Mezzanine Deco

Its lowercase sits low: the x-height is 72.6% of the cap height, where the median for display fonts is 76.2%, lower than 71 of the 97 other display fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l rise 4.1% above the capitals, and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 28.9% of the cap height below the baseline, deeper than 89 of the 97 other display fonts. Mezzanine Deco runs 19.9% wider than the median for display fonts: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 107.2% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 120.3%). The o is wider than it is tall, 1.40 to 1, and W is the widest capital, at 1.25 times the width of H. Round letters overshoot: O rises 1.4% of the cap height above H and dips 1.3% below the baseline.

The letters stand upright, with no measurable slant. Vertical stems measure 20% of the cap height, lighter than 28 of the 43 other display fonts. Ink covers 29.4% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), lighter than 80 of the 97 other display fonts. Strokes change thickness with direction: the sides of o and O are 5.0 times as thick 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 43.7% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 16.3% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 120 kerning pairs, more than 70 of the 97 other display fonts. The tightest of them is LT, which closes up by 29.6% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Mezzanine Deco will not line up exactly.

12 other library fonts share Mezzanine Deco's underlying letter structure. Compared with Mezzanine Deco, Arcade Block Pixel rebuilds the letters on a pixel grid, sets 9% narrower and puts down 54% more ink. Bulwark Block puts down 66% more ink and has a 83% x-height. Brigade Wide Stencil adds military stencil bridges and puts down 19% more ink.