Pixels To Print: Types Of Typefaces

Typography is the appearance, style, and arrangement of type. One of the fundamental pieces of typography is typeface or font family selection, but do you know the different categories of typefaces? You may have heard of serif or sans-serif, but there’s plenty more to choose from when considering your next type choice.

Serif

The Serif typeface has extra small lines or flared strokes at the ends or corners of each letterform. This style was popular because the organic appearance was better for readability.

Popular Serif Typefaces: Georgia, Bodoni, Palatino, Clarendon, Baskerville, Times New Roman, Garamond.

Sans-Serif

This category is recognizable by their letterforms not using the extra lines and strokes that Serifs have. An easy way to not mix them up is to know that “Sans” in French means without. These typefaces were popular in printing for headlines and advertising due to legibility at a distance.

Popular Sans-Serif Typefaces: Futura, Helvetica, Avenir, News Gothic, Roboto, Avant Garde, Montserrat

Slab-Serif

This type of serif font is characterized by thick, block-serif at the ends or corners of their letterforms. This style came about in the nineteenth century when newer attention-grabbing typefaces started to become popular in advertising.

Popular Slab-Serif Typefaces: Rockwell, Adelle, Museo Slab, Memphis, Clarendon, Courier New, Archer

Script

Script typefaces feature elegant, calligraphic letterforms. From formal cursive to more casual scripts, there’s a wide range in this family to choose from.

Popular Script Typefaces: Brush Script, Edwardian Script, Zapfino, Corsiva, Lush Script, Pristina, Lucida Calligraphy

Handwritten

A step beyond Script is Handwritten typefaces. These can vary from cursive to sans-serif subcategories, but they all appear as though written by hand. The natural stroke of each font brings a unique, human element to any design.

Popular Handwritten Typefaces: Andy, Chalkboard, Lucida Handwriting, Caflisch Script, Alana, Pacifico, Tragic Marker

Decorative

Just as the name suggests, these typefaces are more niche and unique. With plenty of themes out there, this category is best used for headlines rather than blocks of text.

Popular Handwritten Typefaces: Stencil, Bauhaus, Broadway, Banco, Arnold Böcklin, Graduate, Magneto