Grid Sans

With an x-height of 74.3% of the cap height, its lowercase stands above the 71.1% median for sans serif fonts, taller than 12 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l rise 3.9% above the capitals, and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 27% of the cap height below the baseline, shallower than 14 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. It sets narrow: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 80.5% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 91.6%), 17.1% less than the median for sans serif fonts, so more words fit on a line. The o is close to a circle, 1.06 times as wide as it is tall, and W is the widest capital, at 1.30 times the width of H. Round letters overshoot: O rises 1.3% of the cap height above H and dips 1.3% below the baseline.

The letters stand upright, with no measurable slant. Vertical stems measure 10% of the cap height, heavier than 12 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. Ink covers 27% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), darker than 14 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 148 characters include 105 Latin letters, plus 43 figures, punctuation marks and symbols; 53 of the Latin letters are accented or special forms beyond A to Z. The word space measures 34.9% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 15.5% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 113 kerning pairs, more than 8 of the 16 other sans serif fonts. The tightest of them is AY, which closes up by 22.7% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Grid Sans will not line up exactly.

Grid Sans is drawn on the same letter structure as 12 other fonts in the library. Compared with Grid Sans, Brigade Wide Stencil adds military stencil bridges, sets 35% wider and puts down 30% more ink. Arcade Block Pixel rebuilds the letters on a pixel grid, sets 21% wider and puts down 68% more ink. Block 3D adds a 3D extrusion, sets 23% wider and puts down 80% more ink.