字体设计(英文)

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西文字体设计基础（翻译理论）

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原文网址：https://www.360docs.net/doc/514886549.html,/index.php?id1=type-basics&id2=&id3=&id4=&id5=&idpic=01#pictloader

站酷网提示您：本文由archerzuo翻译，如需商业用途或转载请与archerzuo联系，谢谢配合！

archerzuo

上海市/ 平面设计师

积分596

越来越多的接触英文，许多设计现在都离不开英文字体的设计，所以很有必要介绍一下一些英文设计的基础。也有很多人问，但是我也不是专业做英文字体，刚好看到这篇文章介绍的比较实用而且基础，最重要有图，直观，就翻译来，大家分了……，翻完一看都凌晨了，呵呵，忘情了O(∩_∩)O~哈哈，久了脑子有点蒙，有什么翻译不好的，大家看原作吧，呵呵。希望对你有帮助吧！提供一个西文字体术语的pdf供大家下载！

喜欢字体的朋友可以来i love typeface的官方微博，这里经常会分享交流很多关于字体的各种东西：https://www.360docs.net/doc/514886549.html,/archerzuo

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100% practical. Sketches have been made to explain some basic issues in type design during the w orkshops.

They get used to point out some problems which raise while creating a new typeface.

Only some foundations are shown, no deep sophisticated details.

100%实用。在工作室做字体设计的案例时，手绘可以帮助我们解释一些基本的事情。在设计新字体时，手绘可以帮助我们指出一些问题所在。这里，我们就用手绘这种方式来谈一些关于字体的很基础的东西，不深谈。

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第一部分：视觉平衡

Same size for all! To optically align all characters on a line, they cannot not have exactly the same mathematical height. For example

the triangle on this drawing has to be higher than the rectangle. If this is not the case, the triangle will for sure look smaller than the

rectangle.While creating a typeface, you want all the letters to have the same height.

视觉平衡！我们把所有字母在视觉上保持水平对齐，但是我们发现他们并没有绝对意义上的相同高度。比如，这个三角形比矩形要高，否则，三角形肯定会看上去比矩形要小。而创造一种字体，你当然想要所有的字母

Also round forms have to exceed the baseline to be optically the same. If the circle would have ex actly the same mathematical height

as the rectangle, it would look smaller than the square. This doesn't only count for basic forms like triangles, circles and squares.

It's essential in type design, because they apply to every single character in a typeface. Then it eve n doesn't matter if you're designing

a latin, cyrillic or greek font. It's a basic principle for any kind of shape.

同样，圆形也需要超出基准线而达到视觉上的对齐。如果圆形和矩形高度相同，那肯定会看起来比矩形小。这不仅适用于三角形、圆形、矩形这些基本行状，而是可以应用在字体设计中的每一个字母，是很重要的一条法则。甚至你设计拉丁文、希腊文都可以应用。这是一条适用于任何形状的基本法则。

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第二部分：术语。

Type terminology. Communication during the design process is much easier when u sing basic terminology of type.

Here are a couple important ones, which will help to bring the conversation a b it further than 'yeah, that

there, that little black thing.'

Ascender：上伸部

Baseline：基准线

X-height：小写字母x高度

Arm：字臂

Shoulder：字肩

Contrast：粗细对比

Stem：主干

Serif：衬线

Terminal：尾部

Counter：字谷（内部空间）

Bowl：字碗

descender：下伸部

字体术语。在字体设计过程中使用一些字体术语更有益于交流。这里有12个重要的字体术语，这些会让你在交流中不用使用含糊不清的“对，这里”“那个小的黑的东西”的代词。

这里我加一段：在英文字体的设计中（主要指小写），一个字体的高度体包含三部份，以基准线 (baseline) 为中央，以上称之为上部(ascender area)，基准线内称之为x高度（X-height），基准线以下称之为下部 (descender area)。

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第三部分：流线型

Fluent shapes. Designing type is like driving a car. If you drive a car, you al ways take the curve in a

natural way. If you draw a curve (of a character) on paper, this is exactly the same. The curve starts

smoothly, never out of a sudden. While driving a car, you don't start turning t he wheel when you are already

in the beginning of the curve. A while before you arrive in the curve you antic ipate by leading your car

gently in the right direction. Think about driving a car when you are sketching type on a paper.

