Section 6 · Typography

Type Size

Definition

The nominal size of type, measured in points (pt), spanning the invisible body the glyph is designed on rather than the visible height of any single letter.

Why it matters

Because the measurement is of the body and not the letter, the same point size looks bigger or smaller across typefaces — which is why you size type by eye, not by number alone.

Example

Body text is commonly 9–12pt in print and around 16px on screen, but the “right” size always depends on the typeface, the measure, and the reading distance.