general.

Body Copy

The main text of an advertisement or editorial as opposed to headings and subheadings.

Monogram

An iconic design that is made up of two or three letters.

Soft Return

Also called a line break, when you want to keep the text in one paragraph and not follow it with an airy space.

Calligraphy

The art of decorative writing practised by many different people in many different cultures. Calligraphy is sometimes used to add a personal touch to wedding invitations, special event invitations, and other projects.

Baseline

An imaginary line on which most letters "sit". As such, it equals the height of an em square. The expected result of a baseline is to reference the height with which text is aligned. The alignment ranges from ascenders, which are the upper strokes in b, d, and h, down to descenders like j or y.

A/B Testing

A statistical method in which two variants of the same activity are compared against each other (typically with several variants), one at a time, and the most effective variant is selected.

Pica

A unit of measurement that equals 1/6 of an inch, or 1/72 of a foot.

x-height

The distance between the baseline and the mean line of lowercase letters in a typeface. Nearby descenders (such as j) and ascenders (such as q) usually extend slightly below or above this height.

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