Type

Typedia: Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface
http://typedia.com/learn/only/anatomy-of-a-typeface/
Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface
Aperture
Opening at the end of an open counter.
Arm
A horizontal stroke not connected on one or both ends.
Ascender
An upward vertical stroke found on lowercase letters that extends above the typefaces x-height.
Baseline
The invisible line where letters sit.
Bowl
A curved stroke that encloses a letters counter. 20062012 by Typedia.com, Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
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Counter
Fully or partially enclosed space within a letter.
Crossbar
A horizontal stroke.
Descender
A downward vertical stroke found on lowercase letters that extends below the baseline.
Diagonal Stroke
An angled stroke.
Ear
A small stroke projecting from the upper right bowl of some lowercase gs.
Finial
A tapered or curved end.
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Hairline
The thin strokes of a serif typeface.
Ligature
Two or more letters are joined together to form one glyph.
Link
A stroke that connects the top and bottom bowls of lowercase double-story gs.
Loop
The enclosed or partially enclosed counter below the baseline of a double-story g.
Lowercase
The smaller form of letters in a typeface.
Serif
Feet or non-structural details at the ends of some strokes.
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Shoulder
A curved stroke originating from a stem.
Small Caps
Uppercase characters that appear as a smaller size than the capital height of a typeface. Short for small capitals.
Spine
The main curved stroke for a capital and lowercase s.
Spur
A small projection from a curved stroke.
Stem
Primary vertical stroke.
Tail
A descending stroke, often decorative.
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Terminal
The end of a stroke that lacks a serif.
Uppercase
A letter or group of letters of the size and form generally used to begin sentences and proper nouns. Also known as capital letters.
x-height
The height of the main body of a lowercase letter.
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Aperture Spanish Old Style Blackletter Venetian Old Style Gothic
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Typedia: Learn: Typeface Classifications
http://typedia.com/learn/only/typeface-classifications/
Learn: Typeface Classifications

