Still searching for the perfect font or ornament for this year’s Christmas cards or holiday party invitations? Allow us to come to the rescue! Before you give up hope, make sure to visit our new X-Mas Font Feature page. Here we’ve collected images showing great ways to use a number of appropriate text, headline, and symbol fonts. We are sure to have the style you are looking for!
The repetition of simple geometric shapes forms a daily part of our environment. Throughout the 20th century – and into the 21st – typefaces whose designs have taken advantage of this have remained popular. But finding exactly the right mood can be tricky. For your convenience, we have grouped some of our favorite geometric typefaces (mostly sans serif and symbol) into four categories: circles, squares, ovals, and triangles.
Introduction
Many typeface catalogs, including our own, group all serif typefaces together under one umbrella-category. But in truth, there are many different kinds of serifs, e.g., Renaissance serifs, baroque serifs, unbracketed modern serifs, Latin serifs, wedge serifs, etc. One of the most popular styles of seriffed letter, especially for display type, remains the slab serif.
The slab serif is a genre of letterforms that has been in use for almost 200 years. Throughout this time, many
[...]John Baskerville – born 28. 1. 1706 in Wolverley, Worcestershire, England, died 8. 1. 1775 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England – type designer, writing master, printer.
1725: moves to Birmingham. 1733–37: writing master in Birmingham. 1750: sets up his own type foundry and printing works. 1757: his first printed book is published, an edition of Virgil. 1758: publishes an edition of John Milton’s "Paradise Lost". 1758: appointed printer to the University of Cambridge. Here he produces
[...]William Caslon I:
William Caslon I – born 1692 in Cradley, Worcestershire, England, died 1766 in Bethnal Green, England – engraver, type founder, type designer.
1706: begins a seven-year apprenticeship as an engraver with a London harness-maker. 1716: self-employed engraver. 1721: the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge commissions Caslon to cast Arabic alphabets. 1725: sets up his own type foundry. 1734: Caslon’s first one-page specimen is produced which illustrates 47 of his
[...]Richard Isbell, a contemporary graphic designer and type designer of Detroit, Michigan, created the fonts Americana® (1965) and ITC Isbell® (1981, with Jerry Cambell). He designed Americana in honor of the then upcoming U.S. Bicentennial. The most distinguishing feature about Americana is its extremely large x-height. The letter proportions are very wide, with short ascenders and descenders. Americana works well for short texts, such as headlines or ad copy.
ITC Isbell, is a highly
[...]Biography of Akira Kobayashi:
Studied at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, and later followed this up with a calligraphy course at the London College of Printing. Freelance type designer since 1997.
Professional experience
April 1983–March 1989
Sha-ken Co. Ltd, Japan Typeface design department
December 1990–June 1993
Jiyu-kobo Ltd, Japan
September 1993–March 1997
TypeBank Co. Ltd, Japan
March 1997–April 2001
Freelance type designer
April 1998–April
[...]Herb Lubalin (Herbert Frederick) – born 17. 3. 1918 in New York, USA, died 24. 5. 1981 in New York, USA – graphic designer, typographer, type designer, teacher.
1936–39: studies at the Cooper Union in New York. 1939: produces work for the world exhibition in New York. Art director for Deutsch & Shea Advertising (1941–42), Fairchild Publications (1942–43) and Reiss Advertising (1943–45). 1945: vice-president of Sudler & Hennesey Inc. in New York. 1964–69: founds Herb Lubalin Inc. in New York.
[...]Peter Matthias Noordzij – born 27.1.1961 in The Hague, The Netherlands – typographer, type designer, teacher.
1980–85: studies at the Koninklijke Academie vor Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague. Courses include lettering under his father, Gerrit Noordzij. 1983: produces preliminary sketches for his PMN Caecilia™ typeface during his third year of study. 1985–86: period of practical training at a printing works. 1986: starts working as a typographer. Clients include the publishers Querido,
[...]Neville Brody – born 23. 4. 1957 in London, England – graphic designer, art director, type designer.
