I was looking at some type samples the other day…
… and I ended up with a bunch of questions that seem like basic typography, but I didn’t know the answers!
Can you help figure these out? (They seem simple, but might be more complicated that you’d think.)
1. What’s this part of the numeral 1 called? (That is, the thing sticking like a flange off the front. Here I’ve circled it with a yellow dotted oval.)
2. What this line that connects these two characters called?
3. You often see elaborate / decorative characters in type. Collectively, what are these kinds of characters called? (This is handy to know if you want to search for them.)
4. Every so often I want to use a character that I KNOW exists, but I don’t know the name, so it’s hard to find and I’m reduced to manual search. Here are a couple of such characters. What are they? More importantly, how did you find out their names?
Good luck with these Challenges. They’re mostly for fun, but you just might find that the things we learn here are useful in your future typographic explorations. Enjoy!
And… as always, be sure to tell us HOW your figured out the answers to these Challenges. Tell us how you did it!
Search on!
