1001 Fonts.Com

Type classification: 33 categories. Mainly useful for downloads of fonts, and less historical. [Google]

100types
[Ben Archer]

Educational and reference site run by Ben Archer, a designer, educator and type enthusiast located in Auckland. Glossary. Timeline. Type categories. Paul Shaw's list of the 100 most useful typefaces of all times were recategorized by Archer:

• Religious/Devotional: Gutenbergs B-42 type, Gebetbuch type, Wolfgang Hoppyl's Textura, Breitkopf Fraktur, Ehrhard Ratdolt's rotunda, Hammer Uncial, Zapf Chancery, Peter Jessenschrift, Cancellaresca Bastarda, Poetica.
• Book Publishing & General Purpose Text Setting: Nicolas Jenson's roman, Francesco Griffo's italic, Claude Garamond's roman, Firmin Didot's roman, Cheltenham family, Aldus Manutius' roman, William Caslon's roman, Pierre-Simon Fournier's italic, Ludovico Arrighi da Vicenza's italic, Johann Michael Fleischmann's roman, ATF Garamond, Giambattista Bodoni's roman, Nicolas Kis' roman, Minion multiple master, Unger Fraktur, John Baskerville's roman, Lucida, Optima, Bauer Bodoni, Adobe Garamond, Scotch Roman, Romanée, ITC Stone family, Trinité, ITC Garamond, Sabon, ITC Novarese, Bitstream Charter, Joanna, Marconi, PMN Caecilia, Souvenir, Apollo, Melior, ITC Flora, Digi-Grotesk Series S.
• Business/Corporate: Akzidenz Grotesk, Helvetica, Univers, Syntax, Courier, Meta, Rotis, Thesis, Antique Olive.
• Newspaper Publishing: Times Roman, Bell, Clarendon, Century Old Style, Ionic, Imprint.
• Advertising and Display: Futura, Robert Thorne's fat face roman, Vincent Figgins' antique roman (Egyptian), Memphis, Fette Fraktur, Avant-Garde Gothic, Deutschschrift, Peignot, Erbar, Stadia/Insignia, Penumbra, Compacta, Bodoni 26, WTC Our Bodoni.
• Prestige and Private Press: Romain du Roi, Golden Type, Johnston's Railway Sans, Doves Type, Walker.
• Signage: William Caslon IV's sans serif, Trajan.
• Historical Script: Snell Roundhand, Robert Granjon's civilité, Excelsior Script.
• Experimental/expressive: Mistral, Beowolf, Dead History, Behrensschrift, Eckmannschrift, Neuland, Element, Remedy, Template Gothic.
• Onscreen/multimedia: Chicago, Oakland, OCR-A, Base Nine and Base Twelve, Evans and Epps Alphabet.
• Telephone Directory publishing: Bell Gothic.

A brief history of type

Dead link. A great intro to the history of type by Thomas Phinney. Alternate URL. [Google]

A Field Guide to the Faces

Typeface classification based on checking a few crucial glyphs. This system was first developed by David A. Mundie. Great resource! [Google]

Affaire Esperluette

Isabel Torcheux, Aurélien Ferlito and Christian Paput take us on a tour of type history, with entertaining detail, and provide a fine bibliography of books on the history of writing, the history of type, the history of the book and the history of etching. [Google]

All Good Things Typography

Dead link. Archive (FontPool), history of type, type classification (by Matthias Neuber and Morton K. Pedersen), page layout guide, type choice guide, logo type guide, mixing type guide, Windows software guide, Mac type software guide, glossary. By Kevin Woodward. [Google]

Atelier Beinert München

Atelier for design and typography run by Wolfgang Beinert. Classification of type. Roman numerals. Interesting sub-page on typographical rules for numbers. Make sure to visit his award-winning designs of calendars. [Google]

ATypI type classification

In 1961, ATypI published its type classification system:

• Humane
• Garalde
• Réale
• Didone
• Incise
• Linéale
• Mécane
• Scripte
• Manuaire
• Fractura

Barbara Durham's Font Studio

Lots of (non-downloadable) fonts can be seen in action. This is a didactic page, mainly. She has a wonderful way of classifying the fonts. [Google]

Ben Bauermeister

Cofounder (b. St. Louis, 1960) with Clyde McQueen in 1990 of ElseWare Corp. Helped develop the PANOSE font classification system there. MyFonts page. [Google]

Bitstream's type classification system

Type classification system in 17 groups proposed by Bitstream in 1986:

• Oldstyle
• Transitional
• Modern
• Clarendon
• Slabserif
• Latin
• Freeform
• Sanserif
• Engravers
• Stencil
• Strike-On
• Computer
• Decorated
• Script
• Exotic
• Pi
• Non-Roman

Bowfin Printworks

Links to commercial foundries. Site done by Michael Yanega, who now lives in Washington State. Has an interesting script font identification guide. [Google]

British Standards for Type Classification

Typeface classification according to "British Standards 2961:1967", British Standards Institution, London, 1967. [Google]

BS 2961

Type classification system by the British Standards Institution, dating from 1967:

• Humanist: Centaur, Jenson, Verona, Kennerley.
• Garalde: Stempel Garamond, Garamond, Caslon Old Face, Granjon, Sabon, Bembo.
• Transitional: New Baskerville, Baskerville, Caslon, Fournier, Perpetua.
• Didone: Bodoni, Bauer Bodoni, Torino, Walbaum.
• Mechanistic: Clarendon, Memphis, Rockwell, Lubalin.
• Lineal
  • Lineal Grotesque: Franklin Gothic Demi-Bold, Franklin Gothic, News Gothic, Alternate Gothic.
  • Lineal Neo-Grotesque: Helvetica Light, Akzidenz Grotesk, Folio, Helvetica, Univers.
  • Lineal Geometric: Avant Garde Medium, Avant Garde, Futura, Eurostile, Erbar.
  • Lineal Humanist: Gill Sans, Goudy Sans, Optima.
• Incised: Albertus, Latin, Friz Quadrata.
• Script: Brush Script, Mistral, Park Avenue, Zapf Chancery.
• Manual: Neuland, Broadway, OCR-A, Pritchard.
• Black Letter: Fette Fraktur, Old English, Goudy Text, Wilhelm Klingspor-Schrift.
• Non-Latin.

