Design Nomenclature / Type

Bracket

Also called fillet, bracketing

This entry has not been translated yet and is shown in English.

The curved transition joining a serif to the stem it finishes. Heavy bracketing reads as warm and old-style; slight bracketing as transitional; its complete absence, with the serif meeting the stem at a raw right angle, is the signature of didones and of geometric slabs. It is also where ink gathers, hence the ink trap.

A capital T set large on its own body, with leaders to three points down its upright: the horizontal foot serif at the baseline, the concave curve blending that serif into the stem just above it, and the stem itself higher up. Georgia's bracket is a shallow one — the figure marks where it is rather than enlarging it.

Not to be confused with

How this term connects

DidoneInk trapSerifSlab serifStemTransitionalBracket
Related Confused with