This document summarizes the main font families and their characteristics. It discusses old style, transitional, modern, slab serif, decorative/display, sans serif, and script/cursive font families. For each family it provides 1-2 sentences describing their historical origins and 1-2 sentences outlining their key characteristics.

1. Family Classifications of
Type
By: Hakeem,Jonathan,Conner

2. The Different Types of Font Families

3. Old Style
• The concept of adhering to manuscript
models was the basis of the first 300 years
of type design, and typefaces designed
during this period are referred to as Old
Style.

4. Oldstyle Characterisitcs
• minimal variation of thick and thin strokes
• small, coarse serifs, often with slightly concave bases
• small x-heights.
• In the round strokes, the stress is diagonal, or oblique, as
their design. s mimic the hand-held angle of the pen nibs of
the scribes
• The tops of lowercase ascenders often exceed the height of
the capital characters.
• he numerals, called old style figures, vary in size and have
ascenders and descenders. Many contemporary versions of
Old Style typefaces do not retain the old style figures but, in
catering to contemporary taste, use lining, or capital height
figures.

5. Transitional
• The typefaces of this period are called
Transitional, as they represent the initial
departure from centuries of Old Style
tradition and immediately predate the
Modern period.

6. Transitional Characteristics
• A greater contrast between thick and thin
stokes.
• Wider, gracefully bracketed serifs withflat
bases.
• larger x-height
• Vertical stress in rounded strokes
• The height of capitals matches that of
ascenders.
• Numerals are cap-height and consistent in
size.

7. Modern
• These types are classified as Modern because
they represent the last phase of character
evolution from the pen-inspired Old Style types as
well as the first effort to use the design of type to
establish a contemporary visual style in written
communication.
• Within a few decades, the wide acceptance of the
Transitional types helped to inspire a new sense
of typographic style in Europe, especially France
and Italy. Typographers, inspired by Baskerville,
further rejected the classic Old Style tradition of
pen-inspired letters and continued to refine the
notion of the perfect letterform.

8. Modern Characterisitics
• Extreme contrast between thick and thin
strokes
• Hairline serifs without bracketing
• Small x-height
• Vertical stress in rounded strokes

9. Slab Serif
• The impact of the Industrial Revolution
brought profound changes to printing and
typography in the 19th century.
Manufacturing and mass production of
consumer goods had two major effects on
print communication: the creation of new
kinds of print media and the emergence of
more functional type designs for
commercial purposes.

10. Slab Serif Characterisitics
• minimal variation of thick and thin
strokes
• heavy serifs with squared-off ends
• large x-heights.
• vertical stress in rounded strkes

11. Decorative/Display
• For most of type's history, the use of decorative
characters was applied to the page design of
books, and usually limited to ornamenting title
pages, chapter headings, and initials. In the 19th
century, the proliferation of Slab Serif typefaces
did not ultimately satisfy the insatiable public
appetite for distinct and ornate types.
• Posters and advertisements relied heavily on large
size type, called display type, to attract attention.
Because of the size of display type, readability
was less important than visual impact. Display
types began to display ornamentation to achieve
this impact.

12. Decorative/Display
Characterisitics
• For most of type's history, the use of decorative
characters was applied to the page design of
books, and usually limited to ornamenting title
pages, chapter headings, and initials. In the 19th
century, the proliferation of Slab Serif typefaces
did not ultimately satisfy the insatiable public
appetite for distinct and ornate types.
• Posters and advertisements relied heavily on large
size type, called display type, to attract attention.
Because of the size of display type, readability
was less important than visual impact. Display
types began to display ornamentation to achieve
this impact.

13. Sans Serif
• The early 20th century saw continued
technological advancement in printing and
typesetting, flourishing of advertising and print
journalism, and a contemporary movement in type
design, influenced by the European Bauhaus and
De Stijl design movements. For new generation of
designers and typographers, the notion emerged
of the typographic character as an expressive
design element. Very much a backlash against the
typographic excesses of the 19th century, the new
design direction sought a basic letterform which
was suitable for contemporary communication

14. Sans Serif Characterisitics
• little or no variation between thick and
thin strokes
• lack of serifs
• larger x-height
• no stress in rounded strokes

15. Script/Cursive.
• Script and cursive typefaces are those
designed to literally represent handwriting
or hand lettering styles. As a general
distinction, scripts have linked or joining
lowercase letters, similar to handwriting,
while cursives appear as un-joined hand
lettering.

16. Script/Cursive Charactoristics
• Script and cursive designs can be calligraphic, appearing
to be pen drawn, formal, bearing the look of engraving,
as seen on social printing such as invitations and
announcements, or brush, more informal styles
appearing to be brush drawn. Most designs feature
ornate, swashed uppercase characters, making these
typestyles largely confusing and unreadable when set in
all caps.
• These typefaces began to appear in the late 19th
century, as more and more foundries competed for the
commercial printing market. There is a tremendous
variety of scripts and cursives available today, most of
them designed in the in the 1930s at the height of their
popularity.