Design Nomenclature / Type

Typeface

Also called family, type family

This entry has not been translated yet and is shown in English.

The design — the set of letterforms and the relationships between them, across all its sizes, weights and widths. Garamond is a typeface. It is an authored work, and in most of the world an unprotectable one: the drawing is not copyrightable in the United States, only the software that renders it.

A two-column comparison headed "Design or the means of setting it". The left column is titled Typeface and reads: the design — Garamond, every size, weight and width of it; an authored work, and in the US an unprotectable one. The right is titled Font and reads: the thing that renders it — Garamond Italic 10pt in a case, GaramondPremrPro-It.otf on a disk; licensed software.

In practice

The distinction from font survives mainly among type designers, foundries and the people who teach them. Elsewhere it has quietly collapsed into font, and correcting strangers about it has a poor return.

Not to be confused with

How this term connects

FontOpenTypeVariable fontWeightWidthTypeface
Related Confused with