TYPE SECIFICATION
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
At first glance a letterform may look simple, but there is more to each stroke than meets the eye.
“It is important to be familiar with characteristics of a typeface because being aware of details and conversing [with other professionals] go hand in hand.� Ilene Strizver
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: • old style • transitional • slab serif • modern
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
Old Style Old style or humanist typefaces date back to 1465, and are characterized by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom), subtle differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast), and excellent readability. Old style typefaces are reminiscent of the humanist calligraphy from which their forms were derived.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
Transitional Transitional or baroque serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century. They are among the most common, including such widespread typefaces as Times Roman (1932) and Baskerville (1757). They are in between modern and old style, thus the name "transitional." Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in modern serif fonts.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
Modern Modern or Didone serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. Modern typefaces have a vertical stress, long and fine serifs, with minimal brackets. Serifs tend to be very thin and vertical lines are very heavy. Most modern fonts are less readable than transitional or old style serif typefaces. Common examples include Bodoni, Didot, Century Schoolbook and Computer Modern.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
Slab Serif Slab serifSlab serif or Egyptian typefaces usually have little if any contrast between thick and thin lines. Serifs tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves and usually have no bracket. Slab serif fonts have a bold, rectangular appearance and sometimes have fixed widths, meaning that all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space (as in a typewriter). They are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with serifs because the underlying character shapes are often similar to sans serif typefaces, with less variation between thin and thick shapes on the character.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
Sans-Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: • Grotesque • Neo-Grotesque • Humanist • Geometric
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
GROTESQUE Grotesque, early sans-serif designs, such as Swiss, Helvetica, Univers, Akzidenz Grotesk, Franklin Gothic and Royal Gothic.
These fonts are very similar in that the terminals end in a very uniform way.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
NEO-GROTESQUE Neo Grotesque or Transitional or Realist, modern designs such as Standard, Bell Centennial, MS Sans Serif, Highway Gothic, and Arial. These are the most common sans-serif fonts. They are relatively straight in appearance and have less line width variation than Humanist sans-serif typefaces. Transitional sans-serif is sometimes called "anonymous sans-serif" due to its relatively plain appearance.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
HUMANIST Humanist (Calibri, Johnston, Lucida Grande, Segoe UI, Gill Sans, Myriad, Frutiger, Trebuchet MS, Tahoma, Verdana and Optima, a.k.a. Zapf Humanist). These are the most calligraphic of the sans-serif typefaces, with some variation in line width and more legibility than other sans-serif fonts.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
GEOMETRIC Geometric (Futura, Avant Garde, Century Gothic, Gotham, or Spartan). As their name suggests, Geometric sans-serif typefaces are based on geometric shapes. Note the optically circular letter "O" and the simple construction of the lowercase letter "a". Geometric sans-serif fonts have a very modern look and feel. Of these four categories, geometric fonts tend to be the least useful for body text.
TYPE SPECIFICATION: SANS-SERIF TYPES
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPOGRAPHY TYPOGRAPHY T Y P O G R A P H Y T Y P O G R A P H Y Tracking
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
TYPE SPECIFICATION: CHARACTER ANATOMY
Leading