Blackletter
A script style of calligraphy made with a broad-nibbed pen using vertical, curved and angled strokes. Popular from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance (and up to the 20th Century mainly in Germany). Styles are often associated with certain countries or regions. Subclasses: Fraktur Old English Rotunda Schwabacher Textura
Calligraphic
Typefaces based on letters made with a broad-nibbed pen. Subclasses: Chancery Etruscan
Gaelic
TK. Subclasses: Angular Uncial
Inscriptional
Typefaces modeled after or inspired by letters carved in stone. Classic example: Albertus. Subclasses: Roman Inscriptional
Non-alphanumeric
Typefaces which contain pictures or symbols rather than letters and numbers. Subclasses: 20062012 by Typedia.com, Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Dingbats License Ornaments
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Pictorial
Ornamented, Novelty
Typefaces with an ornate or whimsical appearance, or which simulate non-typographical forms. Classic examples: Rustic, Moore Liberty. Subclasses: Art Deco Art Nouveau Comic Strip Lettering Dot Matrix Futuristic Machine Readable Pixel Pseudo Foreign Script Victorian
Sans Serif
A typeface without serifs. Subclasses: Gothic Grotesque Geometric Sans Grotesk Humanist Sans Square Gothic Swiss Gothic
Script
Typefaces based on letters made with a flexible pen or brush, or derivative forms. Subclasses: Brush Script Casual Script English Roundhand French Roundhand Handwriting Rationalized Script
Serif
A typeface with serifs. Subclasses: Grecian
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Latin Modern Didone Scotch Modern Old Style Antique Dutch Old Style French Old Style Spanish Old Style Venetian Old Style Slab Serif Clarendon Egyptian French Clarendon Geometric Serif Spur Serif Transitional Scotch Roman Tuscan
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Type Classification : Design Is History
http://www.designishistory.com/1450/type-classification/
TYPE CLASSIFICATION
1450 Early Typographers Gutenberg Printing Techniques Type Classification 1850 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 Design About
There are thousands of different typefaces and fonts available to designers, printers, publishers, artists and writers (as well as the general public) today. There are all types of display and text typefaces and everything in between. Most are available in a digital format from a variety of type foundries and can easily be used, and exploited, with modern computer technology. The vast amount of type available makes specific classification of every one nearly impossible and somewhat frivolous. However, it is important to have an understanding of the basic styles of typefaces to help narrow down the research and selection of the correct typeface.
A fun experiment in typeface classification, check out the work of Cam Wilde to learn more about the Periodic Table of Typefaces.
Calligraphic
Letters associated with the art of calligraphy and the fonts developed from their production can be classified as calligraphic. Calligraphic letters can be, although do not have to be, classified as Chancery, Etruscan or Uncial. Chancery letters have slightly sloping narrow letters and were influential in the development of serif italics. Etruscan faces do not have lowercase letters and are based on an early form of Roman calligraphy in which the brush was held at a steep angle. The Celtic style, Uncial letters are created from holding the brush at an almost horizontal angle. There is only one case in Uncial designs, although they did become the basis for the development of the roman lower case.
Example:
Blackletter
Blackletter typefaces are a script style of calligraphy that were popularized in Germany, although they were used all over Europe from the middle ages through the Renaissance. A highly ornamental style of typgraphy, different styles are often associated with the different regions in which they were developed and used. The main classifications include Textura, Schwabacher, Cursiva and Fraktur. Textura is the most closely related to the calligraphic style and often includes a large number of ligatures. Schwabacher typefaces have a simplified, rounded stroke and several of their lowercase letters,
Examples:
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typography including the styles below. Examples: Old Style The Old Style or Humanist serif typefaces developed in the 15th and 16th centuries and are characterized by a low contrast in stroke weight and angled serifs. Example: Garamond. Transitional The bridge for the gap between Old Style and Modern serifed typefaces, Transitional type has a more vertical axis and sharper serifs than humanist forms. Example: Baskerville. Modern Modern serifed typefaces developed in the late 18th and early 19th century and were a radical break from the traditional typography of the time with high contrast of strokes, straight serifs and a totally vertical axis. Example: Bodoni. Egyptian Egyptian, or slab-serifed, typefaces have heavy serifs and were used for decorative purposes and headlines because the heavy serifs impeded legibility at small point sizes. Example: Rockwell.
Sans-Serif
Just exactly like what is sounds, a sans-serif typeface is a typeface without serifs. They can be found in history as early as the 5th century, although the classical revival of the Italian Renaissance return to old style serifed typefaces made them virtually obsolete until the 20th century. Their was much development of sans-serif typefaces in Germany as a revolt against the ornate lettering of the popular Blackletter styles which led to sans-serif typefaces based on the purity of geometric forms. Much like serifed typefaces, there are many different classifications for sans-serif typefaces, including Gothic, Grotesque, Doric, Linear, Swiss and Geometric. Some of the broader classifications are listed below. Humanist Humanist characteristics include proportions that were modeled on old style typefaces, open strokes and a slightly higher contrast in strokes in comparison to other sans-serif typefaces. Example: Gill Sans. Transitional Closely related to the characteristics of transitional serifed typefaces, these typefaces include a more upright axis and a uniform stroke. Example: Helvetica. Geometric Geometric sans-serif typefaces, as their name implies, are based on geometric forms. In some cases letters, such as the lower case 'o', are perfect geometric forms. Example: Futura.
Example:
Script
Script typefaces are based on the forms made with a flexible brush or pen and
Example:
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Pixel fonts developed from the invention of the computer and were based on the on-screen display format of pixels. They are based on an array of pixels, are often called Bitmap fonts and are often designed only for a specific point size. Many type foundries offer a selection of bitmap fonts and some, like Fonts For Flash create only bitmap fonts.
Example:
Decorative
While serifed and sans-serif typefaces can often be used for text typesetting, there are a vast majority of fonts and typefaces whose legibility wanes when used in smaller point sizes. These typefaces are often developed with a specific use in mind and are designed for larger point size use in headlines, posters and billboards. Decorative is less of a classification and can include a wide variety of typefaces underneath the umbrella of the term.
Example:
References and More Information:
Typedia Typographeee The Design Shadow Thinking With Type
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Adobe Type Library: Type Classifications
http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/classifications.html
