Categorees

ofType
There are many thousands of different typefaces available right now, and
many more are being created every day. Most faces, though, can be dropped
into one of the six categories mentioned below. Before you try to become
conscious of the contrasts in type, you should become aware of the similarities
between broad groups of type designs, because it is the similarities that
cause the conflicts in type combinations. The purpose of this chapter is to
make you more aware of the details of letterforms. In the following chapter
I'll launch into combining them.
Of course, you will find hundreds of faces that don't fit neatly into any
category. We could make several hundred different categories for the
varieties in type - don't worry about it. The point is just to start looking at
type more closely and clearly.

I focus on these six groups:

Oldstyle

Modern

Slab serif

Sans serif
EfP~t
~ecorative-/~CLUD/~G GRUWGYf
. DESIGNING WITH TYPE

Oldstyle
Typefaces created in the oldstyle category are based on the handlettering
of scribes-you can imagine a wedge-tipped pen held in the hand.
Oldstyles always have serifs (see the call-out below) and the serifs of
lowercase letters are always at an angle (the angle of the pen). Because of
that pen, all the curved strokes in the letterforms have a transition from
thick to thin, technically called the "thick/thin transition:' This contrast
in the stroke is relatively moderate, meaning it goes from kind-of-thin
to kind-of-thicker. If you draw a line through the thinnest parts of the
curved strokes, the line is diagonal. This is called the stress- oldstyle
type has a diagonal stress.

Serif (pronounced
"sair iff," not
"suh reef")
Dia gonal Serifs on low ercase

01 ty1eme~: : e:ld"Yl'
S

Moderate th ick /thin

transition in the st roke s

Goudy Palatino Times

Baskerville Garamond
Do these faces all look pretty much the same to you? Don't worry-they look
the same to everyone who hasn't studied typography. Their "invisibility" is
exactly what makes oldstyles the best type group for extensive amounts of
body copy. There are rarely any distinguishing characteristics that get in the
way of reading; they don't call attention to themselves. If you're setting lots
of type that you want people to actually read, choose an oldstyle.
 TEN CATEGORIES OF TYPE .

Modern
Oldstyle faces replicated the humanist pen stokes. But as history marched
on, the structure of type changed. Type has trends and succumbs to
lifestyle and cultural changes, just like hairdos, clothes, architecture,
or language. In the 1700S, smoother paper, more sophisticated printing
techniques, and a general increase in mechanical devices led to type
becoming more mechanical also. New typefaces no longer followed
the pen in hand. Modern typefaces have serifs, but the serifs are now
horizontal instead of slanted, and they are very thin. Like a steel bridge,
the structure is severe, with a radical thick/ thin transition, or contrast,
in the strokes. There is no evidence of the slant of the pen; the stress is
perfectly vertical. Moderns tend to have a cold, elegant look.

Verti cal stress

J serifs on Low ercase letters

are thin and horizontaL

Midi rn 80'oo;'.."rfo.,,",,.'

Radical thic k/th in trans ition

in the strokes

Bodoni Times Bold Onyx

Didot, Bold Walbaum
Modern typefaces have a striking appearance, especially when set very
large. Because of their strong thick/thin transitions, most moderns are not
good choices for extended amounts of body copy-the thin lines almost
disappear, the thick lines are prominent, and the effect on the page is ca lled
"dazzling:'
 III DESIGNING WITH TYPE

Slab serif
Along with the industrial revolution came a new concept: advertising.
At first, advertisers took modern typefaces and made the thicks thicker.
You've seen posters with type like that-from a distance, all you see are
vertical lines, like a fence. The obvious solution to this problem was
to thicken the entire letterform. Slab serifs have little or no thick/thin
transition.
This category of type is sometimes called Clarendon, because the typeface
Clarendon (shown below) is the epitome of this style. They are also
called Egyptian because they became popular during the Egyptomania
craze in Western civilization; many typefaces in this category were given
Egyptian names so they would sell (Memphis, Cairo, Scarab) .

Serifs on Lowercase letters a ~~ I Vertical '

horizontaL and thick sla~ stress I

~lab 8 i

rif
Clarendon
Very little or no thick/ thin transition .
or contrast. in the stro kes

Clarendon Memphis
New Century Schoolbook
Silica Regular, Light, Black
Many of the slab serifs that have a slight thick/thin contrast (such as
Clarendon or New Century Schoolbook) are very high on the readability
scale, meaning they can easily be used in extensive text. They present an
overall darker page than oldstyles, though, because their strokes are thicker
and relatively monoweight. Slab serifs are often used in children's books
because of their clean, straightforward look.
 TEN CATEGORIES OF TYPE I I

Sans serif

The word "sans" means "without" (in French), so sans serif typefaces are
those without serifs on the ends of the strokes. The idea of removing the
serifs was a rather late development in the evolution of type and didn't
become wildly successful until the early part of the twentieth century.

Sans serif typefaces are almost always "monoweight;' meaning there is

virtually no visible thick/thin transition in the strokes; the ~etterforms
are the same thickness all the way around.

Also see the following page for important information on sans serif.

