Relative and absolute measurements

Typography uses two types of measurements, absolute measurements

and relative measurements. It is important to understand the differences
between these to understand many of the typographic processes.

Absolute measurements 3 inches (3")

Absolute measurements are easy to understand as they are
measurements of fixed values. For example, a millimetre is
a precisely defined increment of a centimetre. Equally, 76.2 millimetres (76.2mm)
points and picas, the basic typographic measurements,
have fixed values. All absolute measurements are expressed
in finite terms that cannot be altered. Pictured right are 216 points (216pt)
four measurement systems that express the same physical
distance.
18 picas (18 pica)

Relative measurements
10 on 12pt 12 on 14.4pt
In typography, many measurements, such as character
A standard setting with a Although type has a regular
spacing, are linked to type size, which means that their regular number for both value, the leading now has an
relationships are defined by a series of relative typesize and leading. irregular number.
measurements. Ems and ens, for example, are relative
measurements that have no prescribed, absolute size.
R R
Their size is relative to the size of type that is being set.
R R
Leading is another example of the use of relative
measurement. Most desktop publishing programs assign
an automatic percentage value for functions like leading.
The characters above right are 10pt, so with leading set
at 120 percent, they are effectively being set on 12pt 30 on 36pt 36 on 10pt
Another standard value that Negative leading sees characters
leading. As the type gets bigger, so does the leading, as
has a regular number for both overlap – made possible by
it is relative to the type size. You’ll notice that 10pt type typesize and leading. modern technology.
on 12pt leading retains whole numbers. However, when
you use alternative sizes, by default the leading values
sometimes produce irregular numbers, for example
12pt type on 14.4pt leading.
If this did not happen and the leading remained
R R
R
constant, as the characters got bigger they would
eventually crash into one another. This is sometimes
called negative leading.
R

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 « Typeface anatomy Relative and absolute measurements X-height » A few basics

Points Type sizes traditionally bore a relationship to

The point is the unit of measurement used to measure the 72 point inch (six picas) but with digitized PostScript
the type size of a font, for example, 7pt Times New typefaces, it is now easy to use irregular sizes such as
Roman. This measurement refers to the height of the 10.2pt. This relationship is reflected in the old naming
type block, not the letter itself as shown below (right). system for these common sizes, with 12pt type being
This basic typographical measurement is an absolute referred to as Pica. Some of the other names have a looser
measurement equivalent to 1/72 of an inch or 0.35mm connection, and indeed the sizes are only approximate
and its creation is attributed to French clergyman translations to the modern point equivalents. These names
Sébastien Truchet (1657–1729). It was further developed are no longer in common use, but the equivalent sizes
by Pierre Fournier and Francois Didot in the nineteenth are, with most software packages using these as the
century, before the British/American or Anglo-Saxon default sizes.
point was defined as 1/72 of an inch.

Minion Bourgeois Long Primer Pica English Great Primer 2-line Pica 2-line Great Primer Canon or 4-line
Before standardization, typefaces

24 36 48
9 10 12 14 18
of similar names had varying sizes. 7
A Pica from one type foundry
would be exactly 12 points, while
the same measurement from
another could vary dramatically.

As the point size of a typeface refers to the height of the type block The measurement of a piece
and not the letter itself, different typefaces of the same size behave of movable type is its entire
differently, as these two examples above set in 72pt type show. While vertical size, not just a measure
they are the same size the characters do not necessarily extend to the of the character height.
top or bottom of the block, which has an impact on leading values
discussed on pages 114–119. The typefaces shown are Futura (left),
and Foundry Sans (right).

Picas
A pica is a unit of measurement equal to 12 points that is commonly used for
measuring lines of type. There are six picas (or 72 points) in an inch, which is equal 1"
to 25.4 millimetres. This is the same for both a traditional pica and a modern PostScript
pica. There are six PostScript picas to an inch.
6 Picas

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 M— M—
Characters that extend beyond the em
Although characters rarely fill their em, some special
characters such as the per thousand symbol (below, left)
extend beyond their em, which may cause a spacing
problem.
The em
The em is a relative unit of measurement used in

‰‰
typesetting to define basic spacing functions, and
therefore it is linked to the size of the type. It is a relative
measurement in that if the type size increases, so does the
size of the em. If the type size decreases, so does the em.
An em equals the size of a given type, i.e. the
em of 72pt type is 72 points and the em of 36pt type
is 36 points and so on. Although the name of the em
implies a relationship to the width of the capital ‘M’, in Ems, ens and hyphens
reality an ‘M’ character will rarely be as wide as an em Both the em and en are used in punctuation to provide a
as the illustration (above) demonstrates. measurement for dashes. These are very specific pieces of
The em is used for defining elements such as punctuation and should not be confused with a hyphen,
paragraph indents and spacing. Different typefaces will although they are all linked. An en is half of an em while
produce certain typographical characters whose sizes a hyphen is one third of an em.
differ in relation to the em of a given point size. The
characters below are 48pt and both therefore have a
48pt em. However, Bembo is clearly ‘smaller’, and
occupies less of the em square than Futura. Em En Hyphen

Word space

N– N –
The standard word space is defined as a percentage
value of an em, which makes it relative to the size of
the type being set. As you can see from the example
below, different fonts have different word spacing values,
with some being ‘tighter’ than others. This value is fixed
in the PostScript information that makes a font but it
The en can be controlled by adjusting the hyphenation and
An en is a unit of relative measurement equal to half justification values (see page 112).
of one em. In 72pt type, for example, an en would be
36 points. A spaced en rule is often used to denote nested
clauses, but it can also be used to mean ‘to’ in phrases
such as 10–11 and 1975–1981.
s p a c espace

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 « Relative and absolute measurements X-height Basic terminology » A few basics

X-height
The x-height of a typeface is the measurement from the baseline to the
meanline. Typically, this distance is the height of the lower-case ‘x’. As such
it is a relative measurement that varies from typeface to typeface.

Measuring x-height ascenders or descenders. The majority of fonts are,

The x-height is the typographical equivalent of the however, more generous with the space they provide
length of a skirt in the fashion world: it tends to rise and for their ascenders and descenders, particularly when
fall as design tastes continually change. Facade Condensed legibility is important. Times (below) has a proportionally
is practically all x-height, surrendering little space to its much smaller x-height.

X-height x Meanline

Baseline

X-heights are not constant different. For example, Monaco (below right) with its
Although typefaces may have the same point size their large x-height in relation to its ascender and descender
x-heights are likely to be different. The typefaces below height creates a solid text block in comparison to
are all reproduced at 60pt. Their x-heights are clearly Bembo (below left), with its smaller x-height.

Bembo Egyptian Optima Hoefler Text Univers Facade Rotis Rockwell Futura Monaco

Monaco, with its large x-height in This is Bembo, which has a smaller x-height than
relation to its ascenders and Monaco (left). Although both of these typefaces have
descenders, creates a solid block of the same point size, Bembo appears to be much smaller
copy when compared to Bembo, than Monaco, and in a text block, appears much lighter.
opposite. This concept of heaviness
and lightness in a text block is
often referred to as ‘colour’, which
is described on page 130.

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