1975: studies painting at Hornsey College and from 1976–79 at the London College of Printing. Numerous record covers. 1981–86: art director of the English magazine "The Face". 1983–87: covers for the London magazine "City Limits". 1987–90: works for the "Arena" magazine. Art director for the magazines "Per Lui" and "Lei" of the Condé Nast Publications in Milan and the French magazine
[...]Matthew Carter – born 1. 10. 1937 in London, England – type designer.
1956: trains as a punch cutter in the Netherlands. 1963–65: typography consultant for Crossfield Electronics. 1965: moves to the USA and works for Mergenthaler-Linotype in New York. 1971: moves back to England where he continues to work for Linotype. 1980–84: typography consultant to Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. 1981: the Royal Society of Arts make him a Royal Designer for Industry. 1981: he and Mike Parker set up
[...]Georg Belwe – born 12. 8. 1878 in Berlin, Germany, died 1954 in Ronneburg, Germany – typographer, type designer, teacher. Studied at the Königliches Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin.
1900: founds the Steglitzer Werkstatt with F. H. Ehmcke and F. W. Kleukens. Joins the Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin as a teacher. 1906: head of the typography department and the class for accurate drawing at the Leipzig Akademie für graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe. Has produced much work for publishing houses,
[...]Ed (Ephram Edward) Benguiat, born 27. 10. 1927 in New York, USA, type designer, calligrapher. Studied at Columbia University, New York and the Workshop School of Advertising Art, New York.
1953: associate director of "Esquire" magazine. Opens his own design studio in New York. 1962: joins Photo-Lettering Inc. as typographic design director, a position he still holds today. 1970: joins the International Typeface Corporation and is made vice-president; he works on the in-house magazine
[...]The designer Kim Buker Chansler created the fonts Birch™ (1990), Cottonwood™ (1991, with Barbara Lind and Joy Redick), Pepperwood™ (1994), Ponderosa™ (1990), Rosewood™ (1994) and Zebrawood™. Pepperwood™, Ponderosa™, Rosewood™ and Zebrawood™ are joint works of Kim Buker Chansler, Carl Crossgrove and Carol Twombly.
Birch is based on a Latin Condensed wood type found in a 1879 William Page specimen book. The font is a particularly legible condensed display typeface notable for its angled
[...]The designer Arthur Baker created the following fonts: Amigo™, Baker Signet™, Kigali™, Marigold™, Oxford™, Pelican™, Sassafras™, Visigoth™.
John Benson – born 1939 in Newport, Rhode Island, USA – lettering artist, stonecarver.
John Benson has designed and carved headstones, civic and memorial tablets, and architectural lettering since he graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design as a sculpture major. In 1964, he was commissioned to design and carve the inscriptions for the Kennedy Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. John Benson created inscriptions for famous buildings such as the Prudential Center in Boston, the National
[...]Colin Brignall – born 1940 in Warwickshire, England – photographer, type designer, art director. Started work as photographer for the fashion trade, the press and industry.
1964: joins the Letraset Type Studio as photographic technician. Since 1974: type designer for Letraset International. Since 1980: type director for Esselte Letraset in London.
Fonts: Countdown™ (1965), Aachen™ (1969), Premier™ Lightline (1969), Revue™ (1969), Premier™ shaded (1970), Superstar™ (1970), Octopuss™
[...]Margaret Calvert (born 1936) created the font Calvert™ as a contemporary interpretation of the slab serif style (less mechanistic than many, owing more to humanist letterforms) in 1980.
Calvert Font Family is part of the Monotype Library OpenType Edition.
Tom Carnase – born 1939 – typographer, type designer, teacher, graphic designer.
1959: after completing his studies, Carnase joins the agency Sudler & Hennessey Inc. in New York. 1964–68: freelance designer. Opens the studio Bonder & Carnase Inc. (WTC). 1969–79: vice-president and partner of the agency Lubalin, Smith, Carnase Inc. 1979: opens the Carnase Computer Typography studio. 1980: co-founder and president of the World Typeface Center Inc., an independent type design agency.