Classification Vox-ATypI

The type classification scheme suggested in 1954 by Maximilien Vox into nine categories (in French): manuaire, humane, garalde, réale, didone, mécane, linéale, incise, scripte. ATypI proposed the addition of two more, (in French) fractur and orientale, to get eleven styles. See also here. English translation of that French list by Paul Hunt. Invented by Maximilien Vox in 1952, it was adopted in 1962 by the Association International Typographique (ATypI). Quoted from that English translation, with corrections:

• The humanists: Humanist typefaces gathers the first character Romans created with the 15th century faces by the Venetian printers, taking as a starting point the the humanistic manuscripts of the time. These typefaces, rather round in opposition to the Gothics of the Middle Ages, are characterized by short and thick serifs, and a weak contrast between full and untied. These typefaces are inspired in particular by the Carolingian miniscule, imposed by Charlemagne in his empire.
• The garaldes: This group is named in homage to Claude Garamond (16th century) and Aldus Manutius. The garaldes have fier proportions finer than the humanists, and a stronger contrast between downstroke and upstroke.
• The realists (réales): The realists are the result of the will of Louis XIV to invent new typographical forms, on the one hand to find a successor in the Garamond, on the other hand to compete in quality with different the printers from Europe. More contrast than in the previous two groups, the types are more rational and the axis is quasi-vertical.
• The didones: The didones are named after Didot and Bodoni. These typefaces, dating from the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, recognizable thanks to their great contrast, the verticality of the characters and their horizontal and fine footings. They correspond to the Didot of Thibaudeau's classification.
• the mécanes: The name of this group evokes the very mechanical aspect of these types, which are characteristic of the industrial age, the middle of the 19th century. There is almost no contrast, and rectangular slabs hold up the characters. These are also called slab serifs or egyptians.
• The lineals: This group combines all typefaces without serifs (called sans-serif). These correspond to the antiques of the Thibaudeau classification.
• The incised types: evoking the engraving in stone or metal. Snmall and triangular footings, almost like sans-serifs.
• The scripts: The scripts cover types based on formal penmanship. They seem to be written with the quill, with a strong slope. The letters can often be connected to eachother. The famous English typefaces form part of this family.
• The manuaires: the manuaires are based upon letters traced with a feather.
• The blackletters: also called gothic, these typefaces are characterized by pointed and angular forms.
• The non-Latin typefaces.

Das Context-Buch ÜberSicht

A must-buy book for type classification: "Schrift vergleichen, Schrift auswählen, Schrift erkennen, Schrift finden" (Verlag Hermann Schmidt, Mainz, 1991): 430 pages! [Google]

DH Type Visionaries

Candace Uhlmeyer provides a bit of type history through the work of Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468), William Caxton (1422-1491), Aldus Manutius (1450-1515), William Caslon (1692-1766), John Baskerville (1706-1775), Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813), William Morris (1834-1896), Frederic W. Goudy (1865-1947), Eric Gill (1882-1940), and Jan Tschichold (1902-1974). [Google]

DIN 1658

DIN type classification system. [Google]

Druckschriften

German site concerned with typography. Has a Type Calendar for German events. Contains a list of the top 100 type designer of all time. Type classification. [Google]

Ellen Lupton

Ellen Lupton is a writer, curator, and graphic designer. She is director of the MFA program in graphic design at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. She also is curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City. Author of Thinking with Type (Princeton Architectural Press, 2004). Visit also the interesting Thinking with type web page, which features a fun section on "crimes against typography", notes on type classification, a course outline, and tons of other educational material. See also here and here. Ellen Lupton was the keynote speaker at AypI2006 in Lisbon. In that talk, summarized here, Ellen Lupton discusses the benefits of truly free fonts (Perhaps the free font movement will continue to grow slowly, along the lines in which it is already taking shape: in the service of creating typefaces that sustain and encourage both the diversity and connectedness of humankind.) and provides key examples: Gaultney's Gentium, Poll's Linux Libertine, Peterlin's Freefont, Bitstream's Titus Cyberbit, and Jim Lyles' Vera family. She is the editor of D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself (2006). Her introduction to the major typefaces. [Google]

ElseWare Corporation

Founded by Ben Bauermeister and Clyde McQueen in 1990, former employees of Aldus. Based in Seattle, it created for Hewlett-Packard FontSmart (a product that gives users 110 fonts and a font-management technology for HP's LaserJet 5L, 5P and 5Si printers in an innovative and compressed format). It also made FontWorks (a truetype font generation engine for Windows), Infinifont (a parametric font generation system), and PANOSE (a fonty classification system). On December 21, 1995, HP bought the company and that was the end of it. Bitstream's page on ElseWare. The in-house type designer was Karl Leuthold. They produced about 340 "clones" of the major typeface styles, including Albertus, AntiqueOlive, Arial, AugustaEC, BistroEC, BodoniEC, BookAntiqua, BookmanEC, BookmanOldStyle, CGOmega, CGTimes, CafeEC, CenturyGothic, CenturySchoolbook, Clarendon, CourierEC, EtnaEC, GaramondEC, GeneraEC, GillSans, Goudy-Old-Style-EW, GraphosEC, InformaEC, LetterGothic, LetterSansEC, MentorEC, MetrostyleEC, ModalEC, NewTributeEC, OperinaEC, Ozzie, SchoolbookEC, StationEC, StriderEC, StylusEC, TerasEC, TerasMonospaceEC, Univers, VillageOldstyleEC, WilmingtonEC. [Google]

