Counter

The enclosed space inside a letter, like the hole of an o. Type breathes through its counters; close them and the word goes dark.

Counters are the light inside letterforms, the enclosed air of an o, an a, a g. Their size and shape set how a face breathes: open counters keep text legible when small, tight ones darken and clot. A word is read as much by its whites as its blacks.

Counters are where type dies first: ink gain fills them on press, glow fills them on dark screens, and heavy weights arrive with them half closed. Reversing type out of ink, as these pages do, we favour faces with generous counters and give small sizes a touch more room.