Quest Italic

Quest Italic's lowercase x reaches 69.6% of the capital height, close to the 69.6% median for serif fonts, taller than 19 of the 39 other serif fonts. Ascenders on b, d, h, k and l line up with the capitals (101% of their height), and descenders on g, j, p, q and y drop 31.9% of the cap height below the baseline, deeper than 33 of the 39 other serif fonts. Quest Italic runs 6.3% wider than the median for serif fonts: an average lowercase letter, spacing included, is 91.3% as wide as the capitals are tall (an average capital, 107.8%). The o is close to a circle, 1.06 times as wide as it is tall, and M is the widest capital, at 1.07 times the width of H. Round letters overshoot: O rises 0.8% of the cap height above H and dips 1.1% below the baseline.

The letters lean about 15° to the right, where most serif fonts in the library stand upright. Vertical stems measure 15.7% of the cap height, heavier than 19 of the 35 other serif fonts. Ink covers 26.7% of each lowercase letter's box (its advance width by the cap height), lighter than 26 of the 39 other serif fonts. Strokes change thickness with direction: the sides of o and O are 3.1 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 34% of the cap height, and the blank space either side of a lowercase letter takes up 5% of its width. Spacing is adjusted with 62 kerning pairs, fewer than 23 of the 39 other serif fonts. The tightest of them is VA, which closes up by 27.2% of the cap height. The figures have different widths, so columns of numbers set in Quest Italic will not line up exactly.

4 other library fonts share Quest Italic's underlying letter structure. Compared with Quest Italic, Parlour Italic Shadow adds a separate drop shadow and puts down 16% more ink. Vogue Italic sets 6% narrower and puts down 23% less ink. Pointe Italic puts down 24% less ink.