Civic Sans

Its x-height is 69.4% of the cap height, near the 71.1% typical of sans serif fonts in the library, level with the lowest of the 17 sans serif fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l line up with the capitals (100% of their height), and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 30.8% of the cap height below the baseline, the deepest of all 17 sans serif fonts. It sets narrow: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 67.8% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 83%), 30.2% less than the median for sans serif fonts, so more words fit on a line. The o is close to a circle, 1.00 times as wide as it is tall, and W is the widest capital, at 1.18 times the width of H. Round letters overshoot: O rises 3.3% of the cap height above H and dips 1.6% below the baseline.

The letters stand upright, with no measurable slant. Vertical stems measure 7.9% of the cap height, lighter than 12 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Ink covers 22.7% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), darker than 10 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Strokes keep one thickness in every direction: the sides of o and O measure the same as their tops and bottoms.

Its 3,329 characters include 2,967 Chinese, 170 Japanese kana and 105 Latin letters, plus 87 figures, punctuation marks and symbols; 53 of the Latin letters are accented or special forms beyond A to Z. The word space measures 34.2% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 15.3% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 129 kerning pairs, more than 11 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. The tightest of them is AY, which closes up by 24.7% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Civic Sans will not line up exactly.

Civic Sans is drawn on the same letter structure as 4 other fonts in the library. Compared with Civic Sans, Field Stencil adds military stencil bridges, sets 15% wider and puts down 43% more ink. Cadet Stencil adds military stencil bridges, leans about 8° and sets 21% wider. Corps Condensed Stencil adds military stencil bridges and puts down 60% more ink.