Learn English – Why typography? Why not fontography

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Typography is the art of selecting and using appropriate fonts in web, books, magazines, newspapers, etc., and is one of the most fundamental graphical design skills. However, almost everywhere you encounter typography, they say font instead of type.

What does "type" mean in this context? I always thought of type as "a kind," not as something related to printing industry or graphical design. On the other hand, font is something we all know.

So, why not fontography?

Best Answer

From Wikipedia:

Typography (from the Greek words τύπος(typos) = form and γραφή(graphy) = writing) is the art and technique of arranging type.

The meaning of type in this context is #3 in the link:

`3. a (1) : a rectangular block usually of metal bearing a relief character from which an inked print can be made (2) : a collection of such blocks (3) : alphanumeric characters for printing

The Wikipedia article continues with:

The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing), adjusting the spaces between groups of letters (tracking) and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning).

A typeface is a set of one or more fonts that is coordinated, for instance:

Times New Roman 10 pt.
Times New Roman 10 pt. italic
Times New Roman 10 pt. bold

A font by itself is a simple set of letters in one style, and generally one size.

Using "fontography" would grossly misrepresent what typology is all about, since font selection is really only a small part of it. Of course, it would be fine to use fontography to describe what people are doing when they use Fontographer, for instance, but that involves the creation of new fonts, which has little to do with typography.

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