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Guide to Serif Fonts
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Categories
• There are many categories of type.
• These are based on the ways in which the
letters are drawn: ways which have changed
over time.
• One broad category is serif type, but
there are many variations within this.

Serifs
• Type was originally created with the tools
of the goldsmith, and the capital letters
were based on chiselled inscriptional
capitals.
• The natural finishing strokes made with a
chisel or engraving tool are called serifs.

Serifs

Terms
• We need to be able to identify types by noting
certain characteristics. These include:
• baseline • stroke width/
weight
• x-height
• stroke variation
• ascenders
• figures
• descenders
• colour
• serifs
• spacing (tracking
& leading)

baseline
• While we write on lines in exercise books,
type generally sits on an invisible line called
the baseline.
• Some letters have elements that descend
below the invisible line.
• Some curved letters (o, e, t) actually dip
slightly below the baseline at their lowest
points.

x-height
• While o and e might dip below the baseline,
the lower-case x always sits flat on the line.
• We measure the height of the letter x in order
to gauge the overall height of the lower-case
letters: the x-height
• Greater x-heights make for more legible text
at the smaller sizes generally found in
newspapers.

x-height x-height x-height
x-height
x-height
x-height

Ascenders
Descenders
x-height
Note that the letter t is almost never as high
as an l or an h: the t is only just taller than x and e

Elegance vs. Legibility
• As a general rule, lower x-heights with longer
ascenders and descenders make for more elegant-
looking text.
• However, when space is at a premium and a
smaller type size is necessary, it’s time to go
for a larger x-height and greater legibility.
• Both of the above bullets use type at 36 points!

Spacing: Tracking
• The amount of horizontal space taken up by a font
depends both on the physical width of the
characters and the spacing between them.
• Adjustment of the spaces between letters will allow
more words per line – at the cost of legibility.
• Be wary of letterspacing lower case: to
some type purists it’s a sin.
• L E T T E R S PAC I N G U P P E R C A S E
I S S O M E T I M E S A P P RO P R I AT E .

Spacing: Leading
• Leading is the typographical term for line-spacing.
• This originally referred to the physical lines of lead
put into composed type in order to create space
between lines.
• The optimum amount of line spacing will depend
on x-height, descender & ascender length, and the
point size of the type.
• 12 point type with 14 point spacing looks tight. 12
point type with 20 point spacing may be hard to
read on longer line lengths.

Leading: examples
The quick brown fox The quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog. jumps over the lazy dog.
Now is the time for all Now is the time for all
good men to come to good men to come to
the aid of the party. The
quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog. Now
14 on 14 pt the aid of the party. The
quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog. Now
14 on 16 pt
is the time for all good is the time for all good
men to come to the aid men to come to the aid
of the party. of the party.
The quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog.
The quick brown fox
Now is the time for all
jumps over the lazy dog.
good men to come to
14 on 24 pt
Now is the time for all
good men to come to the aid of the party. The
the aid of the party. The
quick brown fox jumps
14 on 20 pt quick brown fox jumps
over the lazy dog. Now
over the lazy dog. Now
is the time for all good
is the time for all good
men to come to the aid men to come to the aid
of the party. of the party.

Stroke
• Early typecutters were imitating either pen
strokes or chiselled inscriptions.
• The first types therefore closely resembled
handwriting, with strokes apparently made
with the split nib of a quill pen

Variation
• Stroke variation adds light and shade to a
printed page, aiding the process of legibility
by making individual letters more
distinctive.
• Over the centuries, type became less like
hand-drawn letters and stroke variation
became both more and less extreme,
depending on fashion and design aesthetic.

Colour
• When used to refer to printing, the word
colour refers to the overall shade of grey
created by the chosen type.
• Stroke width and variation, point size,
tracking and leading will all have an effect
on the colour.

Figures
• The numbers in a font are often very
distinctive.
• Ranging figures run across the top of the
baseline:
1234567890
• Old-style figures (OSF) include some
numbers that dip below the baseline:
1234567890

Old-Style Figures
• Ranging figures are best for columns of
numbers
• But old-style figures are more elegant in
blocks of continuous prose.

