Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Typography Terms

Tracking down and locating typefaces and fonts used in the parks can be a tough task. How does one start? Where does one look? What does one even look for? Millions of questions can be asked by those of you who are unfamiliar with typography. Here are some generic/basic terms thrown around by us designers that can help you understand typography a bit more and what we look for when studying type.

Typeface:  A typeface is what you see
Font: A font is what you use

A simple analogy would be that a typeface is like the entire attraction It’s a Small World while font is the “dolls” inside.  So in summary the font Helvetica is a typeface and Helvetica at a 10 point size is a font.

Commercial Typefaces: Professionally designed by a single typographer or by a type foundry (company).
OPF (Other People’s Fonts): Generic/free fonts.
Display Fonts: Decorative fonts, not suitable for small type such as body copy in a paperback book.

Below is a small graphic depicting other type terms.