流线。设计字体就像开车。当你开车的时候，你肯定会走自然的曲线。这跟你在纸上画字体的曲线是一样的。曲线流畅的展开，绝不会突然卡住。当你开车的时候，肯定不会一进弯就打方向盘，而是慢慢的沿着右侧曲线通过。在纸上手绘字体的时候，你想着开车就好了。呵呵。

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第四部分：书法渊源

Calligraphic origin. The characters on the top line have a different constructi on than the characters on the

bottom line. They have a different calligraphic origin. It doesn't matter if a typeface has serifs (like

Times New Roman) or not (like Arial). It's about the original way they where co nstructed.

书法渊源。上下两种字母结构不同，源于他们不同的书写方式。不论字体是否分为衬线体或者无衬线体，他们都是根据不同的书写方式而来。

The characters in the top line are constructed with a pointed pen (calligraphic tool). The contrast is caused

by changing the pressure on the pen, not because of the form of the pen. Bodoni is one example of this,

but also sans serif faces like Helvetica have this origin. The thickest part wi ll be (mostly) totally

vertical. From this perspective there is no difference between Bodoni and Helve tica. They both have the same

construction. Only the contrast varies.

上面的字母是通过尖笔书写的，其中的对比是通过改变笔的不同压力，而不是因为笔的形状。Bodoni就是一个例子，但是无衬线体Helvetica也属于这种。最宽的部分基本都是垂直的，从这点来说Bodoni和Helvetica没什么不同。他们有着同样的结构，只是对比不同而已。

The characters in the bottom line have a origin which is derived from the broad nib. The calligraphic pen

itself has a thick and a thin part. The contrast in the type is made because of the form of the pen, not

because of the pressure. You slant the pen with an angle of 30 degrees on the p aper. In that way your thickest

part of a character will not be on a vertical direction, but will be on an angl e. Also the thinnest part will

not be on the most horizontal parts. Typefaces like Garamond and Minion have th is kind of construction. But

also sans serif faces like Gill Sans have a construction which is originally de rived from the broad nib.

下面的字母则是起源于瘪头笔。笔本身就有宽和窄的部分。这种字体的粗细对比来自于笔的形状而不是笔的压力。把笔倾斜30°，这样字母最宽的部分就不是垂直方向了，而是你倾斜的那个角度。同样，最窄的部分也不是水平的部分。Garamond和Minion就是这样的字体，但是无衬线体Gill Sans也是来源于这种书写方式。

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第五部分：空间

Spacing. Some words about spacing type. Much more important than the shapes of the characters, is the rhythm

of the type. A typeface with beautiful characters which are badly spaced is ext remely hard to read. However,

if the shapes of the letters are not that good, but when they are all perfectly spaced, the type will be fairly

easy to read. Defining the rhythm is more important than defining the shapes.

空间。首先，明白一个概念，文字是用来阅读的。比字体的外形更重要的是字体的韵律。有着优美字母但是字距糟糕的字体阅读性肯定很差。然而，如果字母没有那么完美，但是他们有良好的字距，那字体也会很容易阅读。设计韵律远比外形重要得多。

The white spaces inside and in between letters are defining the rhythm, much mo re than the black shapes of

the letters. When you manage to create a good rhythm in your line of text, your type gets more readable and

gives a balanced end result. While creating the black shapes, you have to take the white spaces into

consideration. Because the white spaces are more important than the black shape s. However, white cannot exist

without black. Changing a white shape, inevitable will have an influence on the black shape. From that

perspective, one colour cannot be more important than the other.

