Letterheads and Type Classification Flashcards
Dense, black texture
Highly decorated
Highly stylized yet legible
Lowercase letters
Narrow, angular forms
Dramatic thick-to-thin strokes and serifs
Blackletter
Sloping
Lightly bolded
Compact
Almost cursive
Roman Italics
Thick, wedge-shaped serifs
Low contrast between thick and thin strokes
Left-leaning axis
Small height
Old Style
Like old styler but thinner serifs
Higher contrast between thick and thin strokes
More upright axis
Transitional
“Without serif”
More modern, clean, minimal, and friendly
Modern
Low stroke contrast
Very thick serifs - matching the overall stroke throughout
Slab Serif - Egyptian
Simple, geometric shapes
Circular “O” shapes
Considered very modern
Geometric Sans
Similar to geometric but more gentle, natural curves
Overall more organic structure
Humanist Sans
Emulates hand drawn calligraphy
Same width throughout
Very uniform typeface
Sabon/ Old Style
Sharper serifs
More of a vertical axis than old style
Sharp forms
High contrast
Has a decorative swoosh on the “Q” unlike Old Style
Baskerville/ Transitional
Thin, straight serifs
Vertical axis
Sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes
(often used in fashion magazines)
Bodoni/ Modern
Heavy, slab-like serifs
Bracketed serifs
Serifs become larger as they reach the stroke of the letter
Clarendon/ Slab Serif
Cleanly modern and classical at the same time
Standard weight is noticeably bolder than other modern fonts
Gill Sans/ Humanist Sans Serif
One of the most widely used typefaces
High x-height
Strokes just stop
Unusually type spacing between letters
Gives it a dense, solid appearance
Helvetica/ Transitional Sans Serif
Built around geometric forms (square, triangle, circle)
“O”s are perfect circles
Peaks in “A” and “M” are sharp triangles
Appearance of efficiency and forwardness
Futura/ Geometric Sans Serif
