Type

DEFINITION

In typography, type is a letterform produced electronically or photographically, most often with a computer. Before computers took over this function in the late twentieth century, type was a small block of metal or wood bearing a raised letter or character on the upper end that leaves a printed impression when inked and pressed on paper. This heritage has given us a huge vocabulary of terms we use in reference to type. "Type" can also refer to the full range of type of the same design. A "typeface" is the design of a full set of letterforms, numerals, punctuations and other characters unified by consistent visual qualities.