Homework #5

Old Style a style of font developed by Renaissance typographers to replace the Blackletter style of type. These fonts were based on ancient Roman inscriptions and are characterized by little contrast between thick and thin strokes, bracketed serifs, and a left-leaning axis or stress.

examples Garamond, Centaur, Goudy Oldstyle

Transitional the Old Style of type of evolved into a style known as Transitional. Its characteristics were medium contrast between thick and thin strokes, less left-inclined stress than earlier Old Style faces, and a triangular or flat tip where diagonal strokes meet.

examples Baskerville, Times New Roman, Bell

Modern a typeface developed in the late 18th century through much of the 19th century. It was characterized by high contrast between thick and thin strokes and flat serifs. Most of these modern fonts were much harder to read than any of the older typefaces.

examples Bodoni, Didot, Bernhard Modern Roman

Slab Serif a serif font that evolved from the Modern style. These serifs are square and larger, bolder than serifs of previous typestyles.

examples Belizio, Clarendon, Rockwell

Sans Serif a typeface that does not contain serifs. It has five main classifications that include: Grotesque, Neo-Grotesque, Geometric, Humanist, and Informal. Within these classifications the typefaces share similarities in stroke thickness, weight, and letterform shape.

examples Arial, Helvetica, Verdana

Script a category of type that replicates historical and/or modern handwriting styles that look as if written with different styles of writing instruments from calligraphy pens to ballpoint pens. Its characteristics are connected or nearly connected flowing letterforms and slanted, rounded characters.

examples Comic Sans (I HATE THIS FONT), Mistral, Giddyup

Blackletter a style of type that contains elaborate thick to thin strokes and serifs.

examples Black Forest, Linotext, Goudy Text

Grunge a typographic wave in the 1990s that not only denied the importance of any historical type, but occasionally even the importance of legibility itself. Grunge typographers believed in using a medium within the font to express the message.

examples 84 Rock, 28 Days Later, Barber Shop

Monospaced a font that's glyphs are displayed using only a single fixed width.

examples Courier, Monaco, Fixedsys

Undeclared confusing type that cannot be categorized as a serif or sans serif due to its insignificant typographic orientation.

examples Optima, Copperplate, Gothic