Foam Train Font Foundry
[Andrew S. Fuller]

Free truetype fonts (PC, Mac) by Andrew Fuller from Portland, OR (was: Lincoln, NE), at his Foam Train Font Foundry: MMMCarbony, Buddy, Derez, Derez Hitek, Deltoid, Gloopy, Hobbit Tattoo-Brush, Hobbit Tattoo-Sloppy, Reeeally Quik Hand, RoundyButt, Unserif, DryToastCaps, Iron Filings, Eeewww Messy Boy, Thirty Months of Victory (2002, handwriting), LeakyPen (2002), Early Western Greek, Samaritan 300BC (2002), Face Eater, Fingerpaint Sans, Inglorious, Rat Brain, ThirtyMonthsOfVictory (2003, nice handwriting), Tory Gothic Caps, Lumpin, Wendus, and InsideOut Cow. Commercial fonts include Blackburn Hand, Salted Slug, Satavahana 200AD (2003), Face Eater, Fingerpaint Sans, Gloopy, MMM Carbony, Rat Brain, Reeeeally Quik Hand. This site has a great glossary as well as subpages on type history, classification, and anatomy. [Google]

Font School

T. Kengo's explanations, in Japanese, of the major font classifications. [Google]

Font School

Japanese site with interesting tips on categorizing fonts. [Google]

FontExpert

Automatic font identification program by The Quick Brown Fox GmbH foundry run by Willi Welsch out of Koln, Germany. Costs 250DM. [Google]

FontExpert 2.0 (alternate site)

Automatic font identification program by The Quick Brown Fox GmbH foundry run by Willi Welsch out of Koln, Germany. Costs 250DM. [Google]

FontExpert GmbH

Font identification software (on-line or via a CD) that identifies a font from a major foundry based on a scanned image. 5USD a shot. Run by Willi Welsch. [Google]

Fontscape
[David Johnson-Davies]

David Johnson-Davies (Human-Computer Interface Ltd, Cambridge, UK) lists and classifies commercial fonts to make font selection easier. The same people also run Fontifier and Identifont. [Google]

Gebrochene

Proposed classification of blackletter faces. Main page, by Bernhard Schnelle. He has:

• Xa Gotisch. Examples: Bamberg, Belwe Gotisch, Caslon-Gotisch, Cloister Black, Fette Gotisch, Ganz Grobe Gotisch, Goudy-Text, Manuskript-Gotisch, Maximilian, Sebaldus-Gotisch, Trump-Deutsch, Weiß-Gotisch Wilhelm-Klingspor-Gotisch.
• Xb Rundgotisch. Examples: Gotico, Kühne-Schrift, San Marco, Uhlen-Rundgotisch, Wallau, Weiß-Rundgotisch.
• Xc Schwabacher. Examples: Alte Schwabacher, Ehmcke-Schwabacher, Neue Schwabacher, Nürnberger Schwabacher, Rediviva, Renata-Schwabacher.
• Xd Fraktur. Examples: Amts-Fraktur, Breitkopf-Fraktur, Fette Fraktur, Fichte-Fraktur, Humboldt-Fraktur, König-Type, Luthersche Fraktur, Mainzer Fraktur, Poppl-Fraktur, Thannhaeuser-Fraktur, Unger-Fraktur, Walbaum-Fraktur, Wieynk-Fraktur, Wittenberger Fraktur, Zentenar-Fraktur.
• Xe Fraktur-Varianten. Examples: Claudius, Engravers Text, Fette Deutsche Schrift (Koch), Fette Kanzlei, Hermann-Gotisch, Hölderlin-Fraktur, London Text (Blackletter 686), Post-Fraktur, Rhapsodie, Wedding Text (Blackletter 681).

Jan Solpera's system

Jan Solpera's type classification system. [Google]

Japanese typefaces

Classification of Japanese typefaces (with passages taken from a beautiful document by Philip Ronan:

