Groto

Grotesque

This group features most of the early (19th century to early 20th)

sans-serif designs. Influenced by

Didone

serif fonts of the period and signpainting traditions,

these were often quite

solid, bold designs suitable for headlines and advertisements.

The early sans-serif typefaces

often did not feature a

lowercase

or italics, since they were not needed for such uses.

They were sometimes released by

width,

with a range of widths from

extended

to normal

to condensed,

with each style different,

meaning to modern eyes they can look quite

irregular

and eccentric.

Grotesque fonts have limited variation

of stroke width,

often none perceptible in

capitals.

The terminals of curves are usually

horizontal,

and many have a spurred

“G” and an “R”

with a curled leg.

Capitals tend to be of relatively

uniform width.

Cap height

and ascender height

are generally the same

to create a more regular effect in texts such as

titles

with many capital letters,

and descenders are often short for tighter linespacing.

Most avoid having a true italic

in favour of a more restrained oblique or sloped design,

although at least some did have true

italics.

Neo-Grotesque

As the name implies,

these modern designs consist of a direct

evolution of grotesque types.

They are relatively straightforward in appearance

with limited width

variation.

Unlike earlier grotesque designs, many were issued

in extremely

large and versatile families

from the time of release, making them easier to use for

body text.

Similar to grotesque typefaces,

neogrotesques

often feature capitals of uniform width

and a quite “folded-up”

design,

in which strokes (for example on the “c”) are

curved all the way

round to end on a perfect horizontal or vertical.