Often, what people either love or hate about TNR is the same: its apathetic neutrality. Times New Roman, like many widely-used fonts that have been around for a while, is a polarizing typeface that is loved by many but loathed by some as well. If you’re looking for an alternative to Baskerville that maintains its 200-year-old richness while being updated for legibility on-screen, Bookerly could be a good solution. That being said, when Baskerville is given the opportunity to express its quality, it’s an excellent serif typeface.Ī good example of a modern, digital typeface that Baskerville has heavily influenced is the typeface that Amazon has commissioned for the Kindle, Bookerly. The details incorporated into each letterform make Baskerville unsuitable for low-resolution mediums, including low-resolution displays or bad printers. This history is significant, as Baskerville has been adapted to the various mediums we work in today. The typeface could only be printed on his own machines to ensure that the letterforms be transferred correctly to the page. The designer, John Baskerville, was an intense perfectionist and thus created a font with beautiful detail. Baskerville has succeeded due to its noticeably high-contrast letterforms.

Baskerville was designed in a transitional period between the first typeset faces (Bodoni and Didot) and the 19th- and 20th-century typefaces to come. Baskervilleīaskerville is one of the classic serifs that has stood the test of time and is still in wide use today. Each typeface has its own specific qualities, and there are some serif typefaces that aren’t really suitable for large chunks of body text (and some sans-serif typefaces that are perfectly legible and readable for long-form works). Because of this, serifs are still generally the go-to typeface for printed works such as books or reports, though it’s not an absolute rule. Essentially, serifs allow for more comfortable reading at length, as the serifs guide the eye smoothly from character to character, making the serif ideal for long-form printed works.

Generally, serifs have a longer history than san serifs, as they were the first typefaces used to print books following the invention of the Gutenberg Press. Even some of the fonts originally designed for screens have become outdated as displays and printers become higher resolution and capable of displaying more complex shapes accurately. Thus, there have been many alternatives or updates created since they were introduced. Each of the typefaces in this article is decades, if not centuries old, and were all designed for different technological contexts. Some of the most influential typefaces in use today are often overlooked in favor of unique typeface designs that are newer to the market-and sometimes rightly so. Do most designers even know about the original industrial contexts for which various typefaces were designed? What do these contexts and histories mean for determining the legibility, appropriate character, and use of a given typeface? No matter what design discipline one is working in-whether it’s visual design or UX or traditional print design, typefaces are essential elements of virtually every bit of design produced.

But how many people ever really notice the typeface styles they’re surrounded by every day?Įven designers underappreciate typefaces and often form type decisions on loosely-based opinion rather than objective understanding. From the apps on their phones to the grooming products in their bathrooms to the signs they see on their morning commute, typography is everywhere. The vast majority of people are bombarded with typefaces from the moment they wake up in the morning until the moment they go to bed at night.

Garamond humanist typeface