Ion Velvet Grotesk

Its lowercase sits low: the x-height is 67.9% of the cap height, where the median for sans serif fonts is 71.1%, the lowest of all 18 sans serif fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l line up with the capitals (102.9% of their height), and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 34.6% of the cap height below the baseline, the deepest of all 18 sans serif fonts. Ion Velvet Grotesk runs 32.3% narrower than the median for sans serif fonts: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 65.7% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 83%). The o is close to a circle, 0.96 times as wide as it is tall, and W is the widest capital, at 1.68 times the width of H. Round letters overshoot: O rises 0.8% of the cap height above H and dips 1.6% below the baseline.

The letters stand upright, with no measurable slant. Vertical stems measure 13.9% of the cap height, heavier than 16 of the 17 other sans serif fonts. Ink covers 37.7% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), the darkest of all 18 sans serif fonts. It is close to monoline, with the sides of o and O 1.06 times as thick as their tops and bottoms.

Its 345 characters include 245 Latin letters, plus 100 figures, punctuation marks and symbols; 193 of the Latin letters are accented or special forms beyond A to Z. The word space measures 30.2% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 14.8% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 10,920 kerning pairs, the most of all 18 sans serif fonts. The tightest of them is Yd, which closes up by 30.6% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Ion Velvet Grotesk will not line up exactly.