Typefaces and letter forms

1. Typefaces and Letter Forms

2. Serif
The Serif font has flicks, edges, additional lines at the end of the letters. The words also go from thickness
of thin to thick and vice versa. The font is widely known as the “Roman” font as the the serif font was
carved into stones during the Roman period, this gave the letters the flicks, edges, and thickness etc.
Some examples of the Serif font are: Times New Roman, Droid Serif, Tinos.
Some examples of books that use this font are:

3. San Serif
The Sans Serif fonts also known as “Gothic” are generally more consistent with their thickness in the
words and they don’t have any flicks, edges at the end of the letters. The term comes from a French word
“Sans” which means “without”. This type of font was found in Greek and Latin inscriptions. Some
examples of this font are: Impact, Arial, Oswald.
Book covers that use this font are:

4. Decorative
Decorative type can also be identified as “Display” because of its decorative style.
This type of font style highly became popular in the Victorian era during the 19th
century and the Art Noveau movement. This type of font is normally only used for
decorative type purposes and not headings etc. Some examples of this font are:
Gloria Hallelujah, Allerta Stencil, Uniffraktur Magunita.
Some examples of this font on book covers are:

5. Script
The Script fonts are fonts that look like they have been hand written, they have a very curved, fancy style
to them. This type of font was mainly used in the 17th, 18th century and began to be used in the 19th
century for things like invitations and diplomas as the script font presented itself in an elegant manner.
Some examples of the font are: Pinyon script, Dancing script, Marck script.
Examples of book covers that use this font are:

6. Book Cover 1
This book cover for The Fault In Our Stars has a hand written
and decorative style to it. The letters are broken up and out of
shape as they are telling us that the teenagers in the book have
a very hard and difficult life as they are both dying from cancer
and can’t be together. The black and white clouds are a contrast
of the teenagers lives as they can’t be together because of what
they’re going through.

7. Book Cover 2
This book cover uses San Serif writing as it is very bold and
doesn’t have any of the flicks and edges on the writing. The
drawing of the pig suggests to the audience that the book is about
animals. The colours on the front cover work very well as they
help each other stand out. The writing inside the pig is very rough
and uneven which shows us that the lives of the animals are
unfair and unequal as this is also shown but the caption inside the
pig.

8. Book Cover 3
This book cover uses a Decorative font to make the
book cover look more interesting. The decorative
font also fits into this book cover it looks very royal
and is gold. The colour gold fist in as the ring in the
book that has to be destroyed is gold and the O is
also in the shape of a ring. The background of the
book is very dark with a bright light. This is effective
as in the story the dark power is rising (represented
by all the dark colours) and the humans are trying
to fight back with a bit of hope (represented by the
white light).

9. Book Cover 4
The cover of this book presents two men travelling
together which links to the theme of the book. It
shows the mountains which were mentioned as well
as the river that was described in the book. The font
is very simple which could be linking to one of the
main characters in the book called Lennie who also
is a very simple person as he has learning
disabilities.

10. Book Cover 5
Romeo and Juliet is a book that comes from a play
which is about a couple called Romeo and Juliet
who’s love is doomed from the start. The
background for the book is very romantic which
reflects the main theme of the book. The font is a
serif font which has the edges and flicks. The white
colour also stands out and is simple to read.
However the font isn’t very effective.

11. Book Cover 6
This book is about a boy who tried helping a boy in
a concentration camp and in the end got gassed.
The colours of the book cover links to the striped
pyjamas that were used for the prisoners in the
camps of death. The font is also serif and black
which represents sadness. The grey colours are
very dull and unhappy.

12. Book Cover 7
This book is about a girl who is forced to participate
in the Hunger Games (Games of death) for the
second time. The font is bold, and looks very
futuristic, it is also broken up which can link to the
fact that people are being killed during these hunger
games. The font also uses negative space to add in
silhouettes of the people. The font also has blood
stains around it which links to the deaths of the
people in the hunger games.

13. Book Cover 8
This book is about a girl who writes letters to the
dead. The font is script text which relates to the fact
that she writes letters to the dead. The font is black
and white which contrasts the life and death world.
The background of the book cover is of the sunset
sky which can link to the fact that the dead are
thought to be up in the skies.

14. Book Cover 9
The book cover of this book is made up of
decorative text and some images to illustrate the
cover. The font is decorative and looks very stylish
however it also has a childlike style to it because it
looks like it could've been written by a child. The
images on the book cover also looks like it was
drawn by a child.

15. Book Cover 10
The font on the book cover looks like it is moving
behind the window which links to the main theme of
the book which is travelling back and forth on a
train. The font is also san serif and the colour is
also white which is simple and easy to read which
would be more appealing to people who are looking
at the book cover. It also helps to read the text on
the blurry and colourful back ground.