Academy

ic-home iconAcademyTutorialsWhat is a descender
What is a descender

Design Theory

What is a descender

Descender (dɪˈsɛn dər.) Now there's a new word of the day! But don't worry; you don't have to pull out your dictionary or thesaurus. You can find descenders everywhere in your typography if you’re paying attention. Most descenders belong to lower-case characters like g, j, p, q, and y. Let's see them all!

  • ic-academy icon

    Level

    Beginner

  • ic-ipad icon

    Device

    iPad

  • ic-learn-tab icon

    Category

    Design Theory

⚠️ Vectornator is now Linearity Curve. In the video, the previous Vectornator interface is displayed.

What you’ll learn

If you going to know what descenders means and how to use it, you could be a great designer and may have a cool topic to speak about in your next party small talk.

Educational value

In this video, we will delve into the world of descenders in typography.

Descenders are commonly found in lowercase characters such as g, j, p, q, and y, but they can also appear in capital letters like Q and J and numerals 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9. We'll explore the various shapes of descenders, including tails, loops, and straight lines, and how they impact your design. We'll also discuss the issue of crashing descenders, which occurs when a descender from one line collides with an ascender from the line below, leading to readability problems.

You'll learn tips on adjusting kerning, leading, and tracking to create optimal spacing and avoid overlooking descenders in lowercase and uppercase letters. Consider the different styles of descenders when selecting fonts for your designs.

We hope you found this video helpful! Feel free to explore our other videos as well.

Published on:

authorImage
Anna
ic-social icon

Head of Content Marketing

Would you recommend this tutorial?
Get started with Linearity today.

Get Started for free
illus-1