Font Classification

Old Style - also call Gerald is generally considered “warm” or friendly, thanks to its origins in Renaissance humanism.

-low contrast with diagonal stress

-cove or “bracketed” serifs

-based on handwriting

Bembo, Caslon, Garamond, Jenson, Palatino

Transitional - this style forms the transition between Renaissance Old Style and Modern typefaces. With the change from the woodcut to copperplate engravings in the 17th Century, the lines of the letters became more fine and rich in contrast.

-bracketed serifs

-contrast between thick and thin strokes is more pronounced

-tall x-height

Times New Roman, Baskerville, Caslon, Perpetua, Bell

Modern - also called Didone, Modern typefaces arose with the distribution of copper and steel engraving techniques in the 17th and 18th Century. The appearance is technical exact.

-mathematical construction /measurements

-extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes

-hairline serifs

Bodoni, Bauer Bodoni, Walbaum, Aster, Didot, Ellington

Slab Serif - At the beginning of the 19th Century typefaces were used for attracting attention and were in demand for advertising, posters, flyers, business and private printed matters. Egyptian and Grotesque typefaces arose from Modern typefaces.

-square ended serifs

-mono weight

-geometric impact

Serifa, Rockwell, Memphis, Clarendon, New Century Schoolbook

Sans Serif - Sans-serif typefaces influenced by the Bauhaus movement and featuring circular or geometric letters, with little variation in stroke thickness. There are three types Geometric, Humanist and Grotesque. Geometric is built around geometric forms, Humanist have oval shapes and variations in stroke thickness to create a more graceful, human appearance, and Grotesque has an upright character makes it similar to transitional serif letters.

-no serif

-mono weight

-no stress

Kabel, Futura, Frutiger, Helvetica, Gill Sans

Script - is based upon the varied and often fluid stroke created by handwriting. They are organized into highly regular formal types similar to cursive writing and looser, more casual scripts. Two types formal and casual.

-based on handwriting

-high stress

-sans serif

Kuenstler Script, Snell Roundhand, Brush Script, Kaufmann, Mistral

Blackletter - based on early written forms, blackletter is a style of typeface that features elaborate thick to thin strokes and serifs.

-elobarate strokes

-based on hand written forms

-thick/thin strokes

Old English, Gothic, Textura, Schwabacher, Fraktur

Grunge - a “dirty” font with irregular, sometimes even ugly and crooked visual elements.

-texture element to each letter

-can be serif or sans serif

-parts of letters may be missing

Turbo Ripped, Dirty Ames, Sidewalk, Neoprint M319, Trashed

Monospaced - typefaces in which every glyph is the same width.

-characters share the same width

-slab serif

-mono stroke width

Courier, Prestige Elite, Fixedsys, Monaco, Lucida typewriter

Undeclared - Typefaces that contain sans serif structures attached to flared serifs.

-thick stroke widths

-wide horizantal axis

-small glyphic serifs

Optima, Copperplate Gothic, Aviano serif, Imperium, Copperplate