The Anatomy of Type

These short strings might be useful to type makers for creating specimens, or to type users for testing fonts, when pangrams or other texts occupy too much space.

Ever since the book came out I’ve had several needs for an even more compact version of the anatomy chart from the introduction — one that explains as many basic terms as possible within a few glyphs. Here’s a stab at it, initially made for a Letterform Archive workshop. Yes, there are many parts missing here (e.g., apex, overshoot, or shoulder — the connection between straight and curved strokes), but them’s the breaks when you’re working in a small space with limited characters. Share this image freely, but please link back here.

Mark Simonson, one of my favorite type designers, updated his studio tour, and I spotted a copy of The Anatomy of Type. I’m honored!

Adam Savage is learning about type. Or he learned. Or he just thinks the spine is shelf-worthy. Thanks for the tip, Doug Wilson!

Ed Benguiat (1927–2020, RIP) tossed together a spread in Ed Rondthaler’s 1981 book, Life With Letters, that arguably remains the best type anatomy diagram ever. One could quibble about a few omissions and the odd definition for “tittle” (maybe one of his jokes), but it’s damn near perfect. I should have just put this at the front of my book and been done with it. Here’s a larger image.

— Tom Mullaney. Best review yet!

I was fortunate to get Paul’s advice when we were wrapping up The Anatomy of Type. Many of his edits and suggestions made it into the book. Paul is one of the foremost experts on type design, and perhaps the most prolific living writer on the subject. This useful catalog of terms – posted on his site in 2014 – references one of the many times he’s covered the topic. I’ll post another example soon – his unpublished book from the 1980s.

Typefaces shown: Platform, Futura ND, Battling (based on Elegant-Grotesk)

Thanks for the mention and link, Wenting! I only wish there was a place to add comments on your analysis.

Michael K. Smith, customer review

The Anatomy/Geometry of Type is now available in French from PYRAMYD. I don’t know enough French to vouch for the translation (by Émilie Lamy) but Jean François Porchez tells me it’s pretty good despite a few missteps.

These tiny things may seem like inconsequential details but they are very important. I teach type design and I like to tell my students that while these minuscule changes won’t be noticed by most people, they will be felt. Type design is a great example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. A small change like this will echoed by other glyphs and all of these can be multiplied hundreds of times across a single page.

Sébastien Morlighem, Eye Magazine

Richard Weston, Ace Jet 170

Seth Stevenson, Slate

Michael Stasiak, Imprint