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Defining feature: Each character occupies the same horizontal space.Most script fonts fall into the display category and are commonly used in identity work, for book covers and projects where a unique and authentic look is desired. For a more masculine scrawl, try Christopher Hand or Black Jack, while Adventure has a grounded and contemporary feel to it. However, Shelley and Bickham are ranked among the classics and are both very elegant. Bellissima is light and airy, and has been a hit for type studio Sudtipos. No script typeface has the profile of Times New Roman or DIN, for example. When looking for script fonts, designers usually seek a unique look and feel, and consequently this genre of typeface doesn't contain any big hitters. Many old-fashioned gothic or blackletter typefaces (such as Osgard Pro) mimic calligraphic lettering For example, many old-fashioned blackletter or gothic typefaces are made up of calligraphic lettering but don't attempt to join the letters together like the work of a scribe. It's worth emphasising that not all script typefaces mimic cursive writing. Meanwhile, older script fonts reflect the handwriting style of trained scribes or calligraphers, going right back to Claude Garamond’s 'grecs du roi' typeface designed in 1541. Others take the authenticity in the other direction, depicting more honest handwriting styles – scrawling, scratchy and practical-looking. Some contemporary script fonts attempt to replicate the natural flow of writing in a very elegant way, with swooshes and end strokes that swing back underneath the letters for emphasis. As a result, there are many different styles.
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Script fonts mimic the features you'd find in handwriting. See more: Our pick of the best script fonts.Defining feature: Mimics handwriting or calligraphy.For modern, minimal and accessible design, sans-serifs are the way forward. Erik Spiekermann's Meta is considered to be a Helvetica with personality, while Frutiger was an instant bestseller when introduced in 1977. Humanist typographers like Edward Johnston softened this approach by introducing width variation and conceding that, for instance, an O did not necessarily have to be a perfect circle and could be more readable and efficient as a narrower oval.Īfter his arrest, Renner fled to Switzerland where he influenced Swiss modernism, a movement that produced the mightiest sans-serif of them all: Helvetica. Renner and later Jan Tschichold believed that clean, efficient typefaces could be engineered using the basic building blocks of geometry – circles, triangles and squares.
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Sans-serif Johnston is full of genius touches The famous Hope poster promoting Barack Obama uses one of the world's most popular sans-serifs: Gotham. Designers find them particularly useful for posters, signs and digital screens. They’re popular in a corporate context, often regarded as the typefaces of ‘big tech’. The absence of narrow and fiddly serifs mean they function better on screens, making them excellent for websites, apps and on-screen identities. Originally designed for display purposes, sans-serif typefaces have been refined to work well as body copy and other layout elements such as captions and annotations.
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The rapier-thin serifs of Bodoni are a feature that excite type designers who use it. Not all serifs feel classic – Monotype's Rockwell is both strong and unsentimentalĪlongside the X-height, proportions, contrast (thickness of the vertical and horizontal strokes), serifs offer typographers a fantastic way to give their creations… character.
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