No serifs No stre ss becau se

any w here there's no th ick /thin

~a s serif
No thick / thin transition

in the strokes

Franklin Gothic

Proxima Nova Formata

Folio Shannon Book, Bold
Ba iley Sa ns, Bold Syntax
If the only sans serifs you have in your font library are Helvetica / Arial and
Avant Garde, the best thing you could do for your pages is invest in a sans
serif family that includes a strong, heavy, black face. Each of the families
above has a wide variety of weights , from light to extra black. With that one
investment, you will be amazed at how your options increase for creating
eye-catching pages.
ml DESIGNING WITH TYPE

Most sans serifs are monoweight, as shown on the preceding page. A very
few, however, have a slight thick/thin transition. Below is an example of
Optima, a sans serif with a stress. Faces like Optima are very difficult to
combine on a page with other type- they have similarities with serif faces
in the thick/thin strokes, and they have similariti es with sans serifs in
the lack of serifs. Be very careful when working with a sans like this.

Sans serif
Optima is on exceptionall!:J beautiful t!:Jpeface, but !:Jou

must be ver!:J care ful abou t combining it wi th other

Optima

face s. Notice its thick /thin strokes. It ha s the classic

grace of an oldst!:Jle (see page 154), but it's a sans serif.

MAK ES YO U T HI N K ABOUT
YOUR IM MORTA LIT Y

Here !:Jau see Optima (the sma ller text) combined

with To bit ha. Tabitha 's sp unk!:J informoli t!:J is a
nice con tra st with Optima's classic grace.
 TEN CATEGORIES OF TYPE .

Script
The script category includes all those typefaces that appear to have been
handlettered with a calligraphy pen or brush, or sometimes with a pencil
or technical pen . This category could easily be broken down into scripts
that connect, scripts that don't connect, scripts that look like hand
printing, scripts that emulate traditional calligraphic styles, and so on .
But for our purposes we are going to lump them all into one pot.

Q.rJunta(n CPen t7 J!U0~

Coc1tuLS~
Scripts are like cheesecake-they should be used sparingly so nobody gets
sick. The fancy ones, of course, should never be set as long blocks of text
and never as all caps. But scripts can be particularly stunning when set
very large-don't be a wimp!

l)'Ile es

,l"i ...,,,,i r ,01rr, ......

. DESIGNING WITH TYPE

Decorative
Decorative fonts are easy to identify -if the thought of reading an entire
book in that font makes you wanna throw up, you can probably put it in
the decorative pot . Decorative fonts are great - they're fun, distinctive,
easy to use, oftentimes cheaper, and there is a font for any ""him you
wish to express. Of course, simply because they are so distinctive, their
use is limited.

JUNIPER THE WALL ra(,it~a

rjOUS~Bnry JUll~w~1r~ Blue IsL'lnd

FAJI·TA S:{;J\rL:EII
When using a decorative typeface, go beyond what you think of as its initial
impression. For instance, if Pious Henry strikes you as informaL try using it
in a more formal situation and see what happens. If you think Juniper carries
a Wild West flavor, try it in a corporate setting or a flower shop and see what
happens. Depending on how you use them, decoratives can carry obvious
emotions, or you can manipulate them into carrying connotations very
different from your first impression. But that is a topic for another book.

ToJa~'SKm j g/dy

is jUst

03 yesterJaY'snuf
that /la/J its ~rou nJ.
Wisdo m someti mes be nefit s fro m the

use of deco rati ve fo nts.

 TEN CATEGORIES OF TYPE .

Be conscious

To use type effectively, you have to be conscious. By that I mean you

must keep your eyes open, you must notice details, you must try to state
the problem in words. Or when you see something that appeals to you
strongly, put into words why it appeals to you.
Spend a few minutes and look through a magazine. Try to categorize
the typefaces you see. Many of them won't fit neatly into a single pot,
but that's okay-choose the category that seems the closest. The point
is that you are looking more closely at letterforms, which is absolutely
critical if you are going to combine them effectively.

Little Quiz #3: Categories of type

Draw lines to match the category with the typeface!

Oldstyle

Modern High SOCiety

Slab serif

Sans serif As I remember, Adam

Script The enigma continues

Decorative It's your attitude

 TEN CATEGORIES OF TYPE III

Little Quiz #5: Serifs

Do the lowercase letters in the examples below have:
A thin, horizontal serifs
B thick, slabby [hint] horizontal serifs
C no serifs
o slanted serifs

Diggle Riggle

ABC 0 ABC u

Figgle Biggle

ABC D A B t 0

Miggle Tiggle
ABC D ABC D

Notice th e huge differences between all the HgH Letters l It's too much fun.
I1I DESIGNING WITH TYPE

Summary
I can't stress enough how important it is that you become conscious of

these broad categories of type. As you work through the next chapter,

it will become clearer why this is important.

A simple exercise to continually hone your visual skills is to collect

samples of the categories. Cut them out of any printed material you

can find. Do you see any patterns developing within a broad category?

Go ahead and make subsets, such as oldstyle typefaces that have small

x-heights and tall descenders (see the example below). Or scripts that

are really more like hand printing than cursive handwriting. Or extended

faces and condensed faces (see below). It is this visual awareness of the

letterforms that will give you the power to create interesting, provocative,

and effective type combinations.

Ascenders are the parts of letters

that ore talle r than the x-height.

The x-height is the height of the

main bodld of the lowercase letters.

Descenders are the parts of letters

Baseline. thot ore below the baseline (the
inv isib le line on which the tldpe sits).

Notice the x-height of Bernhard as compored to Eurostile, below-look at

the x-height in relation to the ascenders. Bernhard has an unusuallld small
x-height relative to its ascenders . Most sans serifs have large x- heights.
Start noticing those kinds of details.

Eurostile Bold 18 point Bernhard 18 point

Eurostile Bold Extended
Eurostile Bold Condensed
Extended tldpeface s look stretched out; condensed tldPefaces appear to be
squished. Both are appropriate in certain circumstances .