Kirjainmuoto

Kirjainmuoto, in typography, denotes the visual design of a single character—the shape, structure, and stylistic details that identify a letter within a typeface or script. It encompasses the contours, stroke weight, and spatial relationships that determine how a character appears in print and on screen.

A letterform is defined by both its outline and its internal features: stroke width variation, counters (the open or closed spaces inside letters), bowls and stems, ascenders and descenders, and the shape of terminals and serifs if present. The choice of serif or sans serif, as well as proportions such as x-height and cap height, influence legibility and tone.

Letterforms vary across writing systems and typeface families. In Latin scripts, categories include serif, sans-serif, display, and monospaced forms, each with distinctive terminals, joints, and proportions. Letterforms also integrate diacritics and punctuation, and may form ligatures or contextual alternates to improve reading rhythm.

In digital typography, letterforms are realized as glyphs stored in fonts. Each glyph maps to a Unicode code point, and advanced font formats (such as OpenType) provide features for ligatures, diacritics, kerning, and contextual substitutions. Rendering technology may apply hinting and anti-aliasing to optimize display at various sizes.

Understanding letterforms is central to typography, branding, and readability. Beyond type design, kirjaintmuoto also covers handwriting and calligraphy, where individual letterforms are crafted by hand and may reflect stylistic conventions or cultural traditions.