Objective: Font Classification

What is font classification:

A basic system for classifying typefaces was devised in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history. Humanist letter forms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. These three main groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment periods in art and literature. Designers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have continued to create new typefaces based on historic characteristics.

Here are some classifications, and some fonts that fit under their categories:

San Serif: are stripped to the bare minimum by losing the serif appendages.

Examples: Geometric, Humanist, grotesque

Slab Serif: Typically classified within the serifs, their different visual attitude-defined by their thick, square ended serifs were popular during the mid 19Th century.

Examples: Clarendon bracketed slabs, Egyptian unbracketed slabs, Geometric unbracketed serifs.

Black Letter: gradual and diverse evolution of varied sources like Carolingian, Old English, and hand crafted work of scribes.

Examples: Rotunda, Txturaa, Fraktur

Monospaced: Conform to a specific physical width, resulting in letter forms that must expand or condense to make the nest use of the allotted space. They are also spaced perfectly and evenly.

Examples: Courier, Orator, OCR A,

Grunge: amalgamated, scratchy typefaces that share a jarring aesthetic and philosophy that contrasts with the conventions of classic typography.

Examples: Dead History, fallen Thyme, Turbo Ripped.

Undeclared: two typefaces consisting of optima and copper plate Gothic, have long baffled designer with their flared serifs attached to San serif structures.

Examples:Optima, Copperplate Gothic

Transitional: Beautifully suited for its test because of regularity and precision

Examples:ITC New Baskerville, Bookman std, Olympian std

Modern: The typefaces designed by Giambattista Bodoni in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are radically abstract. Note the thin, straight serifs; vertical axis; and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes.

Examples: Bodoni, Nara, Century Gothic

Old Style: greater contrast between think and thin strokes and generally sharper in appearance.

Examples: Sabon, Plantin, Palatino