Typography-History & Anatomy (summary)

Typography is the knowledge of creating and organizing letters, words, sentences & paragraphs to communicate an idea.

Another well-known definition states:
Typography is the study of the printed page.

The invention of movable type by Johannes Gutenberg (c.1455) marks the beginning of the history of the printed page. Although letterforms were standardized for the first time with Gutenberg, his aim was to print a book that looked like the hand-written books of the time. He used Textura (a.k.a Textur) –a type of Blackletter, widely used in the Medieval period.


Printing quickly spread across Europe, Rome and then to Venice, where Nicholas Jenson –a printer and type-caster, cut a new typeface that will have significant influence on other typefaces which were to be created from then on.
Jenson's reference was the Humanist Script (scrittura humanistica) which was itself derived from the Carolingian Minuscule of the 8th c.

Emperor Charlemagne, in the 8th c, issued an edict to standardize writing. The Alcuin of York, supervised a large group of monks to rewrite all the ecclesiastical and secular texts. This script, called the 'Carolingian Minuscule' set the standard for calligraphy for a century.

With the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire came regional variations upon Alcuin's script. A condensed, strongly vertical letterform known as blackletter gained popularity and it remained the standard script for almost 500 years.

With the Renaissance, an enthusiastic revival of classical culture began. In the south, scholars were rediscovering, analyzing, and popularizing Roman and Greek texts. Their sources were written in Alcuin's Carolingian minuscule, which they mistakenly believed to be that of the ancient authors. Scribes adapted to the Caroline as they copied the manuscripts, calling it 'scrittura humanistica' –humanist script.

Jenson's most important achievement was to unite the uppercase (majuscule) and the lowercase (minuscule) letters in one alphabet. Rather than separate styles, they were now 'a set sharing the same design characteristics'.

Another Venetian printer –Aldus Manutius, and his type-caster Francisco Griffo, took Jenson's achievement one step further. Bembo, a typeface cut by Griffo, not only united the lowercase and uppercase better, but also standardized the form of the letters creating an extremely consistent color and texture on the page. Bembo is an epitome of the Old Style type category.
Aldus Manutius is also the inventor of the italic style. It was possible to fit more copy on one page with letters cut in this style, and Manutius used it in 'pocket books'.

As a category, Old Style typefaces exhibit a move away from calligraphy towards rationalized system of letterforms. Although they still bare a visual link to hand-writing, they are based on the design of punches for typefounding rather than pen on paper. Other important design characteristics are: Humanist axis, oblique stress (reminiscent of hand-writing & the broad-nib pen), moderate contrast, bracketed serifs, small x-height, and large aperture.


Compared to the Old Style, the Transitional typefaces follow a more mathematical system. They redefine the alphabet as a rational system of parts. Design characteristics are: Usually vertical stress (or barely inclined); generous counters and x-height; greater contrast than Old Syle; and, less rounded serifs.

printed by John Baskerville, 1757.

Modern typefaces are another move towards the standardization and idealization of letterforms. They show high precision. The stress angle is strictly vertical. The serifs are attached horizontally with no brackets, and are not thicker than hairlines. As a common characteristic, Moderns have sharp visual contrast.

printed by Giambattista Bodoni, 1818.

Egyptians or Slab Serifs have developed parallel for the need for advertising, posters & flyers in the early 1900s. They have strong, horizontal and geometric serifs. There is little or no contrast in the strokes, all strokes are in uniform width.
Clarendon is a bracketed version of the Egyptian style. As bold letters became increasingly popular, a need for ‘text size’ faces suitable for book typography appeared and the result was Clarendon.


The most obvious characteristic of San Serifs is the absence of serifs. Generally strokes are uniform, with little or no contrast between them. The stress angle is always vertical. Variations tend towards either humanist forms (Gill Sans) or rigidly geometric (Futura).

All typefaces that cannot be assigned to any other group – historic, decorative or experimental typefaces, are usually classified as Display. They are not suitable for continuous reading, but they have great expressive power, and the ability to take viewers’ attention.

Script typefaces are based on handwritten (cursive) letterforms and are not to be confused with italics. The individual letters are designed to ‘touch’ in order to create a flowing, cursive effect.