The Art & Science of Communicating through Type

There are eight pages to our Typography section of the site; you are currently at the “Type Families Fonts” page.

Type Classifications | Families & Fonts | Typographic Terminology | Legibility & Readability
Selecting Type | Refinements | Dingbats, Special Characters & Drop Caps | Choosing Alignment

TYPE FAMILIES & FONTS

TYPE FAMILY
Family is a broad term used to describe a group of typefaces (fonts) which share the same name and basic features. For instance, Myriad is the name of a family, and its member typefaces include: Myriad roman, Myriad italic, Myriad bold, and Myriad bold italic. A family can contain anywhere from just two fonts (roman and italic) to twenty or more!

FONT
Font is the word used to describe a specific member of a type family. For example, Myriad roman is a font in the Myriad family. This definition of font is a contemporary one. Traditionally, font applied to both the size and style of type. For example, 14 point Bodoni Bold was one font, 12 point Bodoni Bold another. This originated from the days of handset type when each type and size had to be cast individually and then stored in separate cases.

Note: the word typeface is often used as a synonym for font.

Summary of Classification, Family and Font (typeface)

FONT VARIATIONS

Each type family has several member fonts. Traditionally, families were released with four standard fonts: regular (or roman or medium), italic (or oblique/cursive), bold, and bold italic. Often, additional fonts for the family were released at a later date. The font variations in a family may differ with respect to: weight, width, slant, and surface.

WEIGHT
There are many different font weights with a variety of names. At one end of the scale, there is extra light and light, at the other, extrabold and heavy. Most font names are self-explanatory, but some, like book and demibold need clarification. Book is one shade lighter than regular, and demibold one lighter than bold. Here is a range of classifications for weight regarding fonts:

ultra light | light | book | medium | demibold | bold | ultra bold

extra light | regular | semibold | extra bold | thin | black/heavy

Obviously, the above weight fonts have different uses. For example: book was designed specifically for text type in books, medium for general text, and bold for emphasis or headings.

WIDTH
This category includes any fonts with narrow or expanded characters. These include:

ultra condensed | condensed | expanded | ultra expanded | extra compressed

compressed | extended/stretched | extra extended | narrow | elongated/wide

These fonts are useful for controlling the amount of space the type occupies. For instance, condensed is ideal for fitting type into a small area, e.g a timetable, parts list or catalog. Expanded is useful for spreading type across a wide area, e.g., a headline in a two-page spread advertisement.

SLANT
Slanting fonts are usually called italics. Occasionally, type designers will give them fancier names. Sans serif italics might be called obliques. For example, the italic font in the Avant Garde family is named: Avant Garde Oblique. Occasionally, serif italics are called cursive. The italic font in the Korinna family is Korinna Kursiv not Korinna Italic. Don’t let the name “cursive” fool you into thinking it is a script font instead.

Italic fonts are best used for emphasis. For example, highlighting a book title, term or foreign word in text. Often quotations and bylines are also put in italic.

SURFACE
Another way to describe fonts is in terms of their surface. They usually have names such as inline, handtooled, chiseled, outline, etc. These fonts are useful for eyecatching titles or headlines. They should not be used for text type.

COMBINING FONT VARIATIONS
All of the font categories listed above can be combined together. For example, a font which combines weight, width and slant characteristics might be called: Helevetica Narrow Bold Oblique