Serif

This article is about the font characteristic. For the software company, see Serif Europe. For other uses, see Serif (disambiguation).
Sans-serif font
Serif font
Serif font
(red serifs)

In typography, a serif /ˈsɛrɪf/ is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol,[1] such as when handwriting is separated into distinct units for a typewriter or typesetter. A typeface with serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning "without". Some typography sources refer to sans-serif typefaces as "Grotesque" (in German "grotesk") or "Gothic",[2] and serif typefaces as "Roman".

Origins and etymology

Roman brushed capitals: Capitalis rustica

Serifs originated in the Latin alphabet with inscriptional lettering—words carved into stone in Roman antiquity. The explanation proposed by Father Edward Catich in his 1968 book The Origin of the Serif is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Another theory is that serifs were devised to neaten the ends of lines as they were chiseled into stone.[3][4][5]

The origin of the word serif is obscure, but apparently is almost as recent as the type style. In The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a complete code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same (1813) by William Hollins, it defined surripses, usually pronounced "surriphs", as "projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all." The standard also proposed that surripsis may be a Greek word derived from συν (together) and ριψις (projection).

In 1827, a Greek scholar, Julian Hibbert, printed with his own experimental uncial Greek types, remarking that the types of Giambattista Bodoni's Callimachus were "ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what I believe type-founders call syrifs or cerefs." The oldest citations in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are 1830 for serif and 1841 for sans serif. The OED speculates that serif was a back-formation from sanserif. Webster's Third New International Dictionary traces serif to the Dutch noun schreef, meaning "line, stroke of the pen", related to the verb schrappen, "to delete, strike through". Schreef now also means "serif" in Dutch.

The OED‍ '​s earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875, giving stone-letter as a synonym. It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art grotesque usually means "elaborately decorated". Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic," commonly used for Japanese Gothic typefaces.

Readability and legibility

Serifed text in a dictionary of French slang.

Serifed fonts are widely used for body text because they are considered easier to read than sans-serif fonts in print.[6] However, scientific study on this topic has been inconclusive. Colin Wheildon, who conducted scientific studies in 1982–1990, found that sans serif fonts created various difficulties for readers that impaired comprehension.[7] According to Kathleen Tinkel, studies suggest that "most sans serif typefaces may be slightly less legible than most serif faces, but ... the difference can be offset by careful setting".[8] Other studies have found no significant difference in readability for serif or sans serif.[9][10]

Serifed fonts are overwhelmingly preferred for lengthy text printed in books, newspapers and magazines.[10] For such purposes sans-serif fonts are more acceptable in Europe than in North America, but still less common than serifed typefaces.

Sans-serif are considered to be legible on computer screens. According to Alex Poole,[9] "we should accept that most reasonably designed typefaces in mainstream use will be equally legible." A study suggested that serif fonts are more legible but are generally preferred less than sans serif fonts on screen.[11] Another study indicated that comprehension times for individual words are slightly faster when written in a sans serif font versus a serif font.[12]

Most web pages employ sans-serif type.[13] Hinting information, spatial anti-aliasing, and subpixel rendering technologies have partially mitigated the perception of serif fonts on screen. Due to the basic constraint of screen resolution—typically 100 pixels per inch or less—the serifs in some fonts can be difficult to discern on screen. Some serif fonts, such as Georgia, are specially designed for web readability—employing higher x-heights in the letters as well as sturdier serifs.

As serifs originated in inscription they are generally not used in handwriting. A common exception is the printed capital I, where the addition of serifs distinguishes the character from lowercase L. The printed capital J and the numeral 1 are also often handwritten with serifs.

Classification

Serif fonts can be broadly classified into one of four subgroups: old style, transitional, Didone and slab serif.

The Adobe Garamond typeface, an example of an old-style serif

Old Style

Old style or humanist typefaces date back to 1465, shortly after Johannes Gutenberg's adoption of the movable type printing press. They are inspired by period handwriting such as humanist calligraphy and have remained popular for setting body text because of their excellent readability. Development of interest in early printing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a reversion to the designs of the earliest printers, many of whose names and designs are still used today.

The style is characterized by a lack of large differences between thick and thin lines (low line contrast) and generally but less often by a diagonal stress (the thinnest parts of letters are at an angle rather than at the top and bottom). An old style font normally has a left-inclining curve axis with weight stress at about 8 and 2 o'clock; serifs are almost always bracketed (they have curves which connect the serif to the stroke); head serifs are often angled.[14]

Angled stressing of old style faces generates diagonal lock, which, when combined with their bracket serifs creates detailed, positive word-pictures (see bouma) for ease of reading. However, this theory is mostly contradicted by the parallel letterwise recognition model, which is widely accepted by cognitive psychologists who study reading.

Old style faces are sub-divided into Venetian (or humanist) and Garalde (or Aldine). Examples of Venetian old style typefaces include Adobe Jenson, Arno, Berkeley Old Style, Centaur, Cloister, Fairfield, Legacy, and Trinité. Examples of Garalde old style typefaces include Bembo, Caslon, Galliard, Garamond, Goudy Old Style, Granjon, Janson, Palatino, Renard, Sabon, and VandenKeere.

The Times New Roman typeface, an example of a transitional serif

Transitional

Transitional or baroque serif typefaces first appeared in the mid-18th century. Fonts from this period include Baskerville (1757), while more recent fonts in the same style include Times New Roman (1932), Bookman, Century, Georgia and Plantin. They are in between modern and old style, thus the name "transitional." Differences between thick and thin lines are more pronounced than they are in old style, but they are still less dramatic than they are in modern serif fonts. Stress is more likely to be vertical. The ends of many strokes are marked not by blunt or angled serifs but by ball terminals.