字体的韵律由字母内部的空间以及字母与字母的间距决定，这些空白的部分远比黑的部分重要。一段文字如果有一个良好的韵律，那么他就更具可读性也会有很好的视觉效果。当你设计黑的部分时，空白的部分你不得不考虑。留白虽然重要，但是也需要黑的部分相互依存。改变白的部分，必然会对黑的部分有影响。从这点来看，两者同样重要。

For example, there has to be a relation between the space inside an 'n' and the space between the 'i' and

the 'n' (see drawing). In the top row you can see the space inside the 'n' is m uch much bigger than the

space in between the 'n' and the 'i'. In the bottom row they are much more equa l, and in this way you'll

get a much better rhythm and more harmony in your line of text.

比如，“n”的内部空间和“i”与“n”之间的空间有着必然的关系。上面一行，“n”的内部空间比“i”与“n”之间的空间要大很多，而下面一行是则基本相同的，下面一行明显有着更好的可读性。

The same goes for the inner form of the 'a' and the 'e' for example. There is a big relation between these

two forms. If they have (optically) the same amount of white inside the charact er (=counter), your type will

have a better rhythm as well.

同样的道理一样适用于“a”和“e”的内部空间。这两者之间有着很大的关系。如果字母内部空白的部分视觉上达到平衡，那字体就有着良好的韵律。

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第六部分：黑与白

Black vs. white. Designing type is nothing more and nothing less than harmonizi ng black and white shapes.

Black can't exist without white, and white can't exist without black. Black, th e shape of a letter. White,

the space in or in between letters. The amount of white inside a character defi nes the amount of white in

between two characters.

黑与白。设计字体无非就是协调黑和白。黑和白唇齿相依。黑，字体的外形。白，字体内部以及字体与字体之间的部分。字母内部的白决定了字母与字母之间的白。

As it is impossible to create a very black character with a big (white) counter form, a black typeface will

always have smaller counters than a light typeface. Hence it follows that there is less space in between the

characters (see drawing). A light typeface has much bigger counters. The space in between two letters has to

be in proportion. As a consequence there is more white space in between light l etters than in between black

letters.

黑的部分多，白的部分就少，创造一种黑多白多的字体是不可能的，一种黑体白的部分肯定比细体白的部分少。（绕口令一样！）一种细体有更大的空白部分。内部以及之间的空间要均衡。因此，细体比黑体有更多白的空间。

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第七部分：意大利体与手写体

Italic vs. cursive. A roman font can be slanted (having an angle) and a cursive font can be upright (totally

vertical like a roman). Urgh!

意大利体与手写体。罗马体可以倾斜体，手写体可以有垂直体。

The angle doesn't decide if a character is a 'roman' character or an 'cursive' character. This depends on the

construction. To make it a bit more clear, take a look at the four big n's. As you would expect, the first

letter is a roman character. But the second one as well. Although it's not tota lly vertical, it still has the

same construction as the first 'n'. This is called a slanted roman. The third ' n' looks like an cursive, but

also this one is not a real cursive. Basicly there is no difference between the second and third 'n', only

some parts of the serifs have been cut off.

角度不能决定字体属于罗马体还是手写体。这取决于结构。看一下这4个大“n”，就会很明白了。对，第一个字母是罗马体，但是第二个同样是，虽然他没有完全垂直，但他和第一个有相同的结构。这叫做斜罗马体。第三个“n”看起来像手写体，但他并不是真正的手写体。基本上第二个和第三个没什么区别，只是衬线不同而已。

Compare the first three letters with the last 'n'. That's a real cursive. The b ig difference with the

previous three is the construction. The first three are constructed from separa te pen strokes. The last 'n'

is constructed out of one pen stroke. This is the basic difference between roma n and cursive fonts. Not the

angle, but the construction.

把前面3个和最后一个相比较，没错，这才是手写体。他们最大的不同是结构。前面3个笔画是分开的，而最后一个是一笔写下，这是罗马体和手写体最本质的区别，不是角度，而是架构。

Many different explanations can be given for the difference between a 'cursive' and 'italic' from a historical

point of view. However we consider this as the big difference: 'italic' is conc erning the function, 'cursive'

is concerning the construction. Almost anything can work as an 'italic', it doe sn't even necessarily needs an

angle. When making a font family with a roman and an italic font, the italic fo nt can be constructed in many

different ways. The third 'n' in the example could probably function perfectly as an italic inside your family. But don't forget, it's not always a real cursi ve when it's called 'italic'.

