typeface classification serif or sans serif? abcdefg abcdefgo · the first transitional (or...

Typography 1: Typeface Classification

Typeface Classification

Serif or Sans Serif?

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ABCDEFGabcdefgo

Adobe Jenson DIN Pro Book



Typeface or font?

ABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFG

Font: Adobe Jenson Regular

Font: Adobe Jenson Italic

Font: Adobe Jenson Bold

Font: Adobe Jenson Bold Italic

TYPEFACE FAMILY


Typeface Timeline

1450

Blackletter

1460-1470

Humanist(aka Venetian)

1716-1728

Old Style

1700-1775

Transitional

1780-1880

Modern

1920-1960

Bauhaussans serif

1980-present

Digital



Humanist | Old Style | Transitional | Modern |Slab Serif (Egyptian) | Sans Serif

The model for the first movable types was Blackletter (also know as Block, Gothic, Fraktur or Old English), a heavy, dark, at times almost illegible — to modern eyes — script that was common during the Middle Ages.

from I Love Typography http://ilovetypography.com/2007/11/06/type-terminology-humanist-2/

Typography 1: : Typeface Classification

Fette Fraktur



Types based on blackletter were soon superseded by something a little easier Humanist (also refered to Venetian)..

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ABCDEFGabcdefgAdobe Jenson

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The Humanist types (sometimes referred to as Venetian) appeared during the 1460s and 1470s, and were modelled not on the dark gothic scripts like textura, but on the lighter, more open forms of the Italian humanist writers. The Humanist types were at the same time the first roman types.




Characteristics

1. Sloping cross-bar on the lowercase “e”; 2. Relatively small x-height; 3 Low contrast between “thick” and “thin” strokes 4 Dark visual tone





Examples:

Jenson, Kennerley, Centaur, Stempel Schneidler, Verona, Lutetia, Jersey,





The Old Style demonstrate a greater refinement of letterforms, Most likely a result of improved punch-cutter skills. Also first italic typeface.Characteristics:





Characteristics: 1. Greater contrast between thick and thin strokes 2.Sharper in appearance, more refined. 3. More upright stress 4.Serifs on the ascenders are more wedge shaped





Examples:

Goudy Old Style, Bembo, Palatino, Perpetua, Sabon and Weiss,


ABCDEFGabcdefgoAdobe Jenson

>ABCDEFGabcdefgoGoudy Old Style




The first Transitional (or Neoclassical) style typeface, the Romain du Roi or King’s Roman, commissioned by Louis XIV for the Imprimerie Royale in 1692.





Transitional was much less influenced by handwritten letterforms.

Characteristics: 1. Vertical or almost vertical stress in the bowls of lowercase letters.

from I Love Typography




Characteristics: 2. greater contrast between thick and thin (sub-) strokes:.





Characteristics: 3. Head serifs generally more horizontal:.


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Examples: Baskerville, Cheltenham, Fournier, Joanna, Caslon, Kepler


>ABCDEFGabcdefgoGoudy Old Style Baskerville




The Moderns or Didones take this contrast to further extremes

Characteristics: 1. High and abrupt contrast between thick and thin strokes; 2. Abrupt (unbracketed) hairline (thin) serifs 3. Vertical axis 4. Horizontal stress 5. Small aperture





The Moderns or Didones take this contrast to further extremes

Examples: Linotype Didot, Bauer Bodoni, ITC Bodoni, Modern 20




Also known as Egyptian, Square Serif, Mechanical or Mécanes.Developed primarily for advertising.





Eventually became fine tuned, with subtler design

Characteristics of Clarendon: 1. larger x heights 2. thinner serifs 3. bracketed serifs





Eventually became fine tuned, with subtler design

Examples: Clarendon, American Typewriter, Caecila, Memphis, Rockwell, Archer

ABCDEFGabcdefgoMemphis




Sans Serif Geometric: Sans-serif typefaces influenced by the Bauhaus movement and featuring circular or geometric letters, with little variation in stroke thickness. Some sans-serif types are built around geometric 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.

Examples: Futura, Foilio, Gotham, Avant Garde

from Thinking with Type




Sans-serif Humanist Typefaces with oval shapes and variations in stroke thickness to create a more graceful, human appearance. *Sans-serif typefaces became common in the twentieth century. Gill Sans, designed by Eric Gill in 1928, has humanist characteristics. Note the small, lilting counter in the letter a , and the calligraphic variations in line weight.

Examples: Gill Sans, Meta, Frutiger





Sans-serif Grotesque or Grotesk The first sans-serif designs developed in the 19th century, and considered grotesque by the English. *Helvetica, designed by Max Miedinger in 1957, is one of the world’s most widely used typefaces. Its uniform, upright character makes it similar to transitional serif letters. These fonts are also referred to as “anonymous sans serif”

Examples: Akzidenz Grotesk, Franklin Gothic, Univers, Helvetica


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