I came across this excellent PDF from Adobe that succinctly covers all the basic terms about typography. Download without delay and refresh your memory. It’s beautifully designed and easy to read with wonderful graphics.
It has a fantastic glossary of typographic terms all designers should be familiar with. Here are the main topics:
- What’s in a Letter
- Serif and Sans Serif
- x-height
- Measuring Type
- Spacing
- Typographic Color
- Using the Right Character
- Alignment
- Copyfitting
- Choosing and Using Typefaces
- Combining Typefaces in a Publication
- Glossary of Typographic Terms
The illustrations are perfect, and the PDF is oriented to be easily read on screen:
The entire PDF is only 20 pages, very condensed, and is one of those rare little gems of information that gets merit for both visual and textual brevity while still being information-dense.
So download Typography Primer from Adobe and enjoy!

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