Design Nomenclature / Type
Neo-grotesque
Also called realist sans, transitional sans
- Type
- 2D
The 1950s rationalisation of the grotesque — Helvetica, Univers, Folio. Irregularities planed off, terminals cut horizontally, apertures closed tighter, fitting tightened, and the family systematised across weights and widths. Immensely successful as branding; measurably weaker than humanist sans at small sizes and under blur, because those closed apertures fold c toward o.
Not to be confused with
- GrotesqueThe nineteenth-century sans serifs — Akzidenz-Grotesk, Franklin Gothic, News Gothic. Slight irregularity between letters, a squarish rather than circular bowl, closed apertures, a spurred G, and a lowercase g that is usually single-storey with an open tail. Warmer and less systematic than what followed.
- Humanist sansSans serifs drawn on the proportions of the humanist roman rather than on geometry — Gill Sans, Frutiger, Myriad, Source Sans. Varied letter widths, some stroke modulation, a double-storey a and usually g, and open apertures. The class the legibility literature keeps landing on for interfaces and signage.