Type Classi�cation

CharacteristicsWhat makes humanist, humanist? Great grand parents of today’s type

1460s & 1470s(sometimes referred to as Venetian)

Application

Humanist

Old Style

Transitional(or Neoclassical)

(or Didone)

(or Egyptian/ Square serif)

Modern

Slab Serif

1. Sloping cross-bar on the lowercase “e”;2. Relatively small x-height;Low contrast between “thick” and “thin” strokes (basically that means that there is little variation in the stroke width)

This period saw type getting into gear1. Horizontal cross-bar on the lowercase “e”;2. More upright stress;3. Wedge shaped serifs;Higher contrast between “thick” and “thin” strokes (increases legibility)

Moving away from calligraphic forms1. Vertical or almost vertical stress in the bowls of lowercase letters;2. greater contrast between thick and thin strokes

Taking contrast to further extremes1. High and abrupt contrast between thick and thin strokes;2. Abrupt (unbracketed) hairline (thin) serifs;3. Small aperture; Vertical axis and horizontal stress

Born in Britain, nothing to do with Egypt1. Thinner serifs; 2. Bracketed serifs;3. Larger x-height; 4. The slab serif period saw another subset of type called Fat faces. It is basically a modern style type only carrying all that extra weight

Although the influence of Humanist types is far reaching, they aren’t often seen these days. However, they deserve our attention because they are the great grand parents of today’s types. Examples: Jenson, Centaur.

Still popular text facesUnlike the relatively short-lived Humanist faces, the Old Style faces held sway for more than two centuries; a number of them are still popular text faces today. Examples: Bembo,

Garamond, Palatino, Goudy Old Style, Calisto.

Orientation with timeThese typefaces are still used for specific content pertaining to that era. It is used for modern day brand names and text faces. Examples: Baskerville, Bookman(Linotype).

Functional and cleanThey’re generally not suited to setting extended text, as the verticality of the letter forms interfere with the text’s horizontal rhythm. They need lots of white space and inter-line space, so give them extra leading and generous margins. Examples: ITC

Bodoni, Didot, Modern No. 20.

Designed to be noticedThese are found on posters, leaflet, pamphlet and billboards of the day. It’s suited for display as it is loud and stands out of the crowd. Slab serif examples: Clarendon, American Typewriter. Fat face

example: Poster Bodoni.

Black letter in a Latin Bible of AD 1407

8

Modelled on humanistItalian writers.

It is the first roman type.

*

**

Strong roots in calligraphy.

The first Italic type wasdesigned in 1501.

*

* Old Style type is sharperin appearance.

Both Old Style and Modernsshare vertical axis, Modernshave higher contrast

*

Transitional types have noinfluence of thehandwritten letter form.

*

eius1

2

During the 1800s a system of classifying type was derived,

and although numerous other systems and subsets of this

system exist, one of those is:||

|

|TransitionalOld StyleHumanist

Sans SerifSlab SerifModern

dEndeavour

EndeavourHumanist

Old Style

o1 2 3

e

2

Humanist Old Style Transitional

Bembo Std Baskerville

oooMM

1

Before HumanistThe very first form of movable type was Blackletter. Also referred to as Black, Gothic, Fraktur or Old English.

didone1

3

2

* More Precise and sharper

The idea of display facescame into being.

*

Sans Serifs can be taken up separately for classification, as they are a system in themselves.

FAT FACE

n1

4

3 n2

Source: www.ilovetypography.com,

Type History Series

Set in : Frutiger LT Std & Arno Pro

Designed & compiled by: Sheel Damani