Infographic: a brief history of typefaces

There are so many fonts out there which you can choose and use in your design projects. Have you ever wondered what is the story behind different typefaces, their classification and characteristics?

But, first of all let’s understand the difference between typefaces and fonts. In simple words it sounds like this:

A typeface is a family of fonts (very often by the same designer). Within a typeface there will be fonts of varying weights or other variations. E.g., light, bold, semi-bold, condensed, italic, etc. Each such variation is a different font.

The difference between these 2 terms is pretty subtle, but once you get it, it will help you make educated design decisions and choose the best fonts for your projects. To better understand it you can think about this analogy: a typeface is like a song and a font is like a recording. One is the definition, the other is an instance.

Here is an example: this is Garamond typeface (created around 400 years ago). Today you can buy Garamond font from lots of diverse sources. Each of these is a different font but they’re all the same typeface.

Now, let’s get back to our infographic. It illustrates the history of typefaces according to different periods of time and characteristics of their design.

This infographic was inspired by “A history of typeface styles & type classification“. Feel free to spread the word if you like it.