Page 37 - final flipbook

Old style type is characterized by a lack of large differences between thick and

thin lines (low line contrast) and generally, but less often, by a diagonal stress (the

thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom). An
old-style font normally has a left-inclining curve axis with weight stress at about 8

and 2 o'clock; serifs are almost always bracketed (they have curves connecting the
serif to the stroke); head serifs are often angled.

Old-style faces evolved over time, showing increasing abstraction from what
would now be considered handwriting and blackletter characteristics, and often

increased delicacy or contrast as printing technique improved. Old-style faces have
often sub-divided into Venetian (or humani Nonetheless, some have argued that

the difference is excessively abstract, hard to spot except to specialists and implies a
clearer separation between styles than originally appeared. Modern typefaces such

as Arno and Trinité may fuse both styles.

Adobe Garamond, an example of an old-style serif.
Figure 1

b. Serif Transitional

Transitional, or baroque, serif typefaces first became common around the mid-18th
century until the start of the nineteenth. They are in between "old style" and "modern" fonts,
thus the name "transitional". Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced

than they are in old style, but less dramatic than they are in the Didone fonts that followed.
Stress is more likely to be vertical, and often the "R" has a curled tail. The ends of many
strokes are marked not by blunt or angled serifs but by ball terminals. Transitional faces often

have an italic h that opens outwards at bottom right. Because the genre bridges styles, it is
difficult to define where the genre starts and ends. Many of the most popular transitional

designs are later creations in the same style. 37