The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Third Edition

Chapter 10. Categories of Type

There are many thousands of different typefaces available right now, and many more are being created every day. Most faces, though, can be dropped into one of the six categories mentioned below. Before you try to become conscious of the contrasts in type, you should become aware of the similarities between broad groups of type designs, because it is the similarities that cause the conflicts in type combinations. The purpose of this chapter is to make you more aware of the details of letterforms. In the following chapter I’ll launch into combining them.

Of course, you will find hundreds of faces that don’t fit neatly into any category. We could make several hundred different categories for the varieties in type—don’t ...