Hey,
Here's a potentially silly question I have for you all...
In one of the typefaces I'm working on, I realized that the same point size is by default bigger than (almost) every other typeface I compared it to. I know x-height, ascenders and descenders can affect this, but I'm put off by the fact that none of the other cap-heights are as tall as mine.
Am I using weird or incorrect metrics? Is this an issue or just a design difference?
(image for reference, all typefaces set to 30pt Bold)
Thanks!
Comments
http://designwithfontforge.com/en-US/The_EM_Square.html
In short, the rendered type size is determined by the relationship of the metrics of the design to the UPM you're using. Commonly, fonts are built with 1000 UPM (1000 units per em), and when they are typeset they are scaled to the point size.
Fonts vary in sizes because it all depends on how the designer chose to approach their work. How big or small your font looks depends on how large or small you've made your design within your UPM.
If you're designing a font with 1000 UPM, and the cap height is at 700 units, the cap height will render at 7pt when typeset at 10pt.
Often times new type designers make their metrics larger than necessary because they haven't yet considered diacritics. This isn't always the case, but it easy to overlook when you're first getting into things. If you want to ensure that your diacritics don't get clipped (across browsers and software) then you may need to size down your design within your UPM.
Script faces with big flourishes also tend to have really tiny x-heights because they follow a similar approach of trying to avoid any clipping from happening.
I hope that's helpful!
This! It was the first thing I thought of when I saw your cap height (and secondarily, your x-height.
A typical cap height is 65-72% of the em. 70% is about average.
In the interest of "doing things the right way" what would be best practice for adjusting?
Reducing the metrics (by about 30% following @Thomas Phinney's rule of thumb) and then scaling the existing letterforms down using a transformation?