Figuring out the different types of typography can be as confusing as trying to say 'types of type' quickly. In this guide, we'll go through the categories you need to know, the defining features you should be looking out for, and how to use them. It might seem like there are loads of different font types, but the key ones to start with are: serif, sans-serif, script, monospace and display (plus a few sub-categories we'll get to in due course).
Typography is a creative discipline focused on the design of characters for alphabets around the world – Roman, Cyrillic, Arabic… the list goes on. Being such a technical discipline it seems to have developed a language all of its own. Moreover, with software developments making it possible for anyone to design their own font, the number of fonts, in particular, free fonts, available is proliferating like never before.