• Mincho. The Mincho style is clean, legible, and used just about everywhere, including books and newspapers. Strokes often start and/or end with small "serifs", and vertical strokes tend to be narrower than horizontal strokes. Examples: Heisei Mincho W3 , Heisei Mincho W9.
• Gothic. Japanese Gothic typefaces (also called "Kaku Gothic") consist of plain rectangular strokes of equal width and with little or no serifs. They are highly legible even at small point sizes, and are used as widely as Mincho styles. Examples: Heisei Kaku Gothic W3, Heisei Kaku Gothic W9.
• Round Gothic. Also called "Maru Gothic". These are Gothic styles in which the angles at the middle and end of all the strokes have been rounded off. They are similar to Western rounded sans-serif typefaces such as Arial Rounded. Examples: Heisei Maru Gothic W4, Heisei Maru Gothic W8.
• Kaisho (block script). Anyone who studies Japanese calligraphy will start by learning the Kaisho style. It consists of discrete strokes drawn with various hooks and flourishes. Typical uses include formal notices and new year cards. Examples: Arisawa Kaisho, Hakushu Gokubuto Kaisho.
• Kyokasho (textbook). This is a print face derived from the Kaisho style for use in primary school textbooks. It minimizes the use of flourishes, resulting in a neat, legible typeface that provides a good example of writing style to learners of Japanese. Example: DFP Kyokashotai,
• Gyosho (semicursive script). A reasonably legible style of calligraphy in which it is possible to see a flowing motion between one stroke and the next. The basic character shapes are similar to those of the Kaisho style. Typical uses include greetings cards. Examples: HG Shonan Gyoshotai , HG Kyokusui E.
• Reisho (clerical script). An old Chinese style consisting of simplified characters that could be drawn quickly and easily. It is still used in official documents such as certificates and banknotes, and in newspaper mastheads and other types of logo. Examples: DFP Reisho, Takahashi Reisho.
• Kantei-ryu. The Kantei-ryu style originated from the Japanese kabuki tradition over two centuries ago. It consists of broad, curving, closely-packed strokes. Typically used in connection with traditional Japanese arts and crafts. Examples: HG Edomoji Kantei-ryu, DFP Kantei-ryu.
• Koin. A printed style resembling the appearance of old printed characters, including simulated aging effects such as lumpy broken strokes. Typically used to give an antiquated feel to text in book covers and headings. Examples: Hakushu Tenkoin Kyo, HG Han Koin.
• Pop styles. Japanese pop styles typically resemble characters drawn with a broad felt pen, like the "Special Offer" signs you see inside shops. They are sometimes used only for Japanese (kana) characters, with regular Gothic typefaces used for the Chinese (kanji) characters. Examples: HG Pretty Frank H, HG Soei Iori, HG Soei Kaku Pop, HG Soei Maru Pop.
• Tensho (seal script). Sosho (cursive script) This is a very old style that is still used in the name seals that pass for signatures in Japan (like the red name stamps that are used to sign Japanese artwork). It is usually quite difficult to read. Example: Hakushu Tensho Kyo.
• Sosho (cursive script). A highly stylized form of calligraphy in which entire characters are often drawn with a single stroke of the brush. Although prized as an art form, this style is almost impossible to read, and therefore serves more of a decorative role. Example: Hakushu Sosho Kyo.
• Pen styles. Pen styles emulate the appearance of characters written with implements such as ballpoint pens, fountain pens and fibre tip pens. These styles often have a flowing structure similar to that of Gyosho styles. Examples: HG Chiba Pen, HG Hakushu Pen Kaisho, HG Soei Pen.

Jonathan Hoefler on classifying typefaces

Hoefler talks about type classification, both the need and the futility of it. [Google]

Juergen Krausz

Juergen recognizes typefaces like no one else. Ask him. [Google]

Jürgen F. Schopp

From the University of Tampere, Finland, Jürgen F. Schopp's list of books on typography. He also has a nice page on type classification. For "broken" typefaces (gebrochene Schriften), Schopp proposes this:

• Gotisch: e.g., Cloister Black, Engravers Old English, Manuskript-Gotisch, Weiß-Gotisch, Wilhelm-Klingspor-Schrift.
• Rundgotisch: e.g., Rhapsody, Weiß-Rundgotisch, Wallau.
• Schwabacher: e.g., Alte Schwabacher.
• Fraktur: e.g., Kanzlei fett, Neue Luther-Fraktur, Zentenar-Fraktur, Unger-Fraktur, Walbaum-Fraktur.
• Frakturvarianten: e.g., American Text.

Klassifikation der Druckschriften

From the University of Tampere, Finland, Jürgen F. Schopp's list of type classifiactions. In German. [Google]

Laurence Scarfe

Painter and graphic designer. Author (1914-1993) of Alphabets An introductory Treatise on written and printed Letter Forms for the Use of Students (W.S. Cowell Ltd, London: Batsford, 1954), which is mainly concerned with type classification. Type groups in his classification: Black Letter, Roman, Italic, Transitional, Modern, Fat Face, Egyptian, Sans Serif, Shaded, Ornamented and Script. See also here. [Google]

Letrag

Spanish language type site with goodies on type classification, font search, a type glossary, font identification, type articles, and related information. [Google]

Linotype

Linotype lets you answer questions to pick a font from its library. [Google]

Linotype's type classification system

Type classification system in 10 groups proposed by Linotype in 1988:

• Old Face
• Transitional
• Modern Face
• Slab Serif
• Sans Serif
• Decorative & Display
• Script & Brush
• Blackletter
• Non-Roman
• Pi

Monotype's type classification system

Type classification system in 32 groups proposed by Monotype in 1970:

• Antique
• Blackletter
• Brush Script
• Clarendon
• Copperplate Script
• Didones
• Egyptian
• Fat Face
• Garaldes
• Geometric Sans Serif
• Glyphic
• Gothic
• Grotesque
• Humanist
• Informal Script
• Inline Face
• Ionic
• Italic
• Latin
• Lineale
• Monoline
• Modern Face
• Oldface
• Oldstyle
• Outline
• Sans Serif
• Script
• Shadow
• Stencil Letter
• Titling
• Transitional
• Venetian

Oxford University Monotype Fonts

Classification of all Monotype fonts. Useful pages if you are working with Monotype. [Google]

PANOSE

An article by Robert Stevahn (Hewlett-Packard), explaining the PANOSE type classification and matching system used by many pieces of software. Title: "PANOSE: An Ideal Typeface Matching System for the Web." There are 10 PANOSE numbers: 1 family kind, 2 serif style, 3 weight, 4 proportion, 5 contrast, 6 stroke variation, 7 arm style, 8 letterform, 9 midline, 10 x-height. The possible values for these numbers are given here. [Google]

Panose
[Benjamin Bauermeister]

Panose is a ten-digit number where each digit is hexadecimal (between 0 and 15) that attempts to classify a font. If applicable and computed, it may be inserted into the OS/2 Table of the Rich Font Description (RFD) incorporated into each True Type font. It was invented to speed up printers by minimizing the number of fonts required in the printer memory. For eample, Times New Roman is 2263545234, but Wingdings is 5000000000. Panose numbers are useful for detecting similar styles of fonts in collections. There is software (like High Logic's Main type that permits one to view fonts in collections by Panose number. The digits take care of these properties: (1) kind (2) class (3) weight (4) aspect (5) contrast (6) serif variant (7) treatment (8) lining (9) topology (10) range of characters.

