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.

More terms you might want to know

Terminal

The end (straight or curved) of any stroke that doesn’t include a serif. Some typefaces feature ball terminals on letters such as the ‘f’, ‘a’, and ‘c’.

Hero Image

The primary graphic that appears at the top of a webpage, designed to grab people's attention.

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.

PNG Image

A PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file is a bitmap image format that has been designed to store images with an alpha channel. This format is primarily used for transparency so that it can be placed over other graphics in many design applications.

Printer's Proof

A print that the printer receives to monitor the progress of production. Proofing is a matter of looking at the print to ensure that it has been printed correctly and that the colours are rendered accurately.

AI File

An Adobe Illustrator vector format file. Files with the extension .ai are often used for artwork and illustrations as users can resize them without distortion. It is composed of several layers with objects and text on each layer. Users can import Illustrator files into many other programs like InDesign, Acrobat, Photoshop etc. If you design or print your t-shirts, you can create your designs in Illustrator and apply them to your t-shirt using a heat press.

Character

A letter, symbol, or another alphabet unit.

Stem

The part of a letter, usually a vertical line, that rise above the x-height.

Resolution

The measure of a device or computer system's ability to capture fine detail. A higher number of pixels can provide more details and finer images on the screen.

Font Type

Most typefaces are classified into one of five basic classifications: serif, sans serif, script, monospaced, and display.

Problem?

Got a suggestion or found an issue with the glossary?
Let me know!