意大利体和手写体的不同也可以从历史的角度给出更多的解释，但是我们认为他们最大的区别在于：意大利体注重功能，手写体注重结构。几乎任何字体都可以作为意大利体，甚至都不需要角度。当设计一个包括罗马体和意大利体的字体族时，意大利体可以有很多构建方式。第三个“n”就可以在功能上作为意大利体加进你的字体族里。但是切记，意大利体并不总是真正的手写体。

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第八部分：风格统一

One for all What defines if one character can fit to another character? Once yo u made a decision, how to

apply this to all the other characters in a font?

风格统一。如何定义一个字母和另一个字母风格一致呢？一旦你做了决定，怎么样在你字体的所有字母中应用呢？

Starting point: 'e' (in the center of the drawing). Imagine you sketched this ' e', you like it a lot,

and now you want to design more characters fitting to this 'e'. Where to start? Should it be a serif or a

sans serif for example?

从“e”开始吧。如果你手绘了这个“e”，你很喜欢，然后你想要设计和“e”风格相同的其他字母。从哪里开始？比如是衬线体还是无衬线体？

First try: 'i' on the left. Sans serif. The black part is as thick as the black parts of the 'e'. Same

x-height. So this should work you think.

首先从左边的“i”尝试，无衬线体。黑的部分要和“e”黑的部分一样粗，相同的x高度，于是你觉得这样应该就可以吧。

Second try: 'i' on the right. Same thickness, the character has the same x-heig ht, but now it has serifs.

然后来看右边的“i”。相同的粗细，相同的x高度，但是现在有衬线。

The bowl of the 'e' is not only having a certain thickness, but the 'e' also ha s contrast. The 'i' on the

left has no contrast at all. Therefore these two characters don't belong to eac h other. The 'i' on the right

however has the same kind of contrast as the 'e', just because it has serifs. J ust those tiny serifs make

sure there are thick and thin parts, like the 'e' has. This means that the star ting point, the 'e', already

defined that the rest of the font cannot be a sans serif typeface.

“e”的字碗部分不仅有一定的粗度，还有粗细对比度。而左边的“i”根本没有粗细对比。因此这两个互不兼容。（就像qq和360）而右边的“i”有着和“e”相同的对比度，只是因为他有衬线。就是这些细小的衬线让他有像“e”一样的粗细对比。回到开始，一个“e”已经决定了这个字体不可能是无衬线体。

Of course, every so called rule is there to be broken. Mentioning this, doesn't mean you can't make a font

which has an 'e' combined with an 'i' like the one on the left. Everything is p ossible of course. But now

you realize better what you are doing, also when you don't do it. Still get it?

当然，所谓的规则总会被打破。我们说这些并不意味着，你不能把左边的“i”和“e”放在一种字体里。一切皆有可能。但是现在你至少明白你正在做什么。

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第九部分：可读性

Readability. The only important aspect of a text typeface is the readability. M any decisions can influence

the readability. Which contrast you create, the length of the ascenders and des cenders, the rhythm, the

blackness of a type, the strength of the curves and the bowls, etc.

可读性。文字是用来读的，字体的可读性可以说是文本的至关重要的方面。可读性跟很多方面有关，比如对比度，上伸部和下伸部，韵律，字体的黑度，曲线，字碗等等。

Most of those decision apply to all the characters inside a font. These have to be defined first. For example

the contrast. The characters on the top line (see drawing) have a much bigger c ontrast than the characters

on the bottom line. The type on the top line will be more suitable for display use, the type the bottom the

bottom line more for text use. Not only because of the difference in contrast, but also because the

characters on the top line are much more condensed. This makes them less legibl e in small sizes, but more

eye-catching and flexible for headlines. Defining the contrast and the width ar e decisions which count for

every single character in a font.