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Type Library
Adobe typefaces are organized in the Type Classification pop-up menu according to a simplified version of the internationally recognized system adopted by the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI). In addition to the traditional classifications of typefaces by historical origin, we have added some that are unique to the Adobe Type Library, such as Adobe Originals and OpenType typefaces.
Adobe Originals Within the Adobe Type Library is a growing collection of original typefaces that have been designed exclusively for Adobe by in-house and consultant type designers, specifically to meet the demands of electronic publishing. Adobe Originals typefaces include both new designs and revivals of classics from typographic history.
Blackletter Blackletter typefaces sometimes referred to as Old English or Gothic were used for text in Germany until World War II, but are now primarily used as display type.
Capitals These typefaces contain all capitals and are designed for titling and other display purposes, where they will primarily be displayed at large sizes.
Computer Related Typefaces in this group are primarily used for computerrelated purposes, such as numerical scanning or optical character recognition.
Cyrillic Named after Saint Cyril, who brought modern learning to Eastern Europe, Cyrillic alphabets have the same roots as Latin alphabets Greek script and are used for Russian and other Slavic languages.
Decorative & Display While typefaces in this group incorporate
Didone (Modern) Improvements in late 18th century paper production, composition,
Expert Collection The Adobe Expert Collection character sets are designed to meet
Garalde Oldstyle Garalde typefaces include some of the most popular roman styles in use
Glyphic Unlike letterforms created with pen or brush, glyphic designs are based
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elements from many different styles, they are most effective when used at large sizes for display purposes, such as headlines and titles.
printing and binding made it possible to develop a type style with strong vertical emphasis and fine hairlines. Named after Didot and Bodoni, Didone types include strong contrast between thick and thin strokes, curved strokes on a vertical axis, and often, serifs with no brackets.
the exacting requirements of professional typographers and designers. These sets include old style (lowercase) figures, small capitals, fractions, superior and inferior figures, and a complete set of f-ligatures.
today. The distinguishing features of Garalde typefaces are apparent in Adobe Garamond, which has a horizontal bar on the lowercase e, a slightly greater contrast between thick and thin strokes than Venetian types, axis curves that are inclined to the left, and bracketed serifs.
on letters carved or chiselled in stone. Since most inscribed letters are capitals, glyphic typefaces also tend to have only capitals. Some of these can be used effectively for text, but most are better suited to display applications such as posters, packaging and book titles.
Greek Celebrating the beauty of Hellenic letterforms, several Adobe fonts now include monotonic Greek glyphs, and a few also contain historical polytonic Greek glyphs, used primarily in biblical and Byzantine scholarship.
Hand-tooled, Inline, Outline, Stencil These display typefaces have a special design appearance on the face of the letters, in most cases the removal of all or part of the fill of the characters or the inclusion of a distinctive highlight engraved or tooled into the left side of the character strokes.
Japanese Drawing on a rich cultural heritage, Adobe's Japanese typefaces are rooted in traditional Japanese typeface design, but have a clear and original touch reflecting the modern era.
Mathematical These typefaces include special mathematical symbols used when setting equations and other formulas.
Monospaced All of the characters in a monospaced typeface have the same width. Most typefaces have proportionallyspaced characters, but monospaced characters are often required when setting text on forms, financial statements and other documents where exact spacing is required.
OpenType Pro OpenType Pro fonts include expanded character sets to support central European
Opticals Optical fonts include versions whose design has been optimized to appear best when
Ornamentals Ornamental typefaces contain decorative ornaments or symbols in some
Phonetic Phonetic alphabets contain special linguistic characters that are used to describe
Sans Serif Though the first sans serif (without serif) typeface was issued in 1816, another hundred
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languages, and some also support Greek and/or Cyrillic. The language coverage varies by family.
printed at Display, Subhead and Caption point sizes as well as when used at smaller text sizes. The subtle difference adds a professional polish to any fine print piece.
or all of the character positions instead of letters. These ornaments can be used to embellish or decorate documents.
pronunciation. These typefaces are appropriate for dictionaries, language guides, linguistic texts, or wherever else spoken sounds need to be typographically represented.
years passed before this style gained popularity. Highly legible for both display and text use, sans serifs generally fall into one of four categories: Grotesque, Neo-Grotesque, Geometric and Humanist.
Script Since a Parisian printer created the first in 1643, script typefaces have become almost as numerous as the handwriting instruments brush, broad-edged pen or pointed pen that they were designed to imitate. Script typefaces often mimic handwriting techniques by joining letters with connecting lines.
Slab Serif Born out of the Industrial Revolution and the increased use of posters, billboards and other forms of advertising, slab serif typefaces, with their strong, square finishing strokes, are extremely effective for commanding readers' attention.
Small Caps & Old Style Figures Some typefaces include sets of small capitals and old style figures to complement the regular (base) typeface. In these packages, small capitals substitute for lowercase letters, while old style (nonlining or lowercase) numerals replace modern (lining or uppercase) numerals.
Swash These typefaces contains special ornamental swashes or flowing extensions to the character strokes that add grace and beauty to the letterforms. Swash characters are intended to be used for initialing purposes and as decorative capitals.
Symbol Symbol typefaces have been created for a variety of nontext uses: musical notation, map making, mathematics, newspaper and commercial publishing, and even desktop publishing. These packages can put the finishing touch on a project or help with specialized tasks.
Transitional Containing elements of both Garalde and modern (Didone) typefaces, transitional typefaces are beautifully suited to text because of their regularity and
Venetian Oldstyle Named after the first roman typefaces that appeared in Venice in 1470, Venetian typefaces were initially designed to imitate the handwriting of Italian Renaissance
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precision. The axis of the round characters is vertical or barely inclined, the contrast between hairlines and main strokes is slightly pronounced, and serifs are thin, flat and bracketed
scholars. These typefaces originated as book type and still serve that function well because of their clarity and legibility.
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Typedia: Learn: Original Format
http://typedia.com/learn/only/original-format/
Learn: Original Format

