Laura Martinez ypog

raphy

Design

A basic system for classifying typefaces was devised in the nineteenth century, when print-ers sought to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history. Hu-manist letter forms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic.

Caecilia LT Std, Regular

PREFA

CE

These three main groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment pe-riods in art and literature. Historians and critics of typography have since proposed more finely grained schemes that attempt to better capture the diversity of letter forms. Designers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have con-tinued to create new typefaces based on historic characteristics.

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CONTENTS

Slab Serif

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Serif Inscriptional

Transitional

Modern

Sans-serif Humanist

Grotesque

DecorativeItalic

Old StyleGeometric

Serif

BLACKLETTER

style prevalent during the Middle Ages. Due to the com-plexity of the letters they may be hard to read particularly in blocks of text. They are commonly used for similar pur-poses as the Scripts, initial

caps and on certificates. Recent research, however, found that leg-ibility is linked to familiarity; and the san-serif style of today would be equally illegible to Middle Age man.

Fette Fraktur LT Std

3B

LA

CK

LE

TT

ER

/ GO

TH

IC

Research has shown that the barely noticeable serifs greatly aid our recognition of the char-acters and help us to read by leading the eye across the line of text. For this reason body text is easier to read in a serif font.

Serif / Roman

RomanSerif

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The roman typefaces of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen-turies emulated classical calligraphy. Sabon was designed by Jan Tschichold in 1966, based on the sixteenth-century typefaces of Claude Garamond.

HUMANIST OR

HOLDSTYLE

Archistico

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TRANSITIONAL

These typefaces have sharper serifs and a more verti- cal axis than hu-manist letters. When the typefaces

When the typefacesof John Baskerville were introduced in the mid eigh- teenth century, their sharp forms and high contrast were considered shocking.

Transit511 BT

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The typefaces designed by Giambattista Bodoni in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are radically abstract.

M

Note the thin, straight serifs; verti- cal axis; and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes.

odeR

nFederal Escort

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Num

erou

s bo

ld a

nd d

ecor

ativ

e

type

face

s w

ere

intr

o- d

uced

in th

e

nine

teen

th c

entu

ry fo

r use

in a

d-

vert

isin

g. E

gypt

ian

type

face

s ha

ve

heav

y, sl

ab li

ke s

erifs

.EGYPTIAN OR SLAB SERIF

Huxtable

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Sans-serif typefaces became common in the twentieth

century. Gill Sans, designed by Eric Gill in 1928, has hu-

manist characteristics.

SANS SERIF

Kalenderblatt Grotesk

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G Helvetica, designed by Max Mieding-

er in 1957, is one of the world’s most

widely used typefaces.

lt’s uniform, upright character

makes it similar to transitional

serif letters

These fonts are also referred

to as “anonymous sans serif ”

Archivo Black (OTF)

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rotesque

Geom

etric

Some sans-serif types are built around geomet-

ric forms. In Futura, designed by Paul Renner in

1927, the Os are perfect circles, and the peaks of the A and M are sharp triangles.

Akron Sans NBP

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These fonts are commonly seen in short

bursts such as on invitations, business and

in advertisements.

Scripts

Script typefaces were de-

signed to imitate handwrit-

ing. So that when printed

the characters appear to

be joined up.

The writing implements they replicate range

from a fountain den to a paintbrush and as

with handwriting, text should not be all in

capitals.

Aguafina Script

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Script typefaces were designed to imitate handwrit- ing. So that when printed the characters appear to be joined up.

The writing implements they rep-licate range from a fountain den to a paintbrush and as with handwriting, text should not be all in capitals.

These fonts are com-monly seen in short bursts such as on invi-tations, business and in advertisements.

Dec

orat

ive

Archistico

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ItalicScript typefaces were designed to imitate handwrit- ing. So that when printed the characters appear to be joined up. The writing implements they replicate range from a fountain den to a paintbrush and as with handwriting, text should not be all in capitals. These fonts are commonly seen in short bursts such as on invitations, busi-ness and in advertisements.Kaliber Solid BRK

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Mutter Krause