In this part of the stage, we're going to be looking at different classifications or

types of Typefaces.

You might be wondering, why is this important?

Can't I just find something I like and use it?

I'm glad you asked.

Knowing your different type genres and what makes them tick will help you

choose a proper Typeface for the projects at hand and make you a better designer.

For instance, if you're working with clients who want the mood of

a site to convey eloquence, you need to know what classes or

styles of Typefaces lean towards that bent.

Or, if you're designing a site that's heavily influenced by

a certain time period, you should utilize a Typeface that would have been

appropriate to the genres at that time.

As I mentioned earlier, Typefaces have a mood or a personality.

The way the letter forms look conveys a message to the reader.

Knowing these genres will help us see how our type is talking, and

what makes them distinct.

So without further ado, let's dive in.

Type has been classified in different ways over the years.

But for simplicity sake, and because our focus for

this course will be on web typography, we'll look at three major genres.

Serif, Sans Serif, and Scripts, along with their sub-genres.

Up first, we'll look at Serif Typefaces.

Like we learned from our terminology, Typefaces can have serifs on their

letter forms and this would place them within serif genre.

Simple enough, but within this genre we have a number of

nuances that will set apart different serifs into sub-genres.

The sub-genres we'll be covering are Humanist, Old Style,

Transitional, Didone, and Slab.

After the invention of the printing press in 1450,

logically, the creation of Typefaces shortly followed.

Humanist typefaces arose in the 1460's and 1470's with strong calligraphic influence.

Printers were creating Typefaces based on the strokes of

a pen when drawing letter forms.

They tend to have diagonal stress, lower stroke contrast, and

relatively small x-height.

Their serifs are not as refined.

Humanist Typefaces are not as common today, but

some examples of these are Janson, Kennerley and Centaur.

Old Style came about next in the later part of the 15th century.

The letter forms were getting more refined as type and

less influenced from calligraphy.

We see less diagonal stress happening and

the serifs have also changed to be more wedge-like.

These lasted two centuries strong.

Some examples include Goudy Old Style, Palatino, Perpetua and Plantin.

This brings us to the 18th century where we see transitional Typefaces on the rise.

The trend of decreasing calligraphic flow continues.

And here we have vertical stress, thinner and

flatter serifs along with exaggerated contrast between thicks and thins.

Some examples include Baskerville, Bookman, and Clearface (ITC).

Next, we have the Didones arriving in the late 18th century.

The influence of the pen is really nowhere to be found.

The serifs have become even thinner without any sign of bracketing.

Contrast is taken to the extreme with thick verticals and

ultra thin horizontals.

You might regard these Typefaces as reminiscent of high fashion culture.

They work great at large sizes, with ample amount of white space around them.

But as body copy at small sizes, their serifs and

horizontals can quickly get lost.

Some examples include Bodoni and Didot.

Now, we'll head into the opposite direction with Slab Serifs who have

extremely thick, slab-like serifs and low contrast.

These came about in the early 19th Century.

And were heavily influenced for

headlines in advertising because of their bold, look at me appearance.

Most of these are utilized at large sizes, but

a few have been known to also work well at small sizes.

Some examples of these include, Rockwell, Clarendon, Egyptienne, and Centinnel.

Next, let's move into the new genre of San Serifs.

These Typefaces do not have serifs on their letter forms or

literally are without serifs.

We'll look at the Grotesque, Neo-Grotesque, Humanist, and Geometrics.

In the late 19th century, we see the rise of Grotesque San Serifs.

Though we see san serifs as completely normal today.

Don't forget there wasn't much of a reference for them when they came about.

The design of an earlier one,

Akzidenz-Grotesk, has actually been theorized to be derived from Didot

because the Typefaces have similar metrics when the serifs from Didot are removed.

As we'll see in other genres, sans serifs are typically low contrast.

Some examples of Grotesque also include Franklin Gothic.

The Neo-Grotesque then arises,

refining some of the peculiarities in early grotesques.

These are some of the more common sans serifs and Helvetica fits right in there.

Although there's a desire for simplicity here,

there aren't always great candidates for body copy because the simplicity and

similarity in letter forms can also effect legibility at small sizes.

Other examples include Univers.

Next, we have Humanist Sans, not to be confused with Humanist Serifs.

And these get back to some calligraphic roots with greater variations in

line widths.

These are often the most legible of the sans serif's bunch.

Hence, their popular use as website body copy.

Examples include Tahoma, Gill Sans and Frutiger.

Lastly, in our sans serifs, we have our Geometrics, which are quite popular today.

As the name implies,

their letter forms are based on geometric shapes like circles and squares.

Examples include Futura, Bank Gothic and Gotham.

Now we'll move into our final genre of scripts,

which are Typefaces based on handwriting.

We'll subset this genre into Formal Scripts and Casual Scripts.

Formal Scripts are based on letter forms from writing masters in the 17th and

18th century.

They have some contrast between thick and thin as they are inspired by

the way a quill or nimbo pen would handle the letter forms.

They tend to be more elegant and work well for events like weddings today.

Casual Scripts are a bit more free and well, casual.

They tend to be more light hearted or

easy going that their seriously eloquent counterparts.

The contrast can range from low to high, depending on the typeface.

They are often inspired by the way a brush or a marker would handle the letter forms.

All right.

That was a lot to cover.

I hope it helps you get to know type a little better, so

we can make smarter choices down the road.

Also, think about if there's a certain class that you naturally

gravitate towards.

In the next video, we'll look at designing for print versus the web.