![]() However, knowing the difference is important if you’re a designer or branding professional, and where it really matters a lot is in font licensing and copyright. To most people, and in most situations, it really does not matter if you use these terms interchangeably. A typeface (or a font family) is the visual design of the letterforms and it consists of multiple font formats. But Roboto Bold is a specific font within the Roboto typeface. “If the typeface is the song, the font is the MP3 file” Nowadays, there are typefaces made up of one single variation such as “regular” or “bold” etc.Īlthough many people would call a typeface with a single variation a font, it’s actually a typeface and within that typeface a font, but we wouldn’t consider it a font family.Ī font is a variation of a typeface, a specific style or weight within a typeface comes in the form of a computer file, software or a program that instructs your device to display and/or print each letter in a particular way. Each of these variations is a font that share the overall design of the typeface, and together they form a font family. So, what’s the difference? Does the difference actually matter?įirst, we’ll go over what each term means.Ī typeface is the visual design of a set of characters, glyphs, and symbols that can include variations in weight or style. Vector graphic fonts became the standard with the introduction of higher- resolution displays, word processors, and laser printers.The terms typeface and font are often used interchangeably like they’re the same things, and that can sometimes be confusing. Since the character images are created by mathematical formulas, scaling and zooming will not change the appearance of the font, and the curved edge will appear smooth. Instead of relying on pixels to create characters, vector fonts were formed geometrically. The vector graphic font was created in the 1980s as a replacement for bitmap graphics. When enlarged or zoomed in, the character s individual pixel makeup became obvious, especially on curved edges, and they didn t retain the original look or shape. The main problem with these bitmap fonts was their scalability. Fonts would be displayed using pixels, which led to characters looking blocky and having irregular edges. One of the earliest types of digital font display styles used bitmap graphics. Instead of carving font blocks, typographers now design fonts digitally. Font technologyįont technology has come a long way since the days of printing presses and individually arranging typeset blocks. Within Times New Roman, however, there are many fonts to choose from, such as different sizes, italic, bold, and so on. Think of typeface as an entire typography family, and a font as a specific size, weight, and style of a typeface.įor example, Times New Roman is a typeface that defines the shape of each character. typefaceĪlthough they have different meanings, people often use the word font interchangeably with another typography term, typeface. It is important to be intentional when choosing fonts because they can affect readability, influence tone, and reflect professionalism all of which will influence how ideas are communicated. Font characters include letters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation marks. A font is the combination of typeface, size, weight, slope, and style to make up a printable or displayable set of characters.
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