Asymmetrical:
This type of design does not balance once divided (vertically) but the dissimilar halves are in a state of equal tension. Or “balanced asymmetry.”

Ascender:
the part of lowercase letters that extend above the median in b, d, f, h, k, l, t.

Apex:
The area of a letterform where two lines meet as in A, M, W, V

Bleed:
Imagery or letterforms that run off the trimmed edge of a page.

Baseline:
The invisible line on which letterforms sit.

Branding
The process of defining and creating an alluring demonstratable distinctive-ness that customers are willing to pay a premium for.
At it’s core, branding strives to generate sustainable loyalty and affection with customers, employees & shareholders.

Closure:
This is a spontaneous human behaviour in which the brain completes an unfinished or unconnected shape.

Continuation:
The arrangement of forms so they are continuous from one element to another, leading the eye across space.

Design:
Designing is the process of looking for an showing off the similarities and differences inherent in the content of a visual message. This can sometimes take a good deal of time if the similarities do not immediately present themselves. But the search for similarities is at the heart of what a designer does.

Decender:
the part of lowercase letters that extend below the baseline in g, j, p, q, y.

Duotone:
A two-colour halftone, usually black and a second ink colour. The result is an image with more richness and depth than a one-colour halftone.

Fashion:
This is a superficial condition adopted by those anxious to appear elegant or sophisticated.

Figure/Ground:
The relationship of the subject to its surrounding space. Confusing the foreground and background is a visually stimulating technique.

Gestalt:
This describes individual elements relating as a unified whole in 3 ways: Figure/ground, Continuation, Closure.

Gutter:
This is the space between columns of type and between pages in a bound document.

Head Sinkage:
This is the consistent deep space at the top of a page or design.

Kern:
Removing space between specific letters pairs in order to achieve optically consistent letter spacing.

Law of Proximity:
Elements that are physically close together look like they belong together.

Leaders:
A line of dots that lead the eye across a wide space. Often found on contents listing

Lead-in:
The first few words of a paragraph set to attract attention.

Legibility:
This refers to the adequacy of an object to be deciphered or The ability to distinguish between letterforms.

Ligature:
Conjoined pairs of trios of characters into one, as in fi and ffl, for optical consistency.

Margins:
These are spaces around the perimeter of a page.

Median:
The invisible line that defines the top of a lowercase letter that have no ascender. Also called mean line or waist line.

Perspective:
This is a technique for depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface.

Proximity:
The simplest way to achieve unity. Elements that are physically close together are seen as related. The further apart they are separated, the less they appear to be related.

Purism:
This refers to logic and order, universal truths, and hierarchy and sensation were the main tenets.

Readability:
This is a term that refers to the adequacy of an object to attract readers.

Repetition:
Any idea that is repeated provides unity. The repeated idea may be positioning, size, colour, or use of rules, background tints, and boxes.

Resolution:
The number of dots per inch (dpi) displayed on a screen or by a printer, which determines how smooth the curves and angles of charters appear. Higher resolutions yield smoother characters.

Sans Serif:
Type without cross strokes at the end of their limbs. Usually have consistent stroke weight.

Serif:
Type with especially thick serifs. Usually have variation in main character stroke weight.

Similarity:
Elements that share similarity of size, shape, colour, position or texture are seen as alike.

Style:
This is derived from the real needs of a client or of society.

Symmetrical:
This type of design balance centers on a vertical axis. Once divided in half (vertically) the design must have equal weight on both sides in order to be symmetrical.

Typography:
The art and craft of designing with type.
R. Hunter Middleton said, “Typography is the voice of the printed page. But typography is meaningless until seen by the human eye, translated into sound by the human brain, heard by the human ear, comprehended as thought and stored as memory.

Truism:
In design truism is that if you arrange the white space well, the elements on the page will look great, but if you arrange only the positive elements on the page, the white space will almost necessarily be ineffective.

Unity:
Unity in design exists when all the elements are in agreement. Elements are made to look like they belong together, not as though they happened to be placed randomly.

X-height:
The distance from the baseline to the median in lowercase letters. So named because it is the height of a lowercase x, which has neither an ascender nor a descender.

Glossary by: ^depthskins

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