Serif vs Sans Serif

Text Type vs Display Type

Read Beatrice Warde's essay from 1030 about type: The Crystal Goblet, or Printing Should Be Invisible. She references that a goblet is clear to allow its contents to be seen, not the goblet itself. Just as typesetting allows the content to be easily understood without becoming the focus. Letterforms should be clear to allow the viewer to see the shapes of the letters with zero effort.

Beatrice Warde-The Crystal Goblet.pdf
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Text Type (Body Text or Body Copy)

Designed to be read at large quantities at small sizes. Examples: newspaper stories, magazine articles, or books.

• Typically 8 point to 12 point in size
• Open space inside the letters.
• Body height is tall compared to the capitals
• Rhythmic and repetitive shapes
• Medium weight
• Easy to identify letters immediately because of their details
• Can function as display type by being made larger 

Some of the most popular text type  today are actually digital versions of typeface that have been around for hundreds of years. They are still clear.

• Adobe Caslon Pro
• Baskerville
• Adobe Garaond Pro
• Palatino

Display Type

Typically used in small quantities for emphasis.

• 14 point or larger
• Enormous variety of of letterforms
• ​Bold and loud type
• Amplifies its content
• Not supposed to be invisible 
• Use in small quantities
• Can rarely function as text type - at smaller sizes they become illegible