1. Typographic History & Classification

2. Major Classifications in the History of Typographic Evolution
BlackLetter: Serifs, narrow and thick stroke, highly decorative (Blackmoor LET)

3. Blackletters Johannes Gutenberg, 1455, Mainz, Germany
Examples:
American Uncial, Cloister Black, Duc de Berry, Fette Fraktur, FF Johannes G, Goudy Text, Kelmscott, Old English Text
Fashioned after the popular local scribal handwriting style of the time
Narrow, thick stems cause a strong vertical presence
Used for text in Germany until WWII
Now used primarily as a display type; highly decorative

6. Old Style – Humanist (Venetian Old Style)
Named after the first Roman typefaces that appeared in Venice, Italy, around 1470.
Adobe Jenson Pro, Berkeley Oldstyle, Centaur MT, Cloister URW T, Deepdene URW T, Jenson Classico, Stratford, ITC Souvenir, True Golden
Mixed style of roman and italic handwriting
Organic, rounded, medium to heavy strokes; low contrast
Lowercase e has a slanted crossbar

7. Old Style – Old Style (Garalde Old Style)
began with the designs from the punchcutter Francesco Griffo, who worked for the famous Venetian scholar-printer Aldus Manutius during the 1490s.
Bembo, Caslon Classico, Caxton, Goudy Old Style, Minion Pro, Adobe Original Garamond, Palatino, Times New Roman, Centaur, Bembo, Jenson, Garamond, Caslon
Still organic, but more precise
Ascenders of lowercase letters are usually taller than cap height
Lowercase e has a horizontal crossbar

8. Transitional
Typefaces from the middle eighteenth century; between old style and modern
(John) Baskerville, Cheltenham, Cochin, Corona, Electra LH, Mrs. Eaves, Perpetua, Stone Serif, Versailles
Vertical stress and slightly higher contrast than old style typefaces, combined with horizontal serifs.

9. Modern (Didone) late 1700s and early 1800s
Bodoni EF, Bernhard Modern, Craw Modern, De Vinne, Fenice, Linotype Didot, Modern No 216, Walbaum, Didot, Bodoni, Walbaum
strong geometric quality projected by rigorous horizontal, vertical, and circular forms
extreme contrasts between thick and thin strokes
have narrow set widths, lightly bracketed or unbracketed serifs, short x-height ratios, and a vertical angle of stress

10. Egyptian
Egyptian typefaces emerged as display type in Victorian advertisements in the nineteenth century.
American Typewriter, Antique, Chaparral Pro, Clarendon, PT Courier, Egyptienne F, Memphis, Stymie, Volta
heavy, horizontal aesthetic of ancient Egyptian art, architecture, and hieroglyphics
heavy, squared serifs
low contrast
vertical angle of stress

11. Sans Serif 1816; Gained popularity in the early twentieth century
Akzidenz-Grotesk, Eurostile, Frutiger, Futura, Gill Sans, Helvetica, Kabel, Myriad Pro, Optima, Univers
Grotesque: tall x-height, narrow-moderate set width, slightly squarish (Helvetica, Akzidenz-Grotesk, and Univers)
Geometric: geometric shape, wide set width, capital A generally has a pointed apex, the lowercase a is often single story, and the lowercase g is usually open-tailed (Futura, Kabel, and Eurostile)
Humanist: organic feel, the lowercase a and lowercase g are usually double story. The capital A generally has a squared-off apex, and the capitcal G usually has no spur (Gill Sans, Frutiger, Optima)

12. Decorative & Display Type
Script Type: based on handwriting (Brush Script, Dom Casual, Kunstler, Linoscript, Mistral, Shelley Script, Streamline, Tekton, Type Upright, Zapfino)
Pixel Fonts: for digital display (Chicago, Geneva, Lucida Sans, Monaco, New York, Charcoal, Fixsys, Lo Res)