LOGO DESIGN & GRAPHIC DESIGN GLOSSARY

We want to provide you with the most comprehensive information about the concepts related to logos and graphic design.

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Sans serif typeface: a typeface that has no serifs, such as Helvetica or Swiss. The stroke weight is usually uniform and the stress oblique, though there are exceptions.

 

Scaling: reduction or enlargement of artwork, which can be proportional (most frequently) or disproportional. In desktop publishing, optimal scaling of bitmaps is reduction or enlargement that will avoid or reduce moiré patterns.

Screen font: low-resolution (that is, screen resolution) bitmaps of type characters that show the positioning and size of characters on the screen. As opposed to the printer font, which may be high-resolution bitmaps or font outline masters.

Screen (tint): in graphic arts, a uniform dotted fill pattern, described in percentage (for example, 50 percent screen).

Script: connected, flowing letters resembling hand writing with pen or quill. Either slanted or upright. Sometimes with a left-hand slant.

Serif: in a typeface, a counterstroke on letterforms, projecting from the ends of the main strokes. For example, Times or Dutch is a serifed typeface. Some typefaces have no serifs; these typefaces are called sans serif.

Set width: in typography, the horizontal width of characters. Typefaces vary in the average horizontal set width of each character (for example, Times has a narrow set width), and set widths of individual characters vary in typeset copy depending on the shape of the character and surrounding characters.

Sidebar: in newsletter/magazine layout, a related story or block of information that is set apart from the main body text, usually boxed and/or screened.

Small caps: capital letters set at the x-height of the font.

 

Solarization: a photographic image in which both blacks and whites appear black, while midtones approach white.

Solid: lines of type with no space between the lines (unleaded).

 

Spot color separation: for offset printing, separation of solid premixed ink colors (for example, green, brown, light blue, etc.); used when the areas to be colored are not adjacent. Spot color separations can be indicated on the tissue cover of the mechanical, or made with overlays.

 

Spread: in a double-sided document, the combination of two facing pages, which are designed as a unit. Also, the adjacent inside panels of a brochure when opened.

Standing elements: in page design, elements that repeat exactly from page to page, not only in terms of style, but also in terms of page position and content. The most commonly used standing elements are page headers or footers, with automatic page numbers.

 

Standoff: the amount of space between a clock of text and a graphic, or between two blocks of text that wrap.

Stress: in a typeface, the axis around which the strokes are drawn: oblique (negative or positive) or vertical. Not to be confused with the angle of the strokes themselves (for instance, italics are made with slanted strokes, but may not have oblique stress).

Stroke weight: in a typeface, the amount of contrast between thick and thin strokes. Different typefaces have distinguishing stroke-weight characteristics.

 

Style sheet: in desktop publishing program, style sheets contain the typographic specifications to be associated with tagged text. They can be used to set up titles, headings, and the attributes of blocks of text, such as lists, tables, and text associated with illustrations. The use of style sheets is a fast and efficient way to insure that all comparable elements are consistent.

Subhead: a secondary phrase usually following a headline. Display line(s) of lesser size and importance than the main headline(s).

Subscript: a character slightly smaller than the rest of the font, set below the baseline; used in chemical equations and as base denotation in math, and sometimes as the denominator of fractions.

Superscript: a character slightly smaller than the rest of the font, set above the baseline, used for footnote markers and sometimes as the numerator of fractions.