Typography (Part 1)
Test your typography knowledge with some quick information on fonts and typefaces.
Although the term font is often used to describe all text character attributes, it is really a specific size and style of characters within a typeface. A typeface is a set of letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and symbols of the same design. Source: TechTerms.com
- Examples of fonts: Times Roman 12 pt. italic, Helvetica 16 pt. underline, Comic Sans 9 pt. bold
- Examples of font characteristics: Size, weight (ultra-light to extra-bold), style (regular, italic, underline,
strikethrough) - Examples of typefaces: Times Roman, Helvetica, Comic Sans
- Examples of typeface characteristics: Serif, sans serif, script, decorative (Wingdings, Zapf Dingbats)
Resources for font usage in print and digital environments:
- Fontology: Practical Typography articles on Fonts.com
- How to Choose & Use Fonts & Typefaces by Andrea Pennoyer, Sam Hampton-Smith, David Woodward, Ambar Galan, Tony Seddon (General Editor). London: Flame Tree Publishing, 2015
Font websites:
- MyFonts (prices vary)
- Google Fonts (free)
- Adobe Typekit (prices vary; access is also included with Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions)
- FontShop (prices vary)
- Fonts.com (prices vary)