[...]The designer Erich Gschwind created the font ITC Avant Garde Gothic® in 1977 (with André Gürtler and Christian Mengelt).
American designer Joel Kaden designed 1974 the font ITC American Typewriter™ together with Tony Stan. It is an ode to the invention that shaped reading habits and the idea of legibility, the typewriter. A compromise between the rigidity of its ancestor and the expectations of the digital age, ITC American Typewriter retains the typical typewriter alphabet forms, lending the font a hint of nostalgia.
Designer Christian Mengelt (born 1938) created the font ITC Avant Garde Gothic® in 1977 (with André Gürtler and Erich Gschwind).
Designer Joy Redick created the following fonts: Blackoak™ (1990), Cottonwood™ (1991, with Barbara Lind and Kim Buker Chansler), Ironwood™ (1990), Juniper™ (1990), Mesquite™ (1990), Willow™ (1990), Woodtype™ Ornaments (with Barbara Lind, 1990).
Robert Slimbach was born in 1956 in Evanston, Illinois, USA.
Shortly after, he arrived in South California where he spent his childhood and his youth.
After leaving college he developed an interest in graphic design and typefaces while running a small screen printshop for manufacturing posters and greeting cards. This work brought him into contact with "Autologic Incorporation" in Newbury Park, CA.
After training from 1983 to 1985, Robert Slimbach worked as a font designer with
[...]The contemporary New York letter and type designer Tony Stan was born 1917 and died 1988. He created the following fonts: ITC American Typewriter™ (1974, with Joel Kaden), ITC Garamond™ (1977), ITC Cheltenham® (1978), ITC Century® (1980), ITC Berkeley Old Style™ (1983).
Jill Bell Design is involved in many forms of letter crafting: calligraphy and signpainting, handlettering, logotypes and icons for advertising, packaging and entertainment, as well as type design. She has designed and/or digitized fonts for ITC, Adobe, Agfa/Monotype and for clientele such as Disney and Johnson & Johnson. Her designs are informed by her broad knowledge of letter creation: from ancient inscriptions and writing through contemporary graffiti and tagging, and from diverse cultural
[...]German designer Hermann Zapf created the following fonts:
Aldus® (1954), Aldus Nova (2005), Aurelia™ (1983), Comenius® Antiqua BQ (1976), Edison™ (1978), Kompakt™ (1954), Marconi® (1976), Medici® Script (1971), Melior® (1952), Noris Script® (1976), Optima® (1958), Optima nova (2002), Orion™ (1974), Palatino™® (1950), Palatino nova (2005), Palatino™ Sans (2006), Saphir™ (1953), Sistina® (1950), Vario™ (1982), Venture™ (1969), Virtuosa® Classic (2009),
[...]The type foundry Otto Weisert in Stuttgart created Kalligraphia (1902) and Arnold Boecklin™ (1904).
Traces of the floral forms of the Jugendstil can still be seen in Arnold Boecklin. Alphabets of this type were mainly meant for larger point sizes, as on posters. A decorative feel was much more important than legibility and Arnold Boecklin was of particular importance to the book design of the Jugendstil movement. Today the font is often used to remind people of ‘the good old
[...]British designer Jeremy Tankard began Blue Island™ in 1996 with the idea of creating a completely ligature-based roman typeface, an original but complex task that took years to realize. Individually, Blue Island's letters can appear a bit dismembered, but when set together, they are clearly transformed into words which fall in waves down the page. Successfully balancing readability with intriguing decorative forms, Blue Island is especially effective for titling. As for its romantic name, Blue
[...]Designer Richard Lipton created the font Bickham Script™ in 2000. Bickham Script is a flowing, formal script typeface based on the lettering of 18th century writing masters, as rendered in the unparalleled engravings of George Bickham. This ornate script lends a signature flourish to invitations, menus, annual reports, restaurant logos, and packaging. With dozens of alternate letterforms in addition to its range of weights, Bickham Script's personality can range from poised to
[...]Designer Gabriel Martínez Meave created Arcana™ in 2003.
