Typography

History
History

Classical (mid 15th century-17th century)

Johannes Gutenberg invented printing press; Francesco Griffo
created first italic type inspired by handwriting style in Italy and
France
History

Transitional (18th century)

Style of types based on punch-
cut letter characteristics from
printing presses rather than
handwriting; “Old Style” typefaces
were created
History

Modern (19th century)

Emergence of typefaces with
thicker and thinner lines; sans-
serif typefaces created
History

Bauhaus and Swiss Modern

(early 20th century)
New movement as designers
attempt to define ʻmodernʼ and
“ally themselves with the machine
age”
History

Contemporary (late 20th century)

Personal computers encourage
people to create their own typefaces.
Terms

font
how a certain typeface is displayed (e.g. Times and
Palatino are two different fonts)
typeface
a group of characters that share a design (e.g. Arial
Black and Arial Narrow are both an Arial typeface)
Terms

serif
small lines at the ends of
strokes; serif used to guide
eyes from one letter to the
next
sans serif
“without serif”; easy to read
on computer screens so
common for website use
Terms

point
refers to size of a font; one point is 1/72 of an inch
pica
unit of measurement that is 1/6 of an inch and equal to 12 pts;
used to measure lines of text
em
unit of measurement defined as current point size (e.g. with a
14-point type, an em is the distance of 14 points)
baseline
invisible line where characters within a typeface sits
Look and feel
Examples
Guidelines
More examples
Resources
myfonts.com
free and not-free fonts; great for exploring

WhatTheFont!
seen a font and donʼt know what it is?
Letter spacing: tracking and kerning
Line height: leading
Justification
Ligatures
Anti-aliasing
Styles in Illustrator
Styles in Illustrator
References
http://www.rsub.com/typographic/
http://www.ehow.com/about_7218900_history-typographers.html
http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/typographyfonts/tp/basic_type_terms.htm
http://www.adobe.com/uk/type/topics/glossary.html#ememspaceemquad
http://jakeprzespo.com/blog/a-brief-lesson-on-typography/
http://www.leafdigital.com/class/lessons/graphicdesign1/4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface