OUGD404 Design Principles Points, Picas and Pixels

What are Points, Picas and Pixels?
In our groups we were each given a question (above) In our group we decided to do each individual one together to then present to the rest of our class. Below is our each indicual research on our question.

Points
'The point is the unit of measurement used to measure the type size of a font, for example, 7pt Times New Roman. The measurement refers to the height of the type block, not  the letter itself. This basic typographical measurement is an absolute measurement equivelant to 1/72 of an inch or 0.35mm and its creation is attributed to French clergyman Sebastien Trucher (1657-1729). It was further developed by Pierre Fournier and Francois Didot in the nineteenth century, before the British/ American or Anglo- Saxon point was defined as 1/72 of an Inch.
Type sizes traditionally bore a relationship to the 72 point inch (six picas) but with digitalized PostScript typefaces, it is now easy to use irregular sizes such as 10.2pt. This Relationship is reflected in the old naming system for these common sizes, with 12pt type being referred to as a Pica. Some of the other names have a looser connection, and indeed the sizes are only approximate translations to the modern point equivalents. These names are no longer in common use, but the equivalent sizes are, with most software packages using these as the default sizes.
Before standardization, typefaces of similar names had varying sizes. A Pica from one type foundry would be exactly 12 points, while the same measurement from another could vary dramatically.'
(The Fundamentals of Typography, Gavin Ambrose/ Paul Harris,Ava Publishing sa Page 43)

Sarah Researched Pixels

'In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, (picture element) is a physical point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a display device; so it is the smallest controllable element of a picture represented on the screen. The address of a pixel corresponds to its physical coordinates. LCD pixels are manufactured in a two-dimensional grid, and are often represented using dots or squares.Each pixel is a sample of an original image; more samples typically provide more accurate representations of the original.
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Pixel.
'Short for Picture Element, a pixel is a single point in a graphic image. Graphics monitors display pictures by dividing the display screen into thousands (or millions) of pixels, arranged in rows and columns. The pixels are so close together that they appear connected.

The number of bits used to represent each pixel determines how many colors or shades of gray can be displayed. For example, in 8-bit color mode, the color monitor uses 8 bits for each pixel, making it possible to display 2 to the 8th power (256) different colors or shades of gray.

On color monitors, each pixel is actually composed of three dots -- a red, a blue, and a green one. Ideally, the three dots should all converge at the same point, but all monitors have some convergence error that can make color pixels appear fuzzy.

The quality of a display system largely depends on its resolution, how many pixels it can display, and how many bits are used to represent each pixel. VGAsystems display 640 by 480, or about 300,000 pixels. In contrast, SVGAsystems display 800 by 600, or 480,000 pixels. True Color systems use 24 bits per pixel, allowing them to display more than 16 million different colors.'

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The physical size of a pixel depends on how you've set theresolution for the display screen. If you've set the display to its maximum resolution, the physical size of a pixel will equal the physical size of the dot pitch (let's just call it the dot size) of the display. If, however, you've set the resolution to something less than the maximum resolution, a pixel will be larger than the physical size of the screen's dot (that is, a pixel will use more than one dot).

Danielle researched Pica:

A pica is a measuring unit used in typography, and 12 points make up 1 pica, and makes up 1/6 of an inch.
The pica originated when Francois-Ambroise Didot, a printer, adapted the point system so that typefaces could be measured by width using a point which is 1/72 of an inch, and a pica is 12 points. It was later renamed Didot after him.

There are three types of picas used in printing:
French Pica: 12 didot points - 4.512mm
American Pica: 0.166044in (4.2175mm)
Computer Pica: Is 1/72 of 4.233mm