Arcana Manuscript is a calligraphic exploration of the Victorian gothic aesthetic that created literary classics such as Frankenstein and Dracula. Gabriel Martínez Meave first wrote with a fountain pen, then digitized the results to create this unique typeface. “Arcana” takes its name from the ultimate secrets that lie behind astrology, alchemy, and magic. In gothic novels, such secrets were written in forbidden books,
[...]Robin Nicholas’s early training as an apprentice draftsman let his natural artistic talent fuse with the accuracy and attention to detail required in technical drawing. Typeface design is a similar blend of right- and left-brain activities. Happily for those of us who use fonts, Nicholas’s career path took a turn when he joined the Monotype Type Drawing Office in 1965.
After a period of training at Monotype, Nicholas’s first projects involved redrawing master artwork for typefaces licensed
[...]Lynne Garell created the map font Carta™ in 1986. Carta’s development began with the study of a variety of maps from sources such as the U.S. Geological Survey and National Geographic. A diverse set of symbols, Carta can be used in city planning, travel, socio-economic, and survey maps.
Founded by Cynthia Hollandsworth Batty in the mid-1980s with the goal of creating new typefaces. There was some collaboration with the calligrapher Arthur Baker.
Find further Font Features in our Font Feature Archive.
The renowned British designer Matthew Carter has worked as a type designer for over 40 years. His designs are suitable for an astonishing array of applications; many of them are already world-famous and the recipients of countless awards.
More about the fonts:
Bell Centennial
Bell Centennial font was created by Matthew Carter in 1976 for the American telephone company Bell. Its bold, clear characters make it an extremely legible and distinctive font.
Cascade Script™
Cascade Script
[...]Superstar British designer Neville Brody has created typefaces that revolutionized the industry over the past two decades. These classics naturally have a sound place in the Linotype Libray.
More about the fonts:
Arcadia™
Arcadia was originally designed as the banner for Arena magazine in 1986. 1990 it was released as a font by Linotype GmbH.
Borrowing elements from Art Deco styling, Arcadia is a tall and striking geometric design with extremely condensed and contrasting forms. The
[...]Japanese designer Akira Kobayashi is Type Director at Linotype. Since joining Linotype, he has been responsible for the futher development of classic typefaces like Avenir, Optima, and Zapfino. He has created numerous typefaces of his own, many of which have received prizes from all across the typographic spectrum.
ITC Luna
Akira Kobayashi turned to the designs of the 1930s for his inspiration for both ITC Luna and ITC Silvermoon. "Luna is designed to fill the gap between a pure Art Deco
[...]Hermann Zapf is renowned the world over as a master calligrapher and type designer. Throughout his tremendous life, he has contributed volumes to the history of typography. His oeuvre encompasses text faces, symbol fonts, and even script designs, such as the new classic Zapfino. So many of his typefaces have entered our daily lives that it is impossible to image contemporary design without them. Below are all of his digital designs for Linotype.
More about the fonts:
Aldus™
This typeface
[...]Im Archiv der Font-Beiträge finden Sie weitere Artikel.
Der typografische Tipp des Monats von Akira Kobayashi, dem künstlerischen Leiter bei Linotype!
Mai 2006: „Finger weg von dieser Schaltfläche!”
Viele Programme haben eine Schaltfläche „Kursiv”. Doch allzuoft* erhalten Sie damit nur eine automatisch erzeugte Version des Schriftschnitts „Roman”.
Ein besseres Ergebnis erhalten Sie, wenn Sie die Kursivschrift direkt im Font-Menü des
[...]
