Unicase Fonts: One Visual Case

Microsoft’s OpenType specification describes the unic feature as mapping uppercase and lowercase letters into a mixed set of lowercase-like and small-capital forms. The result is a single visual alphabet. The particular substitutions depend on the font’s design; it is not simply another command to capitalize all the words.

The specification gives Emigre’s Filosofia as an example. A font may expose specially drawn forms through a layout feature, while another family may be designed around a unicase appearance from the outset. Read the particular designer’s documentation. The Filosofia guide provides the named-family context rather than treating every single-case design as that font.

Type the same phrase in ordinary mixed case, capitals and the available unicase treatment. Look at how the height and forms change, especially repeated a, e, g and r characters. Keep the original wording intact when experimenting with glyph substitutions. The visible shape of a letter is not the same thing as a translation or a new alphabet of Unicode characters.

Use a short heading, venue name or label for the first comparison. If the mixed forms make an important word ambiguous, simplify the treatment or keep a plainly readable supporting line. Record the exact font, style and feature used so a teammate can reproduce it. Continue with typeface versus font and Unicode text for the distinction between a resource, its glyphs and the encoded wording.