En

Half an em: the width, roughly, of a capital N. The unit behind the en dash and the middle sizes of typographic space.

The en exists because the em is often too much: half the square gives a dash for ranges and connections, and a space wider than a word space but narrower than a full pause. Fine typography is largely the art of these intermediate widths, chosen where most eyes only feel the difference.

In our own copy the en dash and its cousins are handled with care for another reason: punctuation is voice. Ranges take an en dash; asides in this studio's English are carried by commas and the interpunct rather than long dashes. Small marks, consistently chosen, are what make prose feel set rather than typed.