Roman Alphabet
• The roman alphabet is so-called because
the earliest Renaissance types (15th C) had
capital letters based on the inscriptions on
Trajan’s column in Rome (113AD).
• The lower-case letters were based on a
form of 9th–12th C handwriting called the
Carolingian Minuscule.

Carolingian Minuscule

Trajan’s
Column

Jenson’s roman, c.1470

Venetian Old Style
• The original Roman type was first cast in Venice
around 1470.
• The x-height ofand descenders. low, with
long ascenders
the letters is quite
• There is a characteristic upward slope to the bar
of the lower-case e
• Also known as Humanist types

Humanist type - 15th Century
• The early Roman types were in some ways crude.
• There was little variation in stroke width, so the
“colour” of a page was relatively dark.
• Contemporary examples of this type include Centaur
and Jenson
• There were no italics originally paired with these early
Romans, but contemporary fonts include them.

Italics
• Italics are a third alphabet based on a popular
style of cursive handwriting, used in the
Vatican
• They were originally used to save paper and
print cheaper books because they were more
compact than Roman types
• But there were no Italic capitals, so standard
Roman capitals were used!

Centaur
qoe
Note that the thin stroke in letters like q and o are at
an angle to the vertical (in this case approx 280°),
imitating letters formed with a split-nib pen.
Serifs are quite thickly cut and generally angled. The cross-
bar of the e has an upward slope and a short spur.

Old Style
• Later Old Style types had a more upright
design than Venetian Humanist styles.
• The Old Style design lasted hundreds of
years, moving North from Italy, through
France and Holland to England.
• Most current re-workings take liberties
with the original designs.

Bembo
qoe
Italy, c.1495. The stroke in the e is now horizontal, though
there is still a slight spur. The o is still has a pronounced
slant (277°), and the serifs are finer, with a more obvious
wedge shape.

Garamond
qoe
France, c.1540. There are multiple variations carrying this
name, some of them more upright, some with more
incised letters (e,g, Adobe Garamond). The spur has been
incorporated into the letter e, adding to the thickening
effect of the upward curve. The o in this version is at
275°. Now paired with an italic for the first time.

Pairings
It took until the 16th Century
(in France) before someone used
an Italic type alongside a
Roman type for contrast and
emphasis.

qoe
Janson
Holland, c.1600. The characters are more upright. The o
has almost lost its slope, and the serifs are smoother.
The contrast between thick and thin strokes is less
pronounced than later fonts of this type, however.

Caslon
q oe
England, c.1725. High contrast between thick and thin
strokes, and a narrower o, which is almost upright. Many
variations available commercially: this is Caslon 540.

Transitional & Modern
• Transitionals are so-called because they
represent a clear stage in the evolution of
type from Old Style to the later Modern
types.
• Modern in type design refers not to the
age we live in but to a specific style of
type, produced in France & Italy in the later
18th Century.

Baskerville
q oe
England, c.1750. The bar in the e is now sharply defined,
and the contrast between thick and thin strokes is very
pronounced. The o is upright, and the type is now very
clearly engraved rather than drawn, with narrower letters
allowing for more text per page. Baskerville also
introduced the first truly black ink.

qoe
Didot
France, c.1800. Didot, like Baskerville is an upright design,
but now the contrast between thick and thin strokes is
exaggerated, creating a striking and elegant effect. Serifs are
now hair lines rather than wedges. These fine hair serifs
were very fragile and not up to the rigours of the high-
speed rotary press, introduced in the 19th C.

Bodoni
q oe
Italy, c.1800. The books printed by Gianbattista Bodoni are
considered to be among the most beautiful in history. The upright,
narrow letters with hair serifs create a pleasing colour on the page.
Like the Didones, Bodoni’s types worked best with letterpress
printing, and were unlikely to survive the rotary press. Many variations
exist, some with subtle bracketing on the serifs.

