Blackletter Sans Serifs

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Textutra is the most calligraphic form of blackletter type, Grotesque or Grotesk sans typefaces are the early
sometimes referred to as Gothic Bookhand or textualis. It sans-serif designs,.
was used most commonly in western Europe in places like Examples: Akzidenz Grotesk, Bureau Grot, Grotesque,
Germany, France, and Italy. This form of blackletter type has
Grotesque
Franklin Gothic and Royal Gothic, etc.
a taller and more narrow structure, with short vertical Font used: Grotesque MT
strokes and no connection between the letters.
Neo-Grotesque typefaces are modern sans typefaces,
Rotunda letterforms are characterized by round characters,
unlike the angular ones seen more commonly in northern
European printing. These letters were considered easier to
read than the previous Roman type with a less rigid struc-
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Neo-Grotesque
often rather dull with little variation in line widths and
lacking any extravagant features.
Examples: Arial, Helvetica, Bell Centennial, etc.
Font used: Helvetica
ture.

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Bastarda is a hybrid of Textura and Cursiva that was mainly
popular between the fourteenth and sixteenth century. This
blackletter script contains elements of both type styles, with
Humanist sans typefaces have variations in width and
calligraphic influences. Some appreciate them for beauty,
others for legibility.
Humanist Examples: Johnston, Gill Sans, Frutiger and its copy,
Myriad, etc.

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the strong lines of Textura blended with the looser, more
Font used: Gill Sans
relaxed structure of Cursiva.

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Geometric sans typefaces are created with geometric
shapes, and are in some cases, less legible. They are more

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Fraktur became the most common blackletter type style in
the 1500s, so much so that Fraktur is sometimes synony- effective on posters and headlines.
mous with blackletter type and remained popular up until
Geometric Examples: Futura, Gotham, Spartan and Century Gothic,
the twentieth century. Fraktur letters have more rounded or etc.
curved shapes to them and appear highly stylized. Font used: Futura

Script
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Schwabacher was influenced by Rotunda letterforms featuring rounder and
smaller characters, similar to the look of hand lettering seen in calligraphy.

Cursiva refers to simplified blackletter characters that resemble the swirled

flourish of cursive writing. It came into practice when writers transferred from
parchment to paper. This font is often characterized by deep descenders, and
curved ascenders rather than vertical ones.

Serifs
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Old-Style Serif fonts have thick vertical and slightly narrow
horizontal lines with low contrast in thickness.
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Formal

Calligraphic
Formal script typefaces are derived from 17th century
formal writing styles. Many characters have strokes that
join them to other letters.
Examples: Bickham Script, Elegy, Helinda Rook, Young
Boroque etc.
Font used: Bickham Script
Calligraphic scripts mimic calligraphic writing. They
can be connecting or non-connecting in design. Many
appear to have been written with a flat-tipped writing
instrument.
Examples: Blaze, Madelinette, Vivaldi, etc.
Font used: Madelinette
Examples: Garamond, Goudy Oldstyle, Century Oldstyle,

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Palatino, Sabon, etc. Casual script typefaces are designed to suggest
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Font used: Garamond informality, as if they were written quickly with a brush.
Old-Style Normally, character strokes connect one letter to the
next.
Transitional Serif fonts are often considered a midpoint Examples: Brush script, Freestyle script, Nadianne,
between the old-style and modern serifs. They have thick Autumn in november, etc.
vertical and narrow horizontal lines with high contrast in
Casual
Font used: Autumn in november
thickness.
Examples: Baskerville, Times New Roman, Georgia, etc. Blackletter & Lombardic Script typefaces are patterned on manuscript
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Transitional Font used: Baskerville lettering prior to the invention of movable type.
Examples: Agincourt, Goudy text, Lresci Rotunda, etc.
Modern Serif fonts have thick vertical and very narrow hori-

Display / Decorative
zontal lines with extreme contrast in thickness.
Examples: Aster, Bodoni, Didone, Didot, etc.
Font used: Didot

Modern Display or Decorative is the largest category and also the most diverse.
Rarely used for lengthy blocks of text, decorative typefaces are popular for
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Slab serifs have thick vertical and horizontal lines with little
signage, headlines and similar situations were a strong typographic state-
to no contrast in thickness.
ment is desired. They frequently reflect an aspect of culture – such as tattoos
They often make a great choice for headlines, titles, logos,
or graffiti – or evoke a particular state of mind, time period or theme. Many
and much more.
– such as psychedelic or grunge designs – are time-sensitive and fall out of
Examples: Memphis, Rockwell, Beton, Rosmini, etc.
fashion. Some decorative typefaces use unorthodox letter shapes and
Slab Font used: Rockwell
proportions to achieve distinctive and dramatic results.

Dingbats
Examples: Ivy League, Phosphate, Giantfont, etc.
Font Used: Zombie Holocaust

Dingbats are specialty typefaces that consist of symbols and ornaments instead of letters. Wing-
Dingbats dings is probably the best-known dingbat font, though there are now thousands, often created
around themes.
Font Used: Bodoni Ornaments - Bodoni Ornaments

TYPEFACE CLASSIFICATION