Typeface Basics: San Serif

San Serif typefaces are relatively new forms. Starting to appear in the late 19th century, San Serif type was not widely used until the early part of the 20th century. Alas the day of digital publishing. All of the first "screen fonts" were San Serif for ease of legibility; keep in mind most people were starring at a green screen. San Serif type varies like skin color. There are no defined categories, however. So, to examine San Serif as a category were going to look a some popular and not so popular typeface families.

Geometry

By their nature, San Serif typefaces have strong geometrical form. That aspect of this category can make it more tiring for a person to read large blocks of text set in a San Serif face. With careful techniques this can be avoided. Adjust leading and use the right weights that are designed for reading paragraphs, usually referred to as roman or normal weight. San Serif fonts are versatile and multitudes of weights and widths make them flexible.

The Good & Not So

There are many nice nuances in typefaces, and that remains true for San Serif type. Have a close look at industria to the right. The family that is industria includes only two versions of the type, regular and inline, which is a type of stroked font that should only be used in large point sizes. With the limitations of only two weights, industria would not be appropriate for body copy, or paragraphs. That doesn’t mean that industria has no use. The unique form that industria has makes it useful in logos, banner text or headlines. it is a font that shouldn’t be over used, but is enjoyable to see when used effectively.

Now for a type face that i will not, and have never used. Optima is one of those variable width stroke San Serif font. i call it a tween font, because it wants to remove it’s feet without having lost its calligraphic quality, variable stroke widths. in the example, notice the Serif Type qualities. That makes this face a nightmare to pair with another font. Try to avoid these situations at all costs. i’m sure it’s installed in your fonts folder; just be aware of Optima type and others like it.

The Abused

Ariel and Helvetica are also San Serif typeface designs. They were created for multiple uses, but now they have there application on the web as screen fonts. The reason? Just about every single computer running in this world has one, or more likely both, installed. This is great for web designers because they know that Ariel and/or Helvetica can be counted on. But on the same note, everyone and their brother are using them to create their garage sale flyers, and professional designers need not be confused for desktop publishers using text edit. Helvetica Nue is a take off of the original Helvetica and it has it’s differences, as well as more weight and fitting types in the family; use them.

The Gala

i have posted a few more examples, just to show off a couple of my favorites.

Let me know what your’s are. Got a blog? Let me know that too.

Until Script, Speak Graphically.