Hello,
I have a question regarding the relationship between the x-height and cap height. Is increasing the x-height the same as lowering the cap height? The visual result may seem similar, but I imagine there are implications for the vertical metrics and how the font renders in software. A capital height value of around 700 seems to be more or less the standard, but what is the best approach to adopt?
Keeping in mind that it’s always possible to scale the font at the end.
Thank you very much.
It’s not the same, since your reference is always the UPM. In one case, you are increasing the x-height in comparison to the UPM, in the other you are decreasing the cap height in comparison to the UPM.
A cap height of 500 on a 1000 UPM grid will look smaller than 700, simple as that. As you said in the end, you can scale the font afterwards, but that will be exactly the same as adjusting the x-height directly, since you will probably scale the font so that the cap height will end up at around 700 again.
The proportions between cap and x height is one thing and the proportions with other fonts is another.