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There are, here on the Type ID Board, some recurring requests, which often haven’t a definitive answer or, being custom work, are followed by questions about available alternatives.
After the n-nth request, someone (usually Florian ;-) compiles a list of fonts in that particular style.
But these useful lists get buried under the subsequent hundreds of similarly “Please ID this font”-titled threads, making it difficult to find and refer to them.
So, here I would like to compile a list of such lists, with proper descriptions, for easier access and discoverability.
Please add any comprehensive list you’re aware of, or create a new one ;-)
Also, feel free to suggest appropriate keywords.
So, in no particular order, some lists:
The Fat Font Fad list, by Stephen Coles
Keywords: ultra bold, extra black, filled counters
http://typophile.com/node/42643
Related link: http://fontfeed.com/archives/extra-bold-ultra-black-fonts/
The Fashion Thin and its Ilk list, by Florian Hardwig
Keywords: thin stressed sans, Noir
http://typophile.com/node/67084#comment-394345
The Unsteady Pen list, by Riccardo Sartori
Keywords: handwritten, Strangelove, Where the wild things are, unconnected, casual printed, sketched
http://typophile.com/node/80075#comment-456211
Related: http://typophile.com/node/62921#comment-372169
The Oh, Shiny! list, by Florian Hardwig
Keywords: beveled, 3D, dimensional, prismatic
http://typophile.com/node/62252#comment-395927
Related links: http://new.myfonts.com/search/beveled/fonts/
http://www.letterheadfonts.com/tutorials/prismaticeffects/index.php
24 Apr 2011 — 3:47am
The Hellenic Wide list.
http://typophile.com/node/67439
24 Apr 2011 — 9:31am
Good idea, riccard0!
I am sure there are a lot more of these lists, gathering dust in the Type ID archives. I will add them when I run across one.
External, but nevertheless utterly useful:
FontShop’s FontLists, compiled by Stephen Coles, Yves Peters (and others?)
Bauhaus Faces, by Mike Yanega.
Keywords: geometric, constructed, elementary, modular, simplified, modernism, constructivism
Lined Fonts, by Mike Yanega.
Keywords: inline, outline, biline, triline, multiline, sports, neon, highlight, 70s
24 Apr 2011 — 11:29am
Graded typefaces, started by Thomas Kunz
Related: http://typophile.com/node/52653 http://typophile.com/node/15204 http://typophile.com/node/61252
Keywords: grades, weight adjustment, ink spread, newspaper, common widths
Typefaces with both single- and double-storey ‘a’s and ‘g’s, started by Florian Hardwig
Keywords: schoolbook, infant, alternates, indecisive
25 Apr 2011 — 3:59am
Goodbye to the old fogeys!, by Carl Crossgrove
Contemporary book typefaces
Keywords: book design, text workhorse, exhilarant options, 21st century
Reading sans-serifs, by Florian Hardwig
Sans-serif typefaces suitable for longer texts, some even for books
Keywords: humanist, non-grotesque, stressed sans, some-serif, serifless roman
Attack of the Square Sans, started by Chris Keegan
Camingo, Fago, Klavika, Stainless, Soho &c.
Keywords: sans-serif, squarish, rectangular
One size does not fit all, collective (suggested by Alan Robiette)
Typefaces with optical sizes
Keywords: size-specific, Micro, Caption, Small Text, Text, Deck, Subhead, Headline, Banner, Display, Titling, Poster
Related: Optical sizes at Identifont
Rational-irrational, started by Florian Hardwig
Sans-serifs in the spirit of Venus
Keywords: grotesque, quirky, 19th century/early 20th century
Neither Typ1451 nor Gravostyle – what is it?, by Florian Hardwig
Rounded (engineering) sans-serifs
Keywords: DIN, typewriter, gravure
Roundhand roundhoused, collective (suggested by Seb von Bischopink)
List of angular scripts
Related: http://typophile.com/node/15524
Keywords: zig-zag, angled, ribbon, tape
25 Apr 2011 — 6:25am
Should this be housed in the Typowiki and linked from here?
