The Anatomy of Type and Type Families
As a designer, careful consideration should be taken when selecting a typeface, as each type design can communicate personality and set the mood or tone for the design. There are so many typefaces to choose from. There are decorative letters, serifs, sans serifs, and scripts.
Serif Typefaces
These are the oldest typefaces. The serifs come from the leftover ends that occur when people chiseled lettering into stone. Serif typefaces were the first type of fonts used on the printing press. Serif typefaces are broken down into four categories: Old Style, Transitional, Modern, and Slab. In the illustration below, you can see the differences in the serifs. Serif typefaces are used in logo design as well as large blocks of copy for easier readability.
The letter uppercase “T” written using the Serif typeface with small features at the end of strokes and its four categories: Old Style, Transitional, Modern, and Slab showing variations in the design
Figure 2.1 (Schultz, 2015a)
Sans Serif Typefaces
With more people viewing text digitally, sans serif typefaces have become more popular and are the most common typefaces used in logo design. Sans serif typefaces are also used for headlines and large blocks of body copy text. The categories of sans serif typefaces are: Neo-Grotesque, Humanist, Geometric, and Square.
The letters lowercase “bp” written using the Sans Serif typeface with no small features at the end of strokes and its four categories: Neo-Grotesque, Humanist, Geometric, and Square showing variations in the design
Figure 2.2 (Schultz, 2015b)
Decorative Typefaces
These typefaces should be used with great consideration. Decorative typefaces are often difficult to read and should be used sparingly. Decorative typefaces may be used for logos and headlines but should not be used for body copy or large blocks of copy.
Script Typefaces
These typefaces are designed to flow continuously from one letter to another like cursive or handwriting. As with decorative typefaces, script typefaces should be used only in special circumstances and not for large blocks of text.
Typefaces Can Convey Personality and Mood
By choosing the right typeface, you can give a feeling of strength, courage, fear, elegance, or whimsy. The entire design can change based upon the typefaces you choose.
The words elegant, bold, quiet, and whimsy written in fonts that match their meaning
How Do You Create Typeface Personality?
Set the Tone – Think of type as another design element to consider. Just like shapes, color, and imagery, type should be an important element to consider in the design.
Choose the Font With the Right Personality – Try typesetting the same sentence using several different typefaces. As you are reading the text, what comes to mind?
Conduct Research – See what other designers are using for the same category of design or look up font search engines and try out different typefaces.
Try the Typeface Out – Try out several different typefaces and font combinations to see what works best in the design (Rimmer, 2010).
Conclusions
Finding the right typeface is very important. Type is an important design element and can communicate the message to the target audience. The typeface choice is one of the most important aspects in communication.
References
Schultz, N. (2015a, June 1). Serif type. Retrieved from http://nicschultz.com/logo-typography-serifs-2/
Schultz, N. (2015b, June 17). Sans serif type. Retrieved from http://nicschultz.com/logo-typography-sans-serifs/
Rimmer, T. (2010, April 20). Visual design tip: Finding font personality. Mindflash. Retrieved from https://www.mindflash.com/blog/2010/04/online-training-font-tips/
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