Mean line
Term used in typography
In typography, the mean line is the imaginary line at the top of the x-height.
Round glyphs will tend to break (overshoot) the mean line slightly in many typefaces, since this is aesthetically more pleasing, otherwise curved letters such as a, c, e, m, n, o, r, s, and u will appear visually smaller than flat-topped (or bottomed) characters of equal height, due to an optical illusion.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Mean line”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Typography Line Terms.svg by Max Naylor, Public domain
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