Display Typface

Typefaces that are used across large bodies of text like headlines. Text typefaces are generally more varied than body-text typefaces.

More terms you might want to know

Copy

The written information that accompanies a design.

Cap Height

The distance from the baseline to the top of a capital letter, number, or other upper-case glyphs.

Stem

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

Character

A letter, symbol, or another alphabet unit.

Font Weight

The thickness or thinness of a typeface. Common font weights are light, regular/normal, semi-bold, bold and extra bold.

Analogous Colours

Colours that have a relation in their hue. A colour wheel can be used to help identify analogous colours. Analogous colours are typically found next to each other on the colour wheel.

Affinity Diagram

A data visualisation tool that can be used to explore and group people's thoughts or reactions to a set of concepts. Affinity diagrams are often used in user research and design thinking as an experimental technique for generating new ideas or solutions.

The emergent patterns in these visual representations can help identify which aspects your audience will respond well to, thus enabling decisions on the information architecture and next steps in the process.

It is important to note that affinity diagrams were initially developed for qualitative research but have since been adapted for quantitative research (though they are not typically used with statistical data).

Typeface Design

The art and discipline of putting together set of typefaces into a harmonious and readable type system. A typeface designer spends much time considering many things such as clear visual message, readability at different sizes, legibility at small point sizes, ease of use for printing processes on its own or over the top of other fonts.

Empathy

A type of understanding that is achieved by taking the perspective of another individual. Different people's perspectives often have different needs and values, so empathy can help you understand those differences.

Cool Colours

Colours on the opposite side of the colour wheel to warm colours. Typically bluish in tone, such as blue or green.

Problem?

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