Typeface
In typography, a typeface is a family of fonts. Every glyph in a typeface shares certain design features. Typefaces have names, such as Times New Roman, Garamond, Baskerville.
Every font of a typeface has specific details (such as size and weight) and is used in a particular way. The reason for having different fonts is to give the designer or printer choices which suit various needs. The most basic of all needs is to have the text legible and readable.[1][2]
There are many versions of typefaces which are out of copyright. "ITC Garamond" is a different typeface from "Adobe Garamond" or "Monotype Garamond". These are all versions of the typeface Garamond, originally created in the 16th century. There are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly.
The art and craft of designing typefaces is called type design. In digital typography, type designers are sometimes also called font developers or font designers.
Every typeface is a collection of glyphs, each of which represents an individual letter, number, punctuation mark, or other symbol. There are typefaces tailored for special applications, such as map-making or astrology and mathematics.
A very widely used typeface is Times New Roman. This is a serif typeface commissioned by the British newspaper The Times in 1931.[3][4][5] This typeface was later adapted for use in book printing, and again for use as a computer face. There are now many different versions of this typeface.
Typeface Media
Diagram of a cast metal sort. a face, b body or shank, c point size, 1 shoulder, 2 nick, 3 groove, 4 foot.
PT Serif (above) and PT Sans (below) from the PT font superfamily, showing the similarities in letter structure.
Comparison between printed (top) and digital (bottom) versions of Perpetua.
Part of image series demonstrating serif vs sans-serif. The font in this image is Liberation Sans. Other images in this series:
Part of image series demonstrating serif vs sans-serif. The font in this image is Liberation Serif. Other images in this series:
Part of image series demonstrating serif vs sans-serif. The font in this image is Liberation Serif. Other images in this series:
A comparison of proportional vs. monospace typography. Made by selecting glyphs in Adobe Photoshop and setting colored boxes to the selection widths.
The word Sphinx, set in Adobe Garamond Pro to illustrate the concepts of baseline, x-height, body size, descent and ascent.
References
- ↑ Williamson, Hugh 1956. Methods of book design. Oxford University Press, chapter 9, Principles of text design.
- ↑ Aldrich-Ruenzel, Nancy & Fennell, John 1991. Designer's guide to typography. Oxford: Phaidon, p18 Readability and legibility in text. ISBN 0-7148-2706-1
- ↑ Loxley, Simon 2006. Type: the secret history of letters. Tauris, 130–131. ISBN 1-84511-028-5
- ↑ Carter H.G. 2004. Morison, Stanley Arthur (1889–1967). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography rev. David McKitterick. Oxford University Press.
- ↑ Morison, Stanley. Printing the Times. Eye
- Lawson, Alexander S. 1990. Anatomy of a typeface. Godine. ISBN 978-0-87923-333-4