The Bodoni typeface, an example of a modern serif

Didone

Main article: Didone (typography)

Didone or Modern serif typefaces, which first emerged in the late 18th century, are characterized by extreme contrast between thick and thin lines. These typefaces have a vertical stress, long and fine serifs, with minimal brackets. Serifs tend to be very thin and vertical lines are very heavy. Most modern fonts are less readable than transitional or old style serif typefaces. Period examples include Bodoni, Didot, and Walbaum, while Computer Modern is a popular contemporary example. While mostly used for headings and display text in the English-speaking world, in continental Europe they are commonly used for setting body text. They remain extremely popular in the printing of Greek, as the Didot family were among the first to establish a printing press in newly independent Greece.

The Rockwell typeface, an example of a slab serif

Slab serif

Main article: Slab serif

Slab serif or Egyptian typefaces usually have little if any contrast between thick and thin lines. Serifs tend to be as thick as the vertical lines themselves and usually have no bracket. Slab serif fonts have a bold, rectangular appearance and sometimes have fixed widths, meaning that all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal space (as in a typewriter). They are sometimes described as sans-serif fonts with serifs because the underlying character shapes are often similar to sans-serif typefaces, with less variation between thin and thick shapes on the character. (A subcategory of slab serif is the Clarendon typefaces, which do have small but significant brackets, and structures more similar to serifed typefaces.) Slab serif typefaces date to around 1800.

Examples of slab serif typefaces include Clarendon, Rockwell and Courier.

Readability debate

The earliest books were handwritten by monks in scriptoria, with many flourishes and embellishments to letters. The controversy continues over readability, without conclusive results.[15] Editors were formerly taught to use serif, as in older books. Magazines may use sans-serif as "cleaner", but possibly decreasing readability.[16] Modern e-book readers allow the viewer to adjust font family and size.


East Asian analogues

From left to right: a serif typeface with serifs in red, a serif typeface and a sans-serif typeface.

In the Chinese and Japanese writing systems, there are common type styles based on the regular script for Chinese characters akin to serif and sans serif fonts in the West. In China, the most popular category of serifed-like typefaces for body text is called Song (宋体, Songti); in Japan, the most popular serif style is called Minchō (明朝); and in Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is called Ming (明體, Mingti). The names of these lettering styles come from the Song and Ming dynasties, when block printing flourished in China. Because the wood grain on printing blocks ran horizontally, it was fairly easy to carve horizontal lines with the grain. However, carving vertical or slanted patterns was difficult because those patterns intersect with the grain and break easily. This resulted in a typeface that has thin horizontal strokes and thick vertical strokes. In accordance with Chinese calligraphy (kaiti style in particular), where each horizontal stroke is ended with a dipping motion of the brush, the ending of horizontal strokes are also thickened. These design forces resulted in the current Song typeface characterized by thick vertical strokes contrasted with thin horizontal strokes, triangular ornaments at the end of single horizontal strokes, and overall geometrical regularity.

In Japanese typography, the equivalent of serifs on kanji and kana characters are called uroko—"fish scales." In Chinese, the serifs are called either youjiaoti (有脚体, lit. "forms with legs") or youchenxianti (有衬线体, lit. "forms with ornamental lines").

The other common East Asian style of type is called black (黑体/體, Heiti) in Chinese and Gothic (ゴシック体 Goshikku-tai) in Japanese. This group is characterized by lines of even thickness for each stroke, the equivalent of "sans serif." This style, first introduced on newspaper headlines, is commonly used on headings, websites, signs and billboards.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "definition". Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  2. ↑ Phinney, Thomas. "Sans Serif: Gothic and Grotesque". Typography. Showker, Inc., TA. Showker Graphic Arts & Design. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  3. ↑ Samara, Timothy (2004). Typography workbook: a real-world guide to using type in graphic design. Rockport Publishers. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-59253-081-6.
  4. ↑ Goldberg, Rob (2000). Digital Typography: Practical Advice for Getting the Type You Want When You Want It. Windsor Professional Information. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-893190-05-4.
  5. ↑ The Linotype Bulletin. January–February 1921. p. 265. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  6. ↑ Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors, (Springfield, 1998) p. 329
  7. ↑ Wheildon, Colin (1995). Type and Layout: How Typography and Design Can Get your Message Across – Or Get in the Way. Berkeley: Strathmoor Press. pp. 57, 59–60. ISBN 0-9624891-5-8.
  8. ↑ Kathleen Tinkel, "Taking it in: What makes type easy to read," adobe.com Accessed 28 December 2010. p. 3.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Literature Review Which Are More Legible: Serif or Sans Serif Typefaces? alexpoole.info
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "A Comparison of Two Computer Fonts: Serif versus Ornate Sans Serif". Psychology.wichita.edu. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
  11. ↑ Effects of Font Type on the Legibility The Effects of Font Type and Size on the Legibility and Reading Time of Online Text by Older Adults. psychology.wichita.edu
  12. ↑ Moret-Tatay, C., & Perea, M. (in press). Do serifs provide an advantage in the recognition of written words? Journal of Cognitive Psychology. valencia.edu
  13. ↑ The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, (2007) p. 113
  14. ↑ "Old Style Serif"{{inconsistent citations}}
  15. ↑ "Comparison study". Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  16. ↑ Wheildon, Colin (1995). Type and Layout: How Typography and Design Can Get your Message Across – Or Get in the Way. Berkeley: Strathmoor Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-9624891-5-8.

Sources