Categories of Type

There are many thousands of typefaces available to the graphic designer. Computer applications have made it easier for amateurs to design type as well. Despite all the variety of fonts and typefaces out there, it is still possible to sort them all into six basic categories. Before you become aware of the contrasts between type designs, you should become aware of the similarities between them first. Why? because it is the similarities that cause the conflict in type combinations.

Here are the six groups we are going to focus on.

This graphic shows the different strokes that make up a letter (ascenders and descenders). The x-height refers to the height of the main body of the lowercase letter-forms.