It takes Old Style a step further, eliminating all remaining traces of handwritten calligraphy in favor of a fully mechanical look (the Enlightenment was all about ditching tradition and celebrating invention). This style came about in the Enlightenment period (18th century). _ Left to right: Baskerville, Times New Roman and Georgia typefaces Though its name might suggest otherwise, most people would find Old Style the first modern-looking typeface.Įxamples: Goudy Old Style, Palantino, Cheltenham 4. The horizontal axis becomes more prominent (no more sloped cross-bars on the “e,” for instance), while italics emerge for the first time. More sophisticated molding technology allowed for greater contrast between thick and thin strokes and more delicate serif tails. Old Style type was the first style to emerge in the era of movable type letterpress printing (late 15th century), rather than calligraphy and scribes.

_ Left to right: Goudy Old Style, Palantino and Cheltenham typefaces The median height of its letters is distinctively low which has caused it to fall out of popularity nowadays.Įxamples: Centaur, Adobe Jenson, Verona SB 3. It is much lighter and less blocky than Blackletter, making it a lot easier to read by today’s standards. This typeface style emerged around 1460 and was based on the script style of Italian humanist thinkers. _ Left to righ: Centaur, Adobe Jenson and Verona SB typefaces The tall, narrow, sharp and blocky Blackletter emerged in solution.Īlso known as: Gothic, Block, Fraktur, Textura, Old English 2. When books became more popular with the rise of universities, scribes needed a more efficient typeface than Carolingian-something easier to write and more dense, so more type could fit on a single page. It is the direct descendent of Carolingian minuscule, which itself came from Uncial script. It emerged in Europe in the middle ages (around 1150 AD) and stuck around well into the 17th century – especially in Germany. _ Left to right: Uncial script, Carolingian miniscule, Blackletter typefacesīlackletter is the oldest typeface style that still has significant echoes in modern type.

You may notice many of these old styles echoed in the modern type we see today. Now without further delay, let’s dive into the most fascinating chapter of all: the evolution of typeface style, leading right up to the massive array of fonts we have to choose from now. Over the past few weeks, we have gone over basic key terms in typography and explored the history of type technology. By now, you have probably realized that we at 99designs are totally smitten with the alphabet – arguably the longest ongoing graphic design project in human history.

Best gothic fonts all time