We have discussed the five families of type since the early days of the semester.  Sometimes these are referred to as type  categories. Make sure you are  prepared to identify the differences.

Here is quick review:

Old Style: Garamond
(15th-17th century)

  • designed in France in 1615 by Jean Jannon (Claude Garamond was
  • given credit originally)
  • designed in a time when inks and paper were coarse and type
  • technology was still rather rough
  • relatively thick strokes and heavily bracketed or curved serifs
  • emulated classical calligraphy

 

 

Transitional: Baskerville
(mid 18th century)

  • designed in England in 1757 by John Baskerville
  • designed in a time when inks and paper were considerably smoother and
  • type technology was refined
  • increased contrast between thick and thin strokes and the serifs are more sculpted
  • sharper serifs and more vertical axis

 

 

Modern: Bodoni
(late 18th century)

  • designed in Italy in 1788 by Giambattista Bodoni
  • designed in a time when printing technology was refined by leaps and bounds
  • extreme contrast between stokes and hairlines
  • brackets virtually eliminated

 

 

Egyptian or Slab Serif:
Century Expanded
(19th century)

  • designed in the United States in 1894 by Linn Boyd Benton
  • type design, freed from technical constraints, became eclectic
  • characterized by heavy serifs
  • very little contrast between thin and thick strokes

 

 

Sans Serif: Helvetica
(19th-20th century)

  • designed in Switzerland in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman
  • sans serif fonts were usually considered too hard to read as text, but the Swiss refined this face until it became quite balanced and legible