Non-Designer’s Type Book, The, Second Edition

Chapter 9. Small Caps

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF TECHNIQUES that designers and typographers use to make type more beautiful and pleasant—one technique is the use of small caps. Small caps are capital letters that are approximately the size of lowercase letters. Small caps are often used simply for their design effect, but they have several very practical uses in fine typography. Sometimes an article or chapter opening begins with the first line (or part of the first line) in small caps, as in this paragraph. This is a simple, elegant way to lead the reader into the text.