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Typographic Genealogy

typeface

Technically, the typeface refers to a specific
unified design of a set of characters and
includes all the various styles such as upper
and lowercase; italic and bold. Several
typefaces may be included in a single type
family. A typeface may be composed of
several font sets:

Helvetica Condensed Light
Helvetica Condensed Light Oblique
Helvetica Condensed Regular
Helvetica Condensed Regular Oblique
Helvetica Condensed Bold
Helvetica Condensed Bold Oblique
Helvetica Condensed Black
Helvetica Condensed Black Oblique

GENEALOGY is a complex science that evolved with the

to rookies like Dingbat.

type family

A type family includes all the variations
relating to a basic type design. A type
family is composed of typefaces:

Helvetica
Helvetica Compressed

Helvetica Condensed
Helvetica Inserat

Helvetica Narrow
Helvetica Neue
Helvetica International

font

Derived from the Old French fondre,
as "to melt or pour forth," this term
originated with cast metal type. The font
once referred to a set of characters of
the same typeface design, style and
size. A font is now considered a set of
characters, including alphabetic, numeric
and analphabetic, of the same typeface
design and style but with alterable sizes.
Additional font sets for a single typeface
may include such characters as small
caps, ligatures, science and math, and
other unique typographic symbols.
These specialized sets are commonly
referred to as expert sets.

Every typographic character belongs to a larger family
whose members possess uniform visual traits. Typographic

past 550 years of printing. The terminology associated with
this study: TYPEFACE, TYPE FAMILY, FONT, TYPE STYLE,
are often used synonymously which only adds confusion

The Standard & Expert Font Set

type style

The type style refers to the variations of the
same character in the same typeface. For
example: upper/ lower case; roman/italic;
regular/bold; small caps. A character may
possess any combination of styles: roman
lower case; bold lower case; bold small
caps; bold italic, and so on.

I

roman lower case

ROMAN UPPER CASE

ROMAN SMALL CAPS

italic lower case

bold lower case

SLOPED UPPER CASE

BOLD UPPER CASE

BOLD ROMAN SMALL CAPS

1ТЖЛС гігѵек case

SLOPED SMALL CAPS

bold italic lower case

BOLD SLOPED UPPER CASE

I

BOLD SLOPED SMALL CAPS

character

A character is an individual symbol, be it a
letter, numeral, punctuation mark, accent
mark, pictogram, ideogram. Elements such
as spaces, tabs, and returns created with a
computer are also considered characters,
with a size specific to the typeface. Three
general categories include: alphabetic, or
letters; numeric, orfigures; and analphabetic
symbols which includes accents,
punctuations, ideograms, and pictograms.

alphabetic

analphabetic

lower case

Also known as minuscules.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

upper case

Also known as majuscules, or capitals.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

small capitals

Capital letters that match the
x-height of lower case letters.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

text (non-aligning) figures

Numerals that match the height of lower
case letters. Found in expert font sets.

І23456789О

titling (aligning) figures

Numerals that match the height of upper
case letters. May be slightly smaller than
upper case letters. Also known as lining
figures as they share the same baseline.

1234567890

superscript (superior)

Characters that levitate above the baseline,
subscript (inferior)

Characters that sit below the baseline.

1234567890

subscript

superscript

1234567890

ABCDE

fractions

Independent characters usually included
in expert font sets. If fractions are not
available as pre-designed characters, they
must be created with whatever parts can
be scraped together.

Vi Ѵг3/4 Vs Vs /s % Уз Уз

1/4 1/2 3/4 1/8 3/8...

real fractions

fake (level) fractions

A well developed TYPEFACE in a TYPE FAMILY consists of a

STANDARD set of characters in addition to the alphabet. The
standard collection of characters is known as a FONT SET.

Not every font set will have a full set of characters. In many

cases, two or more separate font sets may be required to

form a complete set of characters in a single typeface. Font

sets in addition to the standard set are known as EXPERT

FONT sets, as they usually contain specialized characters.

ligatures

Created from the union of two or three
characters into a single character, to
eliminate awkward overlaps of the lower
case letters f, I and i.

diphthongs

A ligature that creates a complex speech
sound, beginning with the first vowel
and ending with the second.

accents (diacritics)

punctuation

currency symbols

mathematical symbols

ff fl ffl ffl no ligatures
fF fi fl Ж ffl ligatures

OE oe AE ae no diphthongs
Œ œ Æ æ diphthongs

SS no eszett
ß eszett

ÁÉÍÓÚáéíóú

A A A A A

AEIOU âêîôû
ÂËÏÔÜŸâëïôüÿ
À ÈI Ò Ù à è ì ò ù
ÁÑ O año

eszett

The eszett is a ligature
composed of the
long s + short s sounds.

a []{}<> о

a $ f ¥

pictograms, ideograms, and
other alphabetic symbols

A pictogram is a character that
represents a concrete object.

An ideogram is a character that
represents a complex or abstract idea.

U

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