Font Designer: Hermann Zapf, 1954
Aldus® was designed by Hermann Zapf and appeared with the font foundry D. Stempel AG in Frankfurt am Main in 1954. Zapf named this font after the famous Venecian printer Aldus Manutius, whose work is among the most important of the Renaissance period as well as Zapf's inspiration for Aldus. Linotype Aldus was introduced by Linotype as a text font lighter than Palatino®. Zapf's goal with his Palatino and Aldus was to create a new form of Old Face
[...]
Font Designer: Hermann Zapf, 1954
Aldus® was designed by Hermann Zapf and appeared with the font foundry D. Stempel AG in Frankfurt am Main in 1954. Zapf named this font after the famous Venecian printer Aldus Manutius, whose work is among the most important of the Renaissance period as well as Zapf's inspiration for Aldus. Linotype Aldus was introduced by Linotype as a text font lighter than Palatino®. Zapf's goal with his Palatino and Aldus was to create a new form of Old Face
[...]
Font Designer: Georg Belwe, 1913
Die Schrift Belwe, die 1926 von Georg Belwe, einem deutschen Typograf und Lehrer, erschaffen wurde, hat einen ungewöhnlichen, schwer zu beschreibenden Stil. Belwe ist eine Synthese vieler verschiedener Genren: es ist eine serifenbetonte Schrift im Jugendstil mit etlichen Einflüssen von gebrochenen Schriften. Die angewinkelten Serifen der Oberlängen und die kalligrafischen Schnörkel bei den Unter- und Oberlängen von V, W und Y wirken wie mit der Feder
[...]
Schrift-Designer: Jeremy Tankard, 1999
Der britische Designer Jeremy Tankard begann mit dem Entwurf seiner Blue Island™ im Jahr 1996. Es sollte eine vollständig auf Ligaturen basierenden Antiqua werden, eine äußerst originelle aber keineswegs leicht umsetzbare Idee, weshalb sich das Design über Jahre hinzog. In Isolation gesehen wirken die Buchstaben der Blue Island etwas fragmentiert, doch zu Wörtern und Texten verbunden erzeugen sie ein attraktives, wellenförmiges
[...]Einleitung
Früher, als Designer und Ladenbesitzer noch keine Computer, Drucker und Plotter hatten, die das Gestalten von Schildern und Preistafeln einfach machen, realisierten Schildermaler solche Aushänge von Hand. Diese Kunsthandwerker inspirierten ganze Generationen von Schriftzeichnern bei der Gestaltung ähnlicher Akzidenzschriften. Heute finden Sie diese Schriften in großen wie kleinen Geschäften. Wenn Sie in einem Geschäft oder im Einzelhandel arbeiten, wissen Sie unsere neue Auswahl
[...]
Aldus, Arcadia and Cascade Script are trademarks of Linotype Corp. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions in the name of Linotype Corp. or its licensee Linotype GmbH. Arnold Boecklin is a trademark of Linotype GmbH and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. PMN Caecilia is a trademark of Linotype GmbH registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions.
Alexa, Andreas, Arno, Balzano, Banshee, Bickham Script, Birch, Blackoak, Blue Island, Brioso, Caflisch Script, Calcite, Caliban and Carta are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Amigo is a trademark of Alpha Omega Typography.
Arcana is a trademark of Gabriel Martínez Meave.
Belwe, ITC American Typewriter, ITC Beesknees, ITC Benguiat Gothic and ITC Berkeley Old Style are trademarks of International Typeface Corporation and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
ITC Avant Garde Gothic, ITC Benguiat, ITC Bookman and New Baskerville are trademarks of International Typeface Corporation registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and which may be registered in certain other jurisdictions.
Bruno JB is a trademark of Jill Bell.
Americana is a registered trademark of Kingsley/ATF.
Apollo, Biffo and Calvert are trademarks of The Monotype Corporation and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Albertus, Ashley, Bell, Bembo, Bulmer, Cantoria and New Berolina are trademarks of The Monotype Corporation registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