Panose was developed by Benjamin Bauermeister (b. 1960, St. Louis, MO). In 1990 he cofounded Elseware with Clyde McQueen in Seattle, where he first revealed his PANOSE1 Typeface Matching System which began as a 7 digit number. Each succeeding digit breaks the font collection down into ever smaller groups. Hewlett Packard Co. purchased Elseware Co. and expanded PANOSE to ten digits. HP created a PANOSE engine that compressed font information into 2kb packets and incorporated the Panose numbers into their Agfa Monotype typefaces to identify which packet should be used with which font. Then they designed their printers so that instead of using an entire font, they just sent the number. The printer memory did the math and reproduced a simulation of the font. In other words, the PANOSE numbers told the printers how to draw the typeface. Some improvements were made and Panose1 became Panose2. Bauermeister wrote A Manual of Comparative Typography: The Panose System (Paperback) (1987, Van Nostrand Reinhold).

Other links on Panose: Bauermeister, Panose 1, Panose 2, Panose 3, Panose 4, Panose 5, Panose 6, W3C, More W3C, Microsoft Panose page, W3C page.

The details of the digits:

Family

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Latin Text and Display (2)
• Latin Script (3)
• Latin Decorative (4)
• Latin Pictorial (5)

Serif Style

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Cove (2)
• Obtuse Cove (3)
• Square Cove (4)
• Obtuse Square Cove (5)
• Square (6)
• Thin (7)
• Bone (8)
• Exagerated (9)
• Triangle (10)
• Normal Sans (11)
• Obtuse Sans (12)
• Perp Sans (13)
• Flared (14)
• Rounded (15)

Weight

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Very Light (2)[100]
• Light (3) [200]
• Thin (4) [300]
• Book (5) [400] same as CSS1 'normal'
• Medium (6) [500]
• Demi (7) [600]
• Bold (8) [700] same as CSS1 'bold'
• Heavy (9) [800]
• Black (10) [900]
• Extra Black / Nord (11) [900] force mapping to CSS1 100-900 scale

Proportion

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Old Style (2)
• Modern (3)
• Even Width (4)
• Expanded (5)
• Condensed (6)
• Very Expanded (7)
• Very Condensed (8)
• Monospaced (9)

Contrast

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• None (2)
• Very Low (3)
• Low (4)
• Medium Low (5)
• Medium (6)
• Medium High (7)
• High (8)
• Very High (9)

Stroke Variation

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• No Variation (2)
• Gradual/Diagonal (3)
• Gradual/Transitional (4)
• Gradual/Vertical (5)
• Gradual/Horizontal (6)
• Rapid/Vertical (7)
• Rapid/Horizontal (8)
• Instant/Horizontal (9)
• Instant/Vertical (10)

Arm Style

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Straight Arms/Horizontal (2)
• Straight Arms/Wedge (3)
• Straight Arms/Vertical (4)
• Straight Arms/Single Serif (5)
• Straight Arms/Double Serif (6)
• Non-Straight Arms/Horizontal (7)
• Non-Straight Arms/Wedge (8)
• Non-Straight Arms/Vertical 90)
• Non-Straight Arms/Single Serif (10)
• Non-Straight Arms/Double Serif (11)

Letterform

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Normal/Contact (2)
• Normal/Weighted (3)
• Normal/Boxed (4)
• Normal/Flattened (5)
• Normal/Rounded (6)
• Normal/Off Center (7)
• Normal/Square (8)
• Oblique/Contact (9)
• Oblique/Weighted (10)
• Oblique/Boxed (11)
• Oblique/Flattened (12)
• Oblique/Rounded (13)
• Oblique/Off Center (14)
• Oblique/Square (15)

Midline

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Standard/Trimmed (2)
• Standard/Pointed (3)
• Standard/Serifed (4)
• High/Trimmed (5)
• High/Pointed (6)
• High/Serifed (7)
• Constant/Trimmed (8)
• Constant/Pointed (9)
• Constant/Serifed (10)
• Low/Trimmed (11)
• Low/Pointed (12)
• Low/Serifed (13)

XHeight

• Any (0)
• No Fit (1)
• Constant/Small (2)
• Constant/Standard (3)
• Constant/Large (4)
• Ducking/Small (5)
• Ducking/Standard (6)
• Ducking/Large (7)

PANOSE 2.0 White Paper

An article by Michael S. De Laurentis, Benjamin P. Bauermeister and others at Hewlett-Packard on the Panose type matching/classification system. [Google]

PANOSE Classification Metrics Guide

Hewlett-Packard's Panose grey book, with all the technical details of this font classification/matching system. Dead link. [Google]

Retroglobe Typeface Identification Guide
[Christian Liljeberg]

Christian Liljeberg's on-line typeface identification guide: "It is a step-by-step guide to help identify around 700 different typefaces. The Guide is based on the Rookledge's International Typefinder (ISBN 1559210524 or 187075803X) by Christopher Perfect and Gordon Rookledge and David A. Mundie has converted it to HTML." Christian was born in Gotheborg, Sweden, in 1978. Typeface classification very similar in concept to David Mundie's "Field Guide to the Faces". [Google]

