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Q. What does the term axis mean when you're talking about a typeface?

A. Axis refers to the angle of the stress of the round part of a character. The stress, in turn, refers to the area of thickening of a curved stroke. The axis of an o, or any other round character, can be found by connecting the thin strokes, which will reveal the angle of the stress.

The axes of many typefaces are completely vertical (Figure 1). However, old style designs, a category of typeface that originated in the mid-fifteenth to the eighteenth century, as well as many other typefaces, have diagonal axes, which are inclined to the left (Figure 2).

Figure 1.The axes of Clarendon, Dante MT Pro, and Century Oldstyle are completely vertical.

Figure 2. Adobe Jensen, Goudy Old Style, and ITC Oldrichium have diagonal axes that lean to the left.

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