Gross milestones

from calligraphy
to geometry, and
a bit of the way back

sans serif

serif /

2000

1 950

sans serif

1 925

1 9 00
s q uare serif

1 825
modern

o l dst y l e

transitiona l

1 8 00

1750

1725

1700

1 525

1 500

1 475
b l ack l etter

1 450

A text type timeline

GLOAT GLOAT
gloat
gloat

GLOAT GLOAT
gloat
gloat

GLOAT GLOAT GLOAT GLOAT GLOAT GLOAT

gloat
gloat
gloat
gloat
gloat
gloat

GLOAT
gloat

GLOAT GLOAT
gloat gloat

Blackletter, 1455
Johann Gutenberg, German

Bembo, 1495 (Venetian)

Francesco Griffo, Italian

Janson Text (Dutch), 1690

Nicholas Kis, Hungarian

Helvetica, 1957
M. Meidinger, E. Hofmann, Swiss

Rotis Sans Serif, 1989

Otl Aicher, German

Jenson, 1471 (Venetian)

Nicholas Jenson, French

Garamond, c. 1530
Claude Garamond, French

Caslon, 1720
William Caslon, English

Baskerville, 1750
John Baskerville, English

Bodoni, 1789
Giambattista Bodoni, Italian

Clarendon, 1845
Robert Besley, English

Akzidenz Grotesk, 1896

German

Rotis Semi Sans, 1989

Otl Aicher, German

gloat

GLOAT
gloat

GLOAT
gloat

GLOAT GLOAT GLOAT

gloat
gloat gloat

First italic designed to

match roman, c. 1540

Didot, 1783
Firmin Didot, French

Univers, 1957
Adrian Frutiger, Swiss/French

First italic, 1501 (no upper case)

Francesco Griffo, Italian

Rotis Serif, 1989

Otl Aicher, German

GLOAT GLOAT
gloat
gloat
geometric mode l

Memphis, 1929

Rudolph Wolf, German

Futura, 1927
Paul Renner, German

GLOAT
gloat

humanist mode l

GLOAT
gloat

Gill Sans, 1928 Meta, 1990

Eric Gill, English
Erik Spiekermann, German

Rotis Semi Serif, 1989

Otl Aicher, German