Once you start chatting away about text and design with your new or refreshed knowledge of typeface and font, you’ll probably run also into the term typography. These variations became what we know today as fonts. Each variation of a type, such as condensed and bold, had its own box. Specific letter sets were created, each with its own unique look, and these sets became known as types. It goes back to the days when pages of text were manually printed with block letters. So why are fonts differentiated from typefaces? Typefaces and font: a very, very brief history The collection of all these fonts is a font family. It could be italic or bold and size 14 or 16 point. For example, Garamond is a typeface, with its own set of design features for letters and other character. One of the oldest typefaces used in the Western world, Roman, was developed by Nicolas Jensen in 1470 as a way to make printed text easier to read because until that point, books printed in Europe used a Blackletter typeface based on the handwriting found in books.Ī font family is a group of related fonts. Many serif typefaces have long histories, dating back hundreds of years. Via Wikimedia Commonsīodoni and Didot are two others. Garamond is a common serif typeface for example. Serif typefaces and fonts tend to have a sophisticated, classic feel. Serif typefaces are, as the name implies, typefaces that include serifs. Some of the most common types of typefaces are: Serif typefaces Typefaces are categorized based on their style. What is a typeface?Ī typeface is a set of design features for letters and other characters, like the presence or lack of a serif, the letters’ weight and balance, spacing and the height difference between upper and lowercase letters. A font family is a group of related fonts. While a typeface is a set of design features for letters and other characters, a font is the variation in weight and size of a typeface. font and what the terms mean so you can use these terms effectively and look like a pro! Illustration by OrangeCrush Typeface vs. In this article we’ll go over the differences between typeface vs. Typefaces and fonts are as important in design and branding as they’ve ever been, and understanding these terms’ historical meanings as well as current applications enables you to accurately articulate what you want in a design. And it’s a nuanced difference that can sometimes be confusing. Although the words are often used interchangeably, there’s a difference between a typeface vs. A typeface is the same thing as a font, right? Not exactly.

Boldface type or bold typeface