THE PAGE
82 Text typefaces versus display typefaces

TEXT TYPEFACES HAVE BEEN DESIGNED with legibility and beauty as their twin goals. Most text typefaces have stood the test of time and usage as appropriate for lengthy passages of text under a variety of reading conditions and with the expectation of a broad reader demographic. Display typefaces, designed less urgently for legibility (although some are eminently legible), are more about style, so the level of legibility may be very minimal. But their raison d’être is a unique stylistic expression of content.

Project
Birds of the World

Art Director
Charlie Nix

Designers
Charlie Nix, Whitney Grant, and May Jampathom

Client
University of California Press

This body copy is both legible and beautiful, not only due to the letterform details, but also in the way the text has been set. The proportions of the column width, leading, and margin spaces all contribute to the harmony of its presence on the page.

Project
Cover

Creative Director
Scott Dadich

Design Director, Designer
Wyatt Mitchell

Illustrator
The MarkMakers

Client
Wired

Letterforms that have been chosen to emulate data are a fine display choice for the cover, but they are appropriate only for use at large sizes and with a limited amount of text.

Project
Single page

Creative Director
Dean Markadakis

Designer
Jana Meier

Client
Fast Company

This excerpt from a story about a type foundry shows text type is used for the body copy, with a sidebar infographic about the creation of Neutra, a display typeface.