Serif typefaces with two-story /g/'s with open loops, by Frode Frank
25 Apr 2011 — 6:42am
Florian, you picked the two Font ID Guides that I would also have called illustrated lists: Lined Fonts and Bauhaus-style.
I would also suggest that the Serif Font ID Guide has usefulness as a variety of illustrated lists related to Serif fonts: you can show all fonts by a particular designer, from a particular foundry, or with certain structural features, such as crossed W, M's with no top serifs, and g's with open bowls ( to name just a few lists that could be displayed).
- Mike Yanega
25 Apr 2011 — 8:10am
Craig,
yes, if you want to, feel free to transfer these lists to the Typowiki. The reason why I didn’t do that myself is that I don’t see much benefit, except that maybe it is easier for others to add to the lists. Most of these lists were created ad hoc, by and for the members of the Type ID Board. I don’t want this to become bureaucratic, and to argue with others whether the lists were academic/complete/useful enough to be included in the Typowiki – which, by its encyclopedic nature, is regarded as a place that is a little more formal and authoritative than the quick notes and comments in the threads. Nor do I want to keep them tidy (or even restore them), after they eventually get vandalized. Still, some of them (optical sizes, grades) are predestined to become a helpful Wiki entry.
Mike,
true, your Bowfin Printworks website holds a lot more information and tools that are of great use to typeface IDers. Thank you for providing and maintaining it! Your Script ID Guide is one of my favorite ID resources.
This brings us to the question what the focus of this thread should be: Ready-made lists (be they curated or collectively compiled, illustrated or not) only, or rather all kinds of ID resources? The Serif Font ID Guide can be used to create lists, but it is more a filter tool, like Identifont’s ‘by appearance’ questionnaire, or MyFonts’ Advanced Search that lets you create a list of scripts by Matthew Carter, for example.
26 Apr 2011 — 3:18am
Thank you all for the additions! :-)
I’m with Florian about the extemporaneous nature of these lists and that just few would be really wiki material.
(Plus, as Craig notes, they will need to be linked here anyway, because wiki entries aren't really discoverable.)
About FontShop’s FontLists: they’re indeed useful (and decidedly an inspiration for this very thread). There often is a thread which starts from one of these and adds to them, for example:
The Spurless Sans list, collective
Keywords: Ubuntu, Prokyon
http://typophile.com/node/68016
Another less, if ever, used external resource would be MyFont’s Albums (example: http://new.myfonts.com/users/dtk5k4mb2g/albums/207781/). Admittedly, the fact that they’re less curated, make them less useful.
And they share the same shortcoming of FontShop’s lists: being limited to one retailer offerings.
26 Apr 2011 — 6:40am
About FontShop’s FontLists […] There often is a thread which starts from one of these
And vice versa.
26 Apr 2011 — 10:54am
And vice versa.
Indeed, my choice wasn’t casual ;-)
http://typophile.com/node/36138
26 Apr 2011 — 12:07pm
Nice idea!
hhp
26 Apr 2011 — 12:45pm
nice, i like:-)
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
26 Apr 2011 — 3:58pm
My list of serifs with open binocular g’s. There are probably more though.
26 Apr 2011 — 4:47pm
Frode: http://typophile.com/node/81517#comment-461769
But it’s good to have more keywords :-)
27 Apr 2011 — 2:02am
WPA lettering style and similar, started by Florian Hardwig
Futura Display, Airport Tourist & descendants
Keywords: poster, gaspipe, sans-serif, square, rounded, round-top A, 1930s, Art Deco
27 Apr 2011 — 7:18am
Thanks Riccardo. Didn’t see that. Btw: Any list we’d ever come up with is basically just an homage to Florian’s anyway.
29 Apr 2011 — 12:48pm
A very partial list of some rounded (more or less condensed) sans serifs
http://www.typophile.com/node/81027#comment-459522
Keywords: round, rounded, DIN, condensed
13 May 2011 — 5:34pm
Cure for Courier
Contemporary monospaced typefaces
Keywords: monowidth, coding, narrow, humanist?
