The History of Type Styles (reduced): Renaissance Humanist Old Style Transitional Modern or Didone Slab Serif Sans Serif or Grotesque
Gothic: Imitating manuscript hands Humanist
Old Style: Better font-cutting, so more thick/thin contrasts, better- defined serifs. The basis for most literary fonts up to today.
Transitional: Baskerville as the classic Victorian font: Vertical stress, Stroke contrast, Horizontality for serifs
The Moderns Known as Didones (after Didot), Most famous example is Bodoni
Modern fonts or Didones in contemporary uses
Slab Serifs: late-Victorian, but very important modern style, for instance typewriters (Courier)
Sans Serif: Created in 19th c. by William Caslon (and called “grotesque”), but associated with 20th c. modernist architecture, and consequently science and engineering.
Generic associations for typefaces Pulp Fiction Movie Posters Comic Books Album Covers
Pulp Fiction
Movie Posters
Comic Books
Popular Music Album Covers
Heavy Metal fonts
Type fonts (and hand-drawn type) imitating art styles, handwriting, and all sorts of other stuff
Art Nouveau fonts: imitation of an arts and crafts style sweeping Europe in the early 20th century
Art Deco fonts
Hippie Fonts, Western Fonts, And so on…
Imitative fonts: imitating other writing media, including design
Don’t forget about: Italics Bold Bold Italic SMALL CAPS And, of course, effects such as Shadow HOLLOW and Shadow
Also note that literally thousands of freeware fonts are available for download at sites like fontspace.com