This document summarizes the main classifications and characteristics of font families, including: Old Style, Transitional, Modern, Slab Serif, Decorative/Display, Sans Serif, and Script/Cursive. Old Style fonts mimic handwriting and have small variations in stroke thickness. Transitional fonts have more contrast and wider serifs. Modern fonts have extreme contrast and thin hairline serifs. Slab Serif fonts are used for commercial printing and have thick uniform serifs. Decorative fonts are used for titles and headings and have ornamentation for visual impact. Sans Serif fonts lack serifs and strokes of uniform thickness. Script and Cursive fonts resemble handwriting with joined or unjoined letters.

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 Characteristics
• minimal variation of thick and thin strokes
• small, coarse serifs, often with slightly concave bases
• small x-heights.
• In the round stokes, 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
strokes.
• Wider, gracefully bracketed serifs with flat
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.

8. Modern Characteristics
• 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 Characteristics
• minimal variation of thick and thin
strokes
• heavy serifs with squared-off ends
• large x-heights.
• vertical stress in rounded strokes

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
Characteristics
• 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 Characteristics
• 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 Characteristics
• 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, squashed uppercase characters, making these
type styles 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.

17. Sources
http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/proc
ess/type_basics/type_families.htm#oldstyle