Type Families
A font consists of a set of characters of consistent design. A font family extends this to become a set of fonts, designed to work together. A family consists of the variations (styles) of the basic font. The names of the variations or styles are not consistent, and alternatives are given with the descriptions.
The most basic variations are bold and italics. Most well-designed fonts have at least these. The family may consist of more. Below are some of the most common.
Roman
Also called ’book‘, ‘normal’, ’regular‘. The normal form of the typeface, the term comes from early type being derived from Roman inscriptions.
Italic
Italics are a less formal version of a typeface, derived from 15th-century Italian handwriting. It is important to recognize the difference between true Italics, which are designed as a separate but consistent face, and obliques, which are more like what you get when you click the italic button in a word processor: pushed over roman. Oftentimes the italic version of sans-serif type is called oblique, so the confusion deepens.
Boldface
Bold, black, heavy, poster. A thicker stroke weight than the roman form. Bolds are proportionally thicker. Depending on the thickness, there are variations such as semi-bold, medium, demi-bold, ultra-bold, black, extra-bold, super, or poster.
Light
The opposite of bold, light has a thinner stroke weight than roman. Again, there may be levels and naming variations such as ultra-thin, thin, and ultra-light.
Condensed
Sometimes termed ‘compressed’, this is a horizontally thinner version of a typeface. May have its own variations in stroke, such as ultra-light condensed.
Extended
A horizontally extended version of the roman, again may have stroke variations. Much more common with sans-serif families.