Roxane Jubert

Parisian graphic designer and type designer (b. 1969) who designed Roxane, 1995-1996, which is sold by François Boltana's foundry. Bio. After studies at the École Estienne, the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (where she teaches typography) and the Atelier national de recherche typographique, she became an independent graphic designer and type designer. In parallel, she is studying to get a Ph.D. on the subject of the history of graphic and typographic design at the Sorbonne. She spoke at ATypI in Copenhagen in 2001 on the history and classification of certain typeforms. [Google]

Sans serif classification
[David Rault]

David Rault classifies sans designs following a slight modification of Lewis Blackwell's list in Typography of the 20th Century:

• Grotesque, the first sans serif, from the early 19th century to the 1920's : Akzidenz Grotesk, Franklin Gothic
• Humanistic : Gill Sans, Johnston
• Geometrical : Futura, Avant-Garde, Kabel
• Modern : Helvetica, Univers, Folio
• Contemporary : FF Meta, Fedra Sans, Hybrea, FF Cocon

Sans serif classification

Several groups are generally distinguished:

• Grotesquwe or Grotesk: These are the early sans-serif designs, but also include the 20th century work horses, Helvetica and Univers. Among the earlier ones, we list Akzidenz Grotesk, Bureau Grot, Grotesque, Franklin Gothic and Royal Gothic. The latter faces are sometimes classified as Gothic (two-story lowercase g, angled strokes on C and S).
• Humanist sans such as Johnston, Gill Sans, Frutiger and its copy, Myriad. These faces are alive with variations in width and calligraphic influences. Some appreciate them for beauty, others for legibility.
• Geometric sans: These typefaces are pregnant with geometric shapes, and are in some (most) cases less legible. On the other hand, they are more effective on posters and headlines. The main families in this category include Renner's Futura, and Lubalin's ITC Avant Garde. Other styles include Gotham, Spartan and Century Gothic.
• Neo-grotesque, transitional or realist: These are modern sans faces, often rather dull with little variation in line widths and lacking any extravagant features. Arial, Standard and Bell Centennial are in this groyp.
• Square Gothic, in the style of Bank Gothic: low contrast faces with straight lines and curved or rounded corners. Macho look.

Schriftklassifikation nach DIN 16 518

Type classification (in German) according to the DIN 16 518 system invented in 1964. Pages by Bernhard Schnelle. I will use his German nomenclature, and quoe his examples of each style.

• I. Venezianische Renaissance-Antiqua: Amalthea, Ascot, Berkeley Old Style, Centaur, Concorde, Deepdene, Eusebius, Goudy Italian, Guardi, Horley Old Style, Jersey, Lutetia, Menhart-Antiqua, Normandy, Seneca, Schneidler-Mediaeval, Trajanus, Verona, Weidemann, Worcester Round.
• II. Französische Renaissance-Antiquai[garalde types]: Aeterna, Aldus-Buchschrift, Bembo, Berling, Charter, Comenius-Antiqua, Garamond, Granjon, Leipziger Antiqua, Meridien, Michelangelo, Octavian, Palatino, Perpetua, Plantin, Sabon-Antiqua, Trump-Mediaeval, Van Dijck, Vendome, Weiß-Antiqua.
• III. Barock-Antiqua [transitional types]: Baskerville, Bernhard Modern, Bookman, Caledonia, Caslon, Century, Century Schoolbook, Cheltenham, Cochin, Diotima, Ehrhardt, Imprimatur, Janson, Life, Nicolas Cochin, Poppl-Antiqua, Raleigh, Schoolbook, Scotch, Tiffany, Times.
• IV. Klassizistische Antiqua [modern or didone types]: Bauer Bodoni, Bodoni-Antiqua, Linotype Centennial, Corvinus, De Vinne, Linotype Didot, Ellington, Falstaff, Fat Face, Fenice, Madison-Antiqua (Amts-Antiqua), Normande, Tiemann-Antiqua, Torino, Walbaum-Antiqua.
• V. Serifenbetonte Linear-Antiqua [slab serif]: Aachen, Clarendon, Memphis, Old Towne, Pro Arte Schadow-Antiqua, Serifa, Volta.
• VI. Serifenlose Linear-Antiqua [sans]: Akzidenz-Grotesk, Antique Olive, Avant Garde Gothic, Cosmos, Delta, Erbar-Grotesk, Eurostile, Folio, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Gill, Helvetica, Univers.
• VII. Antiqua-Varianten: Abbot Old Style, Amelia, Americana, Arnold Böcklin, Banco, Calypso, Churchward, Cooper Black, Dynamo, Eckmann, Glaser Stencil, Hobo, Lasso, Mexico Olympic, Plastica, Profil, Souvenir, Stop, Superstar, Tintoretto, Traffic, Washington, Windsor, Zipper.
• VIII. Schreibschriften [scripts]: Arkona, Amazone, Bison, Boulevard, Brush Script, Caprice, Charme, Choc, Diskus, Englische Schreibschrift, Künstler-Schreibschrift, Lithographia, Mistral, Reiner Script, Rondo, Signal, Swing, Vivaldi.
• IX. Handschriftliche Antiqua: American Uncial, Antikva Margaret, Arcade, Codex, Delphin Dom Casual, Hadfield, Klang, Koch-Antiqua, Libra, Lydian, Ondine, Poetica, Post-Antiqua, Prima, Ritmo, Solemnis, Studio, Time Script.
• X. Gebrochene [Fraktur, blackletter], subdivided into Xa Gotisch, Xb Rundgotisch, Xc Schwabacher, Xd Fraktur, Xe Fraktur-Varianten.
• XI. Fremde Schriften [foreign types]: all non-Latin typefaces.

