display type
- Started
- Last post
- 16 Responses
- thompson
can anyone settle this:
what exactly is 'display type'?
furthermore,
what is unique about 'display type' as opposed to a titling face or a typical roman typeface within a family.what do you say?
- wendell0
i think about dsiplay type yeh maybe as comming over all from powerpoint to web. and the head font for you is more often than not what yo feel to ise. as n.vuk stylesheeting for eks?
- Typographica0
Anything > 20 pt.
- ian000
i am bumping this threads because thompson brings up an interesting question. I undersand that any type set larger than 20pt should be considered "display". But What makes a display font a display font? Take Minion for example... It has display varriants of all weights. If I were to design a display varriant for a face what would I be taking into consideration? Would I exagerate the details of the face that might otherwise get lost in body text?
- ian000
bump?
- 5timuli0
A display typeface usually has design features which would be lost when using below a certain size. In the same way, some text faces are optimised for use at small sizes and would look clumsy or even ugly at larger point sizes.
- 5timuli0
For example, FF Info has small rounded edges while FF Info Text has square.
- 5timuli0
Sorry, thinking of a different face there. But here's a comparison of the two:
- seed0
Is it evil to use something like verdana as display type? I mean are there some faces that just shouldn't be used?
- seed0
5timuli, sort of answered my question previously. More specifically would anyone ever use Verdana in print especially at larger sizes?
- anzelina0
i like to misappropriate typefaces on purpose.
but it's difficult to pull off
- 5timuli0
There's no technical reason not to use it, it would just look ugly. Unless you're talking about print and then it'd be because it's a screen font and not Postcript/Opentype.
I don't think there are any specific rules that you should use Display faces for display and text for text, it's just about what looks best.
- 5timuli0
"There's no technical reason not to use it, it would just look ugly."
That's just my opinion btw, if anyone could pull off Verdana nicely as a headline face I'd be impressed.
- seed0
http://www.will-harris.com/verda…
"even though it was designed for the screen, Verdana is attractive on paper. While some have compared it with Frutiger, a closer look reveals more of a resemblance to Carter's own Bell Centennial."
It also say that Georgia was named after a tabloid headline about alien heads found in Georgia.
- seed0
- seed0
That building actually looks almost exactly like the apartments I grew up in.
- Typographica0
5timuli is right on. Verdana is built for small type in a low-res situation - the screen. It's clunky, because clunky works for that medium. Every time I see it in print, it looks amateur.
He's also right about the design characteristics of display typefaces. Other things that are specific to type made for large settings:
- Higher contrast. This means thinner thins and thicker thicks.
- Longer ascenders/descenders and lower x-height. (Though this is not try across the board.)
- More exaggerated curves, serifs. Whatever forms are specific to that typeface are exaggerated in the Display weights.
Read more at Adobe's excellent page on Opticals:
http://studio.adobe.com/us/type/…