Typography Word of the Day: Baseline

Sixth in our irregular definition series

This edition of Word of the Day will illustrate a bit of type structure that is taken as read and really needs no introduction, but is important to know about because, just as many things that are taken for granted, there are quirks the beginner probably doesn’t know about and this thing, in and of itself, is a thing upon which other things depend.

The humble baseline is easily deduced from each line of type we read. Its basic meaning is that line upon which all letters seem to rest and line up on.

A good close look will prove that many letters dent this baseline just a little: the points on the w and v, for example, or the bowls of letters such as u, o, anc c, since, through a trick of perception well known by designers, when putting something with a point or a cuve on such a line so that it meets it exactly, the effect isn’t of something in line but rather something that is riding a little high.

The baseline is the basis for more than the lining up of letters (or perforce thier shifting), but a great deal of the system of type nomenclature depends on it; the topline (ascender height), midline (x-height), and beardline (descender depth) all have meaning only in relation to baseline, and a very important formatting measurement, leading, is determined, in starting, in relation to the baseline.

The baseline is basic, but it’s hardly unimportant.