The Letter

The lowercase a can take two
forms: the single-storied design
found in typefaces such as
Futura and ITC Avant Garde
Gothic, and the two-storied
design based on traditional
roman letterforms.

Arcadia

Duc De Bei

a Futura Book Ш
Helvetica

The single-storied design
does not allow much latitude
for creativity. In this configura¬
tion the a is basically a round
shape, usually appearing geo¬
metrically accurate, that is con¬
nected to a stem equal to the x-
height of the typeface. The type
designer must ensure that the
point where the bowl meets the
vertical does not become opti¬
cally heavy. This is usually
accomplished by lightening the
round stroke as it advances
toward the vertical.

The two-storied a design,
which provides more room for
artistic license, is also one of
the most complicated letters to
construct. The bottom of the
two-storied a must have a
strong optical foundation. This
means that the top loop should
be slightly narrower than the
bottom bowl, which is generally
about two-thirds of the letter’s
overall height. The vertical
stroke either ends in a baseline
serif or in a hook that drops
slightly below the baseline.

ITC Franklin Gothic Demi

Freestyle

Fette Fraktur

68

Aachen Bold