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The traditional typographic units are based either on non-metric units, or on odd multiples (such as 35 ⁄ 83) of a metric unit.There are no specifically metric units for this particular purpose, although there is a DIN standard sometimes used in German publishing, which measures type sizes in multiples of 0.25 mm, and proponents of the metrication of typography generally recommend the use of ...
In some special cases where finer resolution is required, it is permitted with sizes in multiples of 0.100 or 0.050 mm (respectively 2.5 and 5 times finer step sizes). [ 1 ] German graphic designer and typographer Otl Aicher (1922 – 1991) vividly encouraged the use of the quart, and provided a suggested list of common sizes:
Pitch is the number of letters, numbers and spaces in one inch (25.4 mm) of running text, that is, characters per inch (abbreviated cpi), measured horizontally. [1] [2] The pitch was most often used as a measurement of the size of typewriter fonts as well as those of impact printers used with computers.
In typography, the point is the smallest unit of measure. It is used for measuring font size, leading, and other items on a printed page. The size of the point has varied throughout printing's history. Since the 18th century, the size of a point has been between 0.18 and 0.4 millimeters.
The pica is a typographic unit of measure corresponding to approximately 1 ⁄ 6 of an inch, or from 1 ⁄ 68 to 1 ⁄ 73 of a foot. One pica is further divided into 12 points. In printing, three pica measures are used: The French pica of 12 Didot points (also called cicero) generally is: 12 × 0.376 = 4.512 mm (0.1776 in).
In typography, the x-height, or corpus size, is the distance between the baseline and the mean line of lowercase letters in a typeface. Typically, this is the height of the letter x in the font (the source of the term), as well as the letters v , w , and z .
The font shown in the example is stressed; this means that strokes have varying widths. In this example, the stroke at the top of the "g" is thinner at the top and bottom than on the sides – a vertical stress. Fonts without any variation in the stroke width are known as monoline fonts.
Optical sizes refer to different versions of the same typefaces optimised for specific font sizes. [13] [14] [15] For instance, thinner stroke weight might be used if a font style is intended for large-size display use, or ink traps might be added to the design if it is to be printed at small size on poor-quality paper. [16]