Definition of Obtain

obtain: to gain or attain usually by planned action or effort

Parts of the Letter Reflection

       When I first looked at fonts I did not really realize that there were so many individual parts to them, let alone names for all of these parts.  Typography is evolved from handwriting and has been evolving for around 500 years.  Letters are all made up of strokes or stems, just like the strokes a pen makes when letters are written.  Some of the various parts of letters that were discussed in this document are serif, bracket, and stroke width.  These parts all have to do with the body of what makes up the letter.  Serifs are the short strokes that finishes off the major strokes.  Brackets are the curving joint between serifs and strokes.  Stroke width is the varying thickness of the stems and strokes that make up the letter.  There are several terms that relate the overall height of letter such as baseline, cap height, and x-height.  Baseline is the invisible line that all letters sit on, cap height is the height of capital letters from baseline to the top, and x-height is the height of all lowercase letters which is determined by the height of the lowercase x in a particular font.  Any letter such as a b or d that has a stroke that rises above the x-height is called an ascender.  Other words that describe specific points on letters are the apex, crossbar, vertex, final, and terminal.  The apex is the uppermost point on a capital A and the crossbar is the bar that crosses the middle of the A.  The vertex is the lowermost point in letters such as V and W.  An example of a final is the stroke that hangs over the rounded part of a lowercase a and the terminal is the tail that comes off of a lowercase a.  A bowl is a rounded part, whether open, like in c, or closed like in o, that describes the negative space, or counter, within.  An eye is like the little closed portion of the lowercase e, barbs are the hook like strokes on the end of capital C's, spurs are the small strokes on the bottoms of G's, and tails are the strokes that hang off of Q's.  Lowercase g's have several special features such as ears, the little nub that comes off the bowl and links that connect the bowl to the loop below.  K's also have special parts such as the upper diagonal stroke called an arm and the lower called a leg.  These two meet in an area called the crotch.

Propel Definition

Propel: to drive forward or onward by or as if by means of a force that imparts motion.

Potato Peeler with Brush

Visual Writing Reflection

             The writer’s toolbox was interesting because it broke up the idea of brainstorming into multiple groups when I usually just think of brainstorming as one thing.  The different kinds of brainstorming techniques that were mentioned were mind mapping, concept map, free writing, brain writing, and word lists.  The two techniques that we used in class for this project were mind mapping and word lists.  I think that word lists are more effective when you are working as an individual but I think mind mapping is an extremely effective way to brainstorm when working in a group.  I have done free writing in school before and it is a very good way to get ideas out of your head and onto paper very quickly.   This technique, however, is very disorganized and would work best if you used it and then organized the ideas in a concept map of some sort.  I think the concept map sounds like a really good way to brainstorm because it is the most organized and its like you are reflecting on your ideas as you produce them and connect them to other ideas on your map.