Schrift-Klassifikationen

Type classification at typografie.info. By Ralf Hermann. Interesting to get used to the German terminology, so here we go:

• Venezianische Renaissance-Antiqua (ca. 1470): Venetians such as Berkeley Old Style, Centaur, Deepdene, Horley Old Style, Kennerley Old Style, Trajanus, Schneidler-Mediaeval, Seneca.
• Französische Renaissance-Antiqua (ca. 1540, humanistic): Garamond, Aldus-Buchschrift, Bembo, Berling, Diethelm-Antiqua, Goudy, Palatino, Sabon-Antiqua, Trump-Mediäval, Weiss-Antiqua.
• Barock-Antiqua (1750, transitional): Baskerville, Caslon, Imprimatur, Janson-Antiqua, Poppl-Antiqua, Tiffany, Times-Antiqua.
• Klassizistische Antiqua (1800, didone, modern): Bodoni-Antiqua, Didot, Madison-Antiqua, Torino, Walbaum-Antiqua.
• Serifenbetonte Linear-Antiqua (1850, slab serif) Egyptienne: American Typewriter, Beton, City, Lubalin Graph, Memphis, Rockwell, Serifa, Stymie.
• Serifenbetonte Linear-Antiqua Clarendon: Clarendon, Impressum, Melior, Volta.
• Serifenbetonte Linear-Antiqua Italienne: Figaro, Hidalgo, Memory, Old Towne, Pro Arte.
• Serifenlose Linear-Antiqua (1850, sans): Akzidenz-Grotesk, Avant Garde Gothic, Avenir, Berthold Imago, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Folio, Gill Sans, Helvetica, Kabel, Meta, Neuzeit-Grotesk, Rotis Sans, Stone Sans, Syntax, Univers.
• Antiqua-Varianten: Arnold Böcklin, Blur, Eckmann, Exocet, Mambo Bold, Moonbase Alpha, Revue.
• Schreibschriften: Ariston, Ballantines, Berthold-Script, Commercial Script, Diskus, Englische Schreibschrift, Künstlerschreibschrift, Lithographia, Mistral, Slogan.
• Handschriftliche Antiqua: Arkona, Delphin, Dom Casual, Express, Impuls, Justlefthand, Poppl-College, Post-Antiqua, Vivaldi.
• Gebrochene Schriften (blackletter): Gotisch (Fette Gotisch, Wilhelm-Klingspor-Gotisch), Rundgotisch (Tannenberg, Wallau, Weiss-Rundgotisch), Schwabacher (Alte Schwabacher, Renata), Fraktur (Fette Fraktur, Neue Fraktur, Unger-Fraktur, Walbaum-Fraktur, Zentenar- Fraktur), Fraktur-Varianten (Breda-Gotisch, Breite Kanzlei, Rhapsodie).

Shealyn McGee

Traverse City, MI-based graphic designer and photographer, who studies at Grand Valley State University. She made some helpful type posters that illustrate typeface classification. A | B | C | D | E. [Google]

Slab Serif Fonts

Linotype piece on slab serif faces, with its own classification into Clarendons, Contemporary Text Faces, Classic Text Faces, Standard-Bearers, and Massive Display Examples. Slab serifs started in industrial England in the 19th century and are also called Egyptians.

Clarendons: The first Clarendon was introduced in 1845 by R. Besley & Co, The Fann Street Foundry. It is one of the more refined slab serif faces. Monotype, Adobe and Linotype each have their own Clarendon families. Contemporary Text Faces: PMN Caecilia (by Dutch typeface designer Peter Matthias Noordzij) srts off this list, followed by Diverda Serif, Aptifer Slab, Generis Slab, Amasis, Calvert, Chaparral, Compatil Letter, HoTom, ITC Officina Serif, Siseriff and Soho. Classic Text Faces: Newspaper types like Excelsior, Impressum and Ionic, or solid slab serifs like Memphis, Egyptian 505 (by Gürtler) and Egyptienne F (by Frutiger). Others: Apollo, Breughel, ITC Century, New Century Schoolbook, Joanna, Linoletter, Nimrod, Linotype Really, Perrywood and Scotch (surely, the latter is a mistake). Standard-Bearers: Started by Memphis (1929, Rudolf Wolf) and Beton (Heinrich Jost), and followed by the sixties face Glypha (Frutiger). Others: Candida, Courier, Epokha, ITC Magnifico, Rockwell, Venus Egyptienne. Massive Display Examples: Dark and heavy, this group includes Aachen, Linotype Authentic, Figaro, Jeunesse Slab, ITC Lubalin Graph, Neo Contact, Old Town No 536, Playbill, Princetoiwn, Retro Bold, Wanted, Waterloo Bold, Westside. Many of these are so-called Western saloon or wanted poster fonts.

Steve Dell

Steve Dell teaches digital art design at Miami ad School in California. His site has an Adobe InDesign course, where one can find a beautiful type history primer, and a zipped font folder with these fonts: ACaslonPro-Italic, AGaramondPro-Regular, AJensonPro-Regular, ArnoPro-Bold, ArnoPro-Italic, ArnoPro-Smbd, BickhamScriptPro-Bold, BickhamScriptPro-Regular, BlackoakStd, GrotesqueMTStd-Black, GrotesqueMTStd-Bold, GrotesqueMTStd-BoldExtended, GrotesqueMTStd-Condensed, GrotesqueMTStd-ExtraCond, GrotesqueMTStd-Italic, GrotesqueMTStd-Light, GrotesqueMTStd-LightCond, GrotesqueMTStd-LightItalic, GrotesqueMTStd, HelveticaNeueLTStd-Bd, HelveticaNeueLTStd-Blk, HelveticaNeueLTStd-It, HelveticaNeueLTStd-Md, HelveticaNeueLTStd-Roman, MFCFranklinCornersFive-Regular, MFCFranklinCornersFive-Regular, MFCFranklinCornersFour-Regular, MFCFranklinCornersFour-Regular, MFCFranklinCornersSix-Regular, , MinionPro-Regular, MyriadPro-Bold, MyriadPro-It, MyriadPro-Regular, NewsGothicStd-Bold, NewsGothicStd-BoldOblique, NewsGothicStd-Oblique, NewsGothicStd, NuevaStd-Bold, NuevaStd-BoldCond, NuevaStd-Regular. [Google]