Related: Most Modern Monospace
24 Jul 2011 — 12:51pm
Just stumbled on this. Excellent initiative, Riccardo! Thanks for carving a space for these.
1 Aug 2011 — 5:48am
Sans-serifs with small cap figures, started by R.
Small cap figures are lining at x-height. This list narrows it down further to fonts with a wide language support (CE, Turkish)
Keywords: small caps, figures, sans-serif, tabular, proportional
5 Dec 2011 — 8:48am
Ribbon- or string-like fonts, started by riccard0.
18 Jan 2012 — 4:23am
Geometric/constructed scripts, by Florian Hardwig:
http://typophile.com/node/68809#comment-403798
12 Mar 2012 — 1:12pm
Fonts with petite caps other than FF Atma (http://www.fontshop.com/blog/fontmag/002/02_atma/), FF Ernestine (http://ernestinefont.com/), and the work of Bhikkhu Pesala (http://www.aimwell.org/Fonts/fonts.html), started by Florian Hardwig:
http://www.typophile.com/node/51622#comment-313293
15 Mar 2012 — 11:35am
Fat western slab-serifs, by Ryuk:
http://typophile.com/node/91080#comment-499575
13 Jun 2012 — 3:10am
Related (albeit somewhat old): "Most common requests thread?" (http://typophile.com/node/10028)
13 Jun 2012 — 3:12am
"Ultra round" (fat and round all around), by Ryuk:
http://typophile.com/node/93829#comment-512790
20 Sep 2012 — 9:38am
WPA-style poster lettering, started by Florian:
http://typophile.com/node/72370#comment-420985
23 Sep 2012 — 2:37pm
How about we actually come up with semantically informative names (categories), as opposed to clever band names? Rhetorical question: To a newb, who is this “Steven” guy? That’s not very helpful (the section name, not Steven. He actually introduced me to Mike Parker. Thank you for that. You’re right, Mike tells great stories.).
riccard0 raised a good point, but there is another aspect that people seem to be overlooking.
We can easily make a (Wiki?) section with categories and examples. Just like FontShop’s category section which we can update over time. However, people will still post in the ID section, and end up getting buried list-like responses.
Solution?
A single new board for “What are some fonts similar to this?” requests. This removes them from the ever-burying ID board. Then, on the afore mentioned “Similar” board, more experienced Typophiles can simply point the poster to the correct Wiki section. Problem solved.
And there’s a hidden bonus to this solution: If, in the initial post there is an actual ID request, and, it gets solved (followed by list-like responses, the initial problem statement), then, the ID can be added to the Wiki. Now, the Wiki grows on its own!
Remember, people will always be posts on the wrong boards. There’s nothing we can do to prevent this 100%. This issue can only be addressed through moderation, and moving threads.
See also — Typophile to do:
9 Oct 2012 — 6:25am
A beautiful resource, Font Clusters at Typecache.com: http://typecache.com/font-clusters/
16 Oct 2012 — 1:17pm
Letters made of dots, dotted typefaces, made by Ryuk:
http://typophile.com/node/97219#comment-526532
7 Nov 2012 — 7:27am
Fat currency-style fonts, by Ryuk:
http://typophile.com/node/97312#comment-526799
7 Nov 2012 — 9:42am
Fonts with diamond-shaped tittles:
http://typophile.com/node/97738
hhp
6 Dec 2012 — 3:31am
Icons as webfonts, by Stephen Coles:
http://listgeeks.com/view/icons-as-webfonts/by/stewf
19 Nov 2012 — 6:07am
Interlocked!
http://typophile.com/node/97932#comment-529662
by Ryuk, of course.
29 Jan 2013 — 4:46am
Highest contrast (stencil) serifs, started by Ryuk.
24 Feb 2013 — 3:57pm
Serif Typefaces with upright italics
and always enjoy Stephen Cole's MyFonts Lists