Bitmap
A kind of digital font that contains character shape data in the form of bits or pixels arranged in a grid pattern.
Digital
Fonts that exist in digital form, usually as a computer file. There are mainly two kinds of digital fonts, outline and bitmap. They differ in the data that defines the shapes of the characters. In outline fonts, the data consists of mathematical curves. In bitmap fonts, the data consists of rows of bits or pixels arranged in a grid. Type is set by software that reads the font data and forms images on output devices (mainly computer screens and printers).
Film Font
Fonts which exist as images on reels of film negatives. The usual film size is 2-inches, with the character images about an inch tall. Type is set by shining light through the character image onto a sheet of photosensitive paper. Character spacing is usually done by eye by the operator, but some systems include spacing marks on the film. Film fonts were used exclusively for display typography.
Metal (Foundry)
Type in which characters are cast in metal alloy by hand. Type is set by arranging the metal pieces in a galley.
Metal (Machine Composition)

Type in which characters are cast in metal by machine into individual letters or rows of letters. Type is set by an operator on a keyboard. Rows and columns of type are created automatically as the operator types. This method is sometimes called hot type.
Non-typographical
Non-typographical methods of making letters or symbols such as rubber stamps, Dymo, handwriting, pictures, sculpture, etc.
Photo-composition
Fonts that exist in the form of images on film or glass negatives. Type is set by shining light through the character images is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 20062012 by Typedia.com, Text onto photosensitive paper or film. In the days when metal type was common, this method was often called cold type. License
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Rub-down
Fonts that exist as images printed on the reverse side of a carrier sheet. The images are coated with a light adhesive. Type is set by positioning the carrier sheet over a surface (usually a piece of paper or board) and burnishing over a character image with a stylus. The character image is transferred from the carrier sheet to the surface. This is repeated for each character. Spacing was usually done by eye by the user, but some manufacturers included spacing marks.
Strike on
A typesetting method that uses characters cast in hard metal, usually connected indirectly to a keyboard. Type is set by causing the characters to strike forcefully against a medium (usually some kind of inked ribbon), transferring the character image to paper held against a platen. Traditional typewriters and daisy-wheel printers are the most common examples of the strike-on method, but there were also many low-cost typesetting machines that used it.
Wood
Functionally similar to metal type, but cut from hardwood using a special routing machine. Used for larger sizes because it was lighter and therefore less costly to ship than metal type.
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Typedia: Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface

Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface

Typedia: Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface

Typedia: Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface

Typedia: Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface

Typedia: Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface

Typedia: Learn: Anatomy of a Typeface

Typedia: Learn: Typeface Classifications

Learn: Typeface Classifications

Typedia: Learn: Typeface Classifications

Typedia: Learn: Typeface Classifications

Typedia: Learn: Typeface Classifications

Type Classification : Design Is History

Type Classification : Design Is History

Type Classification : Design Is History

References and More Information:

Typedia Typographeee The Design Shadow Thinking With Type

Adobe Type Library: Type Classifications

Decorative & Display While typefaces in this group incorporate

Didone (Modern) Improvements in late 18th century paper production, composition,

Adobe Type Library: Type Classifications

Ornamentals Ornamental typefaces contain decorative ornaments or symbols in some

Adobe Type Library: Type Classifications

Adobe Type Library: Type Classifications

typeTimeline.gif (GIF Image, 450x123 pixels)

Typedia: Learn: Original Format

Learn: Original Format

Metal (Machine Composition)

Typedia: Learn: Original Format

Typedia: Learn: Original Format

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