这些需要应用在字体的每个字母中，而且必须一开始就定义好。比如对比度。上面的字母比下面的字母有着更大的对比度。上面的字体更适合屏幕使用，而下面更适合书籍文本使用。不仅因为这个对比度，还有上面的字体被压缩的更多一点。这样就让字体在小字号的时候辨识度不够，但是这样的字体如果应用在标题上，又更吸引眼球更灵活。定义对比度和宽度对于一种字体的每一个字母是很重要的。

But also while designing every single glyph, you can create details which impro ve the readability of a font.

For example, the ear of a 'g' can make sure the reader's eye will follow the ho rizontal reading direction

more fluently. The 'g' on the bottom line will work much better in a text typef ace for small sizes (see

drawing).

当你设计每一个单个字模的时候，你可以制作一些提高字体可读性的细节。比如，“g”的耳部可以保证读者更容易在水平线上阅读。所以在书籍文本中下面的“g”在小号字时会更具可读性一些。

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第十部分：比例均衡

Proportions. Which x-height to define? Which descender depth? Defining these pr oportions are essential, and very strongly

connected to the purpose of the type. The proportions within a certain typeface are influencing the way

your type will work & look. For example, it's impossible to create a space savi ng newspaper typeface with

an extremely wide body width.

比例均衡。X高度怎么确定？下伸部高度多少？定义这些比例是很重要的，而且和字体的用途有着莫大的关系。字体中的比例均衡关乎你字体的用途整体感觉。比如，你不可能去设计一种很宽的字体去用在本来就要求节省空间的报纸上。

Extremely short descenders will give a strange look to a text typeface. Even wo rse, they might not be visible

at all anymore. But extremely short descenders can also be a smart decision, wh ile creating a display or

headline type. For a text typeface the ascender height should be as big or, eve n better, bigger than then

cap height to give a optical pleasurable result (see drawing).

如果字体的下伸部很短，那这种字体组成的文本看起来就会很奇怪。甚至根本就不具有识别性。但是当我们设计屏幕或者标题字体时，这种字体就派上用场了。对于一个书籍字体的上伸部至少要不低于大写字母的高度，这样视觉效果会比较好。

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第十一部分：小型大写字母

Small caps. You could guess it already from the name, small caps are small capi tals. Capitals which have

the same height as lowercase characters.

小型大写字母。顾名思义，就是大写字母却有着小写字母的高度。

Why are small caps needed? Because of several typographical reasons. First of a ll a whole word set in caps

will look awful, it will drown out the rest of the text. Second, in lots of typ efaces the capitals are not

designed and spaced to work together, but to be followed by a lowercase charact er. Small caps however are

designed to purely work together. They will give a more pleasurable, harmonized result.

为什么会有小型大写字母呢？有什么用呢？因为一些印刷排版上的原因。首先如果一句话全是大写字母会很吓人，这样会弱化剩下的文字。再有，在大部分字体中，设计师不会考虑大写字母之间的空间协调等等，而是一个大写字母接着一串小写字母。小型大写字母就这样应运而生，让大写字母和大写字母用在一起，而有一个更协调更顺畅的视觉效果。

Having said that small capitals are capitals on x-height, it's mostly not 100% true. To optically give them the same height, the small caps will have to be slightly bigger than lowercase characters of the same font (see drawing).

刚说到，小型大写字母是有着x高度的大写字母，这并不是完全正确的。为了视觉上有同样的高度，小型大写字母会比小写字母大一点点。

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第十二部分：花式大写

Swash caps? Admitting that it's not the most urgent issue to learn in typograph y, it's interesting to

quickly pay attention to this topic. Not every font family has a Swash variant. Most common are swash

capitals, but also swash lowercase characters and swash-beginnings and -endings exist.

花式大写？在字体设计中这并不是很重要的，但是很有趣。并不是每一种字体都有花式大写，但是花式大写是最常见的，当然也有花式小写、花式首字、花式结尾等。

Sometimes you want to set a whole line in capitals. It's possible to do this wi th roman capitals, although

sometimes it's better to choose small capitals which are designed for this purp ose. Roman capitals are not,

but mostly they don't cause problems. Swash capitals however do. Swash capitals are mostly designed to give