Shorter descenders in bold weights

[1996type]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

Hi everybody,

I was wondering this: In a bold the x-height is often slightly increased to optically match the x-height of the regular. However, this will cause the ascenders to look shorter (compared to what they look like without increasing x-height). Shouldn't the descenders be made shorter too, to match the acsenders? Any examples/advise is much appreciated.

Cheers,
Jasper

[nina]

Well, technically the ascenders not only look but actually are shorter when you increase just the x-height. So conversely, one might increase not just the x-height but also ascender height (and possibly cap height) plus descender depth as well, to keep extenders the same length. See for instance Adobe Caslon, example image in this thread: https://typography.guru/forums/topic/75057-forwarding (Shifting Vertical Metrics for Darker Weights)

[1996type]

Thanks! That's a cool thread!