Sunday, September 27, 2009

Typography-9/28/09

Font Classification: A basic system for classifying typefaces was developed in the nineteenth century. Humanist letterforms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. These three main groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment periods in art and literature. Designers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have continued to create typefaces based on historic characteristics.

Old Style: greater contrast between think and thin strokes and generally sharper in appearance…Sabon, Plantin, Palatino

Transitional: these typefaces have sharper serifs and a more vertical axis than humanist letters…Optima, Copperplate Gothic

Modern: the typefaces designed by Giambattista Bodoni in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are radically abstract. Note the thin, straight serifs; vertical axis; and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes.…ITC New Baskerville, Bookman std, Olympian std

Slab Serif: classified within serifs, their different visual attitude-defined by their thick, square-ended serifs…Clarendon, Ziggurat, ITC Lubalin Graph

Sans Serif: stripped to the bare minimum by losing the serif appendages…Akzidenz Grotesk, Franklin Gothic, Futura

Script: strived to translate the inherently dynamic, fluid, and imperfect act of writing into metal, wood, photo, and digital typefaces. They run a wide gamut of characteristics… Brush Script, Sinclair, Bickham Script

Blackletter: gradual and diverse evolution of varied sources like Carolingian, Old English, and hand crafted work of scribes…Lucida Blackletter, San Marco, Fette Fraktur

Grunge: Jarring aesthetic and philosophy that contrasts with the conventions of classical typography…Dead History, Fallen Thyme, MC Auto

Monospaced: All letters conform to a specific physical width, resulting in letterforms that must expand or condense to make the best use of the allotted space…Courier, OCR A, Orator

Undeclared: Flared serifs attached to sans serif structures…Optima, Copperplate Gothic

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