The Typographic Desk Reference
[Theodore Rosendorf]

The Typographic Desk Reference (Oak Knoll Press, New Castle, DE, 2009) is Theodore Rosendorf's useful reference guide of typographic terms and type classification. [Google]

Thibodeau's classification

In 1921, François Thibodeau, a French typographer, proposed a simple classification system based on serifs: triangular serifs are called Elzevir (or antique, as in Jenson and Garamond); rectangular serifs are found in the Didot family; then there are the Egyoptians with rectangular serifs on top and bottom of thickness equal to the stroke witdth; and finally there are the "Antiques" or sans-serif faces. See also here. [Google]

tipografia.com.br

Classification of typefaces. Great lists! [Google]

tipografias

Spanish language type blog and type jump and news site. It has excerpts of many type articles, and subpages on type history, type design type designers and type foundries. [Google]

Type classification

Dead link. Type classification by Kevin Woodward. A useful timeline is illustrated with many examples. [Google]

Type classification systems
[Joao Pedro Jacques]

Joao Pedro Jacques' Brazilian page listing type classification systems: Maximilien Vox (1954), ATypI (1961), DIN 16518 (1964), BS 2961 (1967), Monotype (1970), Bitstream (1986), Linotype (1988), Adobe (1991), Microsoft (1991), URW++ (1996), PANOSE Latin (1997). [Google]

Type Expertise

Denis Ravizza's type classification site. He calls himself the inventor of the "universal font classification system" (UFCS, patent pending). [Google]

Type Goemo
[Goetz Morgenschweis]

German language type site. Has a glossatry, type classification information, type measurement information, type history, type design information, the works. Link died. [Google]

Typedia

Typedia is a community website to classify typefaces and educate people about them. Think of it like a mix between IMDb and Wikipedia, but just for type. Anyone can join, add, and edit pages for typefaces or for the people behind the type. Site created and run by Jason Santa Maria, Mark Simonson, Liz Danzico, Dan Mall, Mark Huot, Brian Warren, Ethan Marcotte, Stephen Coles, Ryan Masuga, Aaron Gustafson, Garrett Murray, and John Langdon. [Google]

Typeface Primer

Thomas Wolff's great page on type classification. [Google]

Typeface primer
[Thomas Wolff]

Intro to type history and classification. By Thomas Wolff [Google]

Typefaces---a free tutorial
[John Magnik]

John Magnik's tutorial on typefaces and typographic terminology. Type classification. [Google]

Typo Knowledge Base (tkb)
[Kai F. Oetzbach]

A type portal managed by teachers and students at the Fachhochschule Aachen, Germany, in German. The page contains the basic rules of legibility and good typography. There is a historic timeline, a list of famous type designers, a list of famous typefaces, a timeline of the great typefaces, anatomy of a letter (glossary), lecture notes, and font downloads of fonts that were developed in the courses of K.F. Oetzbach. The latter include Fegron (Marcel Feiter) and Unperfekt, Semiperfekt and Sansperfekt (Niels Vollrath). Finally, there are many useful book reviews. The site was started by K. F. Oetzbach, André Berkmüler, Natascha Dell and Simon (Burschi) Becker. There are about 25 people participating in the growth of this type portal. K.F. Oetzbach is the codesigner in 2005-2006 with Natascha Dell at Fontfarm of several fonts. [Google]

Typograffiti

German page by Birgit Neumann on type classification and type measurements. [Google]

Typografie html-site

Dutch type site and blog, with a glossary, and explanations of the main styles of typefaces. It is run by Milena Spaan, Sandra Kassenaar and Maurits de Bruijn. The former two are students, and the latter is a teacher at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Arnhem. [Google]

Typografie.info

A German typography site with pages on classification, news, designers, a type glossary, and tutorials. Run by Ralf Hermann. [Google]

Typolex

Denis Potschien (Iserlohn, Germany) shows the history of type classification. In German. [Google]

URW++'s type classification system

Type classification system in seven groups proposed by URW++ in 1996:

• Roman Serif
  • Old Style
  • Transitional
  • Modern Style
  • Heavy Serif
  • Glyphic
  • Round
  • Roman Sans
• Linear Serif
  • Slab Serif
  • Glyphic
  • Round
• Linear Sans
  • Old Style
  • Transitional
  • Modern Style
  • Geometric
  • Round
  • Blackletter
• Script
  • Old Style
  • Modern Style
  • Freeform
  • Linear
  • Display
• Technical
  • Computer
  • Typewriter
  • Stencil
  • Traffic
• Non-Latin
• Symbols

Vincent F. Apicella

Vincent V. Apicella, Joanna V. Pomeranza and Nancy G. Wiatt co-authored The Concise Guide to Type Identification (1990, Lund Humphries, London), in which modern day types are classified, listed, and named. It contains equivalences between type names for various type manufacturers. Most importantly, it shows typeface equivalences for various typefaces from the phototype era. [Google]

Vox type classification
[Maximilien Vox]

In 1954, Maximilien Vox published his type classification system:

• Humane
• Garalde
• Réale
• Didone
• Mécane
• Linéale
• Incise
• Scripte
• Manuaire
• Fractures
• Non-Latines