Display
The popularity of the Moderns is unabated in the 21st
Century. They’re particularly used as magazine and display types,
often rendered as jaunty “hand-drawn” variations.
HAMBU GER
R S
hamburger

Later Developments
• The Moderns of Didot and Bodoni are
considered to be the pinnacle of letterpress
printing.
• Later versions of serif Roman types needed to
take account of the high-speed presses.
• In the digital age, every era of serif type is well
served, with recent originals available alongside.

Slab Serifs
• One solution to the fragility of the
Modern fonts was to thicken the serifs,
making them more slab-like than hair-like.
• 19th Century slab serifs are still quite
common.
• Exaggerating the slabs creates distinctive
display faces.

Clarendon
qoe
UK, c.1845, named for the Clarendon Press in Oxford. A
heavier slab serif, frequently used for signage, and even
WANTED posters in the old west. The e is almost a
closed loop.

Way Out West
qoe
USA, c. 1995. Some slab serif faces exaggerate the slabs,
making them thicker than the regular strokes. Way Out
West is a recent reworking.

Joanna
do e
UK, c.1930. Designed by Eric Gill (of Gill Sans fame), Joanna
is an elegant slab serif designed as a book type, with a
characteristically narrow italic. The o has a backward slant,
and the lower-case d has Gill’s trademark hump.

Scala
q oe
Netherlands,1990. Scala has a similar feel to Joanna, and also
has a companion sans serif. The o is more upright, and the
italic is more traditional than that of Joanna.

Other Developments
• Now that type is no longer based on hot
metal, the whole history of type is available
digitally.
• While many current designers currently
favour sans serif designs, traditional book
types have never gone away.

Legibility
• It is often claimed that sans serif fonts are “more
legible” than serif designs.
• In reality, most people prefer what’s familiar.
• Serifs do perform a function in long passages of
continuous prose, blending characters together in
words – when we read, we read 3–4 words at a
time.
• Books printed with sans serif designs often lack
colour on the page (or even have too much).

Times
q oe
England, c.1930. Developed to survive the rigours of high-
speed printing, Times is a throwback to Old Style type (the o is
angled back at around 283°), but having the narrow width of
the later Moderns, making it suitable for use in newspapers.
Rarely used in newspaper printing now, Times is instead a
default font in many word processing programmes.

q oe
Palatino
Germany, 1948. A large x-height and some calligraphic
elements make this old-style face distinctive. Designed by
Hermann Zapf, it works well with Zapf’s Optima, and is often
the prettiest font available on bog-standard PCs. The o is at
283°.

Minion
q oe
USA, c.1990. Minion is one of many Adobe Original types introduced
in the DTP age. It has a wider set and a lower x-height than the
narrow newspaper types, taking its design cue from earlier classics
such as Bembo and Garamond, with low contrast between thick and
thin strokes. The o is angled at around 278°, with some letters
featuring sharply incised points. Minion gives a pleasing colour to the
page, with a classic yet contemporary look.

Stone
q oe
USA, 1987. One of the earliest Adobe Originals, Stone was
designed by Sumner Stone. An old-style face with a large x-height
and short ascenders and descenders, it works well at small sizes,
and has been designed to harmonise with a sans serif version with
the same proportions. There is also an informal version with a
single-storey a and more rounded edges.

Finally...
...a word about italics

Italics
• The first italics were based on cursive
handwriting, and were created as stand-
alone book types.
• In the 16th Century, italics were paired
with roman types, becoming more script-
like and more related to the roman form.
• The main characteristics of italics are the
forward slope, and the single-storey a.

Choosing
• If italics are to be a major feature of the
printed work, consider choosing the font
based on a preference for the italic.
• Some italics make a special feature of the
ampersand (&).

Variations
• Adobe Jenson & • Scala &
• Bembo & • Adobe Garamond &
• Garamond & • Minion &
• Caslon &
• Palatino &
• Bodoni &
• Stone &
• Joanna &