This non-trivial process involves hinting, alpha blending and pixel snapping according to complex rules and quite a lot of metadata. In digital typography, font refers to a rendering of a typeface at a particular pixel size. As pointed out by the commenter, this is necessarily in a particular size. It refers specifically to the founding of a typeface in lead. The word "font" is from French fonte, from Middle French, act of founding, from Vulgar Latin *fundita, feminine of funditus, past participle of Latin fundere to found or pour (in the sense of casting). A glyph is a vector shape, and in your context it is a specific character from a typeface in no particular size.Ī comment below suggests that digital fonts can have multiple sizes. Swinging motion of hand and arm, as their forms and accented linesīracchial gyrations and erect quill posture appear to be critical factors as well.īut the best advice is to just look at the samples.A font is a typeface in a specific size. Roman lettering and that the letters were always formed with a round Upright, after the fashion already described in speaking of Perhaps be sufficient to say that they were wholly and exactlyĭetermined by the position of the quill, which was held rigidly In lieu of any detailed analysis of these letter shapes, it may Medieval scribes used the Round Gothic as an easy and legible handwritten form, and linked many of the letters.Īnd Gothic fonts should all be legible, containing some interlinking forms. Gothic fonts can be recognized by their free and restless spirit. Letter was developed and Gothic letters are in many ways akin to theįundamental forms of Gothic architecture. The same spirit of freedom and restlessnessĬharacterises the architecture of the period wherein this style of The name "Gothic" applies rather to the spirit than to the exact Here are a few quotes to summarize the definition of "Gothic" fonts. Ryan's suggested article really is excellent: LETTERS & LETTERING: A TREATISE WITH 200 EXAMPLES. One might say taller, more imposing Sans Serifs could have that Gothic spirit (as a Cathedral is tall, open & imposing), but again you could be more specific to the features of the type by referring to it as condensed. This Gothic "spirit" mentioned by Brown is an apt approach when considering the term because it refers to a certain sort of style or characteristic that was evident in Middle Age European cultures, although more apt terminology could be more specific by using "Blackletter" & "Sans serif" instead of lumping the two together. Gothic Cathedrals had nothing to do with the "barbarian" tribes of the Goths, but historians such as Giorgio Vasari pioneered the trend of insulting Middle Aged European culture and the terms have sort of stuck ever since. Same story as well with Gothic architecture. That and early Sans Serifs were rather unrefined and illegible. Gothic was used to describe Sans Serifs initially because they took a fairly severe departure from the then current trend of Roman type traditions with very humanist forms based on centuries of perfection throughout antiquity & their revival during the Italian Renaissance. The same sort of principle applies for the term Grotesk which of course translates into grotesque (absurd or bizarre). Often times if you see the word Gothic being used to describe something that has nothing to do with the actual tribal Kingdoms of the Goths, it's being used to describe something in negative terms, as was the case for the early Sans Serifs. Historically "Gothic" is often used as a derogatory term, a sort of linguistic shorthand for barbaric. It really depends on the context of the word being used throughout history. The question has been appropriately answered but I felt I could demystify this ambiguity between "Gothic" referring to Sans-Serif or Blackletter typefaces.
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