What’s a font? A typeface? And is there a difference?
I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve heard the question: “what font is that?” The stickler in me would love to respond: “Shouldn’t you technically be asking ‘what typeface is that?’”
Nowadays, the two terms are used interchangeably. However, in the past, these were two very distinct terms.
Origins of type
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To really understand the difference between the two, you need to know a little bit of history behind creating type.
Way back before the advent of computers, typefaces were created using little pieces of metal. These pieces had to then be individually placed on a tray to create your layout and printed on a printing press. So, when you were referring to “fonts” you were talking about that piece of metal with one style and one size of font. So fonts were of a particular face, size and style. Back then, if you were talking about Arial 14 point or Arial 24 point, you were in fact talking about 2 completely different fonts.
Through the years, there have been hand-set fonts, machine-set fonts, phototype fonts, and now digital fonts (includes Postscript, True Type, and OpenType. They are either bitmap fonts or vector fonts.)
One thing has not changed throughout type history: creating type has always been a two-part process. A type foundry creates the fonts and we as designers use the typefaces in our documents.
Within a particular typeface there are various fonts from which to choose: different styles (bold, italic, etc…) and sizes (14, 24, 36, etc.).
And then everything changed…
With the advent of computers, “fonts” and “typefaces” became synonymous. So interchangeable the two terms have become that most computer programs have a “font” menu. They also have “font styles” where you can click and bold or italicize your letters.
However, when you are dealing with printers or service bureaus, you quickly see the difference between the two. To them, the terms cannot be interchangeable.
We frequently think that by clicking bold or italics, then our file will print correctly. Printers prefer when you send the actual bold font of your typeface (ex: Helvetica Bold) NOT when you simply bold a typeface. In this case, you have to send the printer font to them to ensure the file prints correctly.
Etymology:
- “Font” derives from a French word meaning “casting” or “molding”.
- “Type” comes from the Greek “typos” which translates loosely as “letterform”.
How do they come up with those typeface names?
- By designer: Baskerville, Bodoni, Frutiger
- By type foundry: ITC, Linotype
- By geography: by country (Caledonia, Helvetica) or by city (Chicago, Paris, New York)
- By era: Century, Modern N.20
- Historical figure: Leonardo, Renoir
- How it’s used / function: oldstyle, handwriting, titling, etc…
- By type: by incorporating sans, serif, script in the name
- By look or mood: grunge, jazz
- It’s a compound of 2 ways: Zapf Renaissance (designer / era)
- Sometimes, it’s just a name: Futura, Times New Roman
To recap:
A font is supposed to be a physical thing. It is what is needed to display the typefaces. Whether it is the computer code, photographic film, or metal plates.
A Typeface is the shape of each character in a group of characters. It’s the letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation, etc…
A family is a group of typefaces designed to work together. It’s basically all the possible variations of a single typeface. Each is a separate file.
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