A font family is a group of related fonts. While a typeface is a set of design features for letters and other characters, a font is the variation in weight and size of a typeface. font and what the terms mean so you can use these terms effectively and look like a pro! Illustration by OrangeCrush Typeface vs. In this article we’ll go over the differences between typeface vs. Typefaces and fonts are as important in design and branding as they’ve ever been, and understanding these terms’ historical meanings as well as current applications enables you to accurately articulate what you want in a design. And it’s a nuanced difference that can sometimes be confusing.
Although the words are often used interchangeably, there’s a difference between a typeface vs. Want to brush up on more typography terms and skills? Go back to the basics with my class, Typography: the Fundamentals.A typeface is the same thing as a font, right? Not exactly. Examples of differing degrees of legibility.Ī very legible typeface such as ITC Flora (left) is made less readable (right) by how it is typeset. Factors affecting readability include point size, line spacing (or leading), letter spacing, word spacing, line length, and alignment. Readability, on the other hand, relates to how the type is set or arranged. The legibility of a typeface is determined by the characteristics of the design, including x-height, character shapes, width, stroke contrast, the size of the counters, and weight – all of which contribute to the ease of distinguishing one letter from another. Readability refers to how the typeface is arranged. Legibility refers to the design of the typeface. These two terms both relate to ease of reading from a typographic perspective. (right) The capital B is a different character. (left) The lowercase b character is represented by four glyphs in Jenson italic: the standard b, an alternate, a small cap, and the superscript. This is a collection of glyphs representing the character a.
However, a cap N and an italic n are different characters. For example, a lowercase n character may be represented by glyphs of a standard lowercase n, a small cap n, and a swash n. In addition, more than one glyph can represent one character in the same font. The character a can be represented by many glyphs set in different typefaces. …and this is a showing of Garamond Condensed, a typeface design.Ī character is the symbol representing a letter.Ī glyph is the specific shape, design, or representation of a character. To summarize, designers select typefaces for their work, but then use fonts to create the actual document or design. Each point size of a given typeface – such as 8 point, 10 point, 12 point – is considered a different font. In metal, a font refers to every character included in a single size of a particular typeface. In phototype typography, which preceded digital technology, a font refers to the film onto which the typeface is imprinted.
Today’s digital fonts are created with font production tools these fonts are considered to be software. Typeface refers to the style, or design, of a set of characters (such as the Helvetica, Bodoni, or Times Roman typefaces).įont, on the other hand, refers to the technology – or method – used to reproduce or set the typeface. Many people who use fonts everyday have begun to say “font” when they really mean “typeface.” The words in each pair are related, but they refer to different things – and they are not interchangeable. In this blog post, we will shed light on three pairs of words that are widely misused. In the world of type and design, there are a number of typography terms that are either commonly confused with other terms, or are simply misunderstood in their own right.
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