Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
THE TYPE FAMILY
A type family consists of a group of related typefaces, unified by a set
of similar design characteristics. Each face in the family is individual,
and each has been created by changing visual aspects of the parent
font. Early type families consisted of three fonts: the regular roman
face, a bolder version, and an italic. The roman, bold, and italic fonts
of the Baskerville family (Fig.
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) demonstrate that a change in
stroke weight produces the bold version, and a change in stroke angle
creates the italic. The bold font expands typographic possibilities by
bringing impact to titles, headings, and display settings. Today, italics
are primarily used for emphasis, by contrast with roman. In addition
to weight and angle changes, additional members of a type family are
created by changing proportions or by design elaboration.
Weight changes.
By simply changing the stroke width relative
to the height of the letters, a whole series of alphabets, ranging
from extremely light to very bold, can be produced. In England,
a classification standard has been developed that contains eight
weights: extralight, light, semilight, medium, semibold, bold,
extrabold, and ultrabold. Most type families do not, however, consist
of eight weights. Four weights—light, regular or book, medium, and
bold—are often sufficient for most purposes. In the Avant Garde
family (Fig.
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), stroke weight is the only aspect that changes in
these five fonts.
Proportion.
Changing the proportions of a typestyle by making
letterforms wider (expanded) or narrower (condensed), as discussed
earlier, is another method for adding typefaces to a type family.
Terms used to express changes in proportion include: ultraexpanded,
extraexpanded, expanded, regular, condensed, extracondensed, and
ultracondensed.
Sometimes confusion results because there is no standardized
terminology for the variations in type families. For example, the
regular face is sometimes called
normal, roman,
or
book.
Light
weights are named
lightline, slim,
and
hairline.
Black, elephant,
massive, heavy,
and
thick
have been used to designate bold weights.
Names given to condensed variations include
narrow, contracted,
elongated,
and
compressed.
Expanded faces have been called
extended, wide,
and
stretched.
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