Trajan – one of the oldest fonts ever

Or, at least, the resurrection of a really, really old font. Inspired by the Imperial Roman font that we can all see on the famous Trajan’s Column in Rome, this font appeared in 1989. Typographer Carol Twomby scanned and recreated the original serif font used on the column. This transformed Trajan in the first ancient font digitally reproduced by someone other than artisans or art restaurateurs.

Based on an ancient Latin font, Trajan contains only uppercase letters, making it perfect for movie or book covers.

Bembo

Originally created in 1495 by the punch-cutter Francesco Griffo and brought back to life in 1929 thanks to Stanley Morison, this font got his name after Pietro Bembo, a famous Venetian poet from the 16th century. Since the beginning, Bembo was something else. This font is completely different from the more familiar calligraphy inspired fonts of the time. It’s sprinkled with lots of Roman influences we can notice in lots of contemporary fonts. However, Bembo kept a few calligraphic features, mainly visible in the serif area.

Because of its easy-to-read aspect, Bembo is perfect for books or movie posters.

Bodoni

Created in 1798 by Giambattista Bodoni, Bodoni is a stylish, elegant and not at all calligraphic font, representative for the neoclassical era. When creating this font, the designer gathered its inspiration from the Didot family font, the first modern typeface design. Often, these modern fonts were criticised for their least legible faces. However, Bodoni has a more substantial construction and narrower set widths. These two characteristics transform the font into a more legible and easy to use one.

After two centuries of existence, Bodoni remains a loved font between designers. We can come across this font in lots of different mediums.

We talked about two other old fonts that are still around in our article about some of the world’s most recognisable fonts. Check it out and you’ll find out lots of interesting thing about Garamond and Didot.

Looking for the perfect font for you creative project? WhatFontIs.com is the right please to look into. On our website, you can find over 500,000 available fonts and one of them might just be the one you’ve been searching for a while now.

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Helvetica

The Helvetica font is one of the most notorious fonts in the world. It is the creation of Eduard Hoffman, director of Haas Type Foundry in Switzerland and it first appeared in 1957. Its original name was Neue Haas Grotesk – a bit hard to remember, right? Shortly after its appearance, it became Helvetica, after the Latin denomination of Switzerland.

Originally, Helvetica was used for printing papers. But with no doubt this sans-serif font is doing very well in the digital era. Nowadays, lots of brands use Helvetica. To state some of its most famous usages:

• on the NASA spaceships, the name of the United States of America lays written in Helvetica;
• you can see Helvetica all over New York city because all subways signs are using that font.

This font is so cool it even has its movie. Released in 2007, Helvetica is a documentary film that gathers lots of opinions on typography in general and Helvetica in particular from many influential typographers and graphic designers. Check out the trailer here.

Georgia

Another very recognisable font is Georgia. Designed by Matthew Carter and Thomas Rickner, this serif font first appeared in 1996. At first, it was one of Microsoft’s core fonts for the world wide web, but after a while it became available on Macintosh too. Rumour has it that this font got his name after Georgia O’Keefe, the favourite artist of the Microsoft’s program manager.

Georgia was designed to go hand in hand with Verdana. Despite their different proportions – Georgia looks a bit smaller than Verdana when they are side by side at the same point size – they represent the perfect contrast pair. They are clear, readable and legible on screen, unlike other fonts that go well on print, such as Arial or Times New Roman.

Today, we all know about Georgia. It’s popular and goes well on text heavy sites. It’s pretty much the right choice for a more upmarket, classic design. But things were not always like this. Back in the day, Georgia was not that popular and it was perceived way too similar to Times New Roman.

Garamond

Old, but yet very recognisable. Garamond was created between 1530-1545 by a French type founder, publisher and type designer named Claude Garamond. This serif font is one of the typographical highlights of the 16th century. To create it, Claude Garamond found his inspiration in the handwriting of Angelo Vergecio, the librarian of the French King Francis I. It was brought back to life in the 1920s, by Stanley Morison and the Monotype Corporation.

There’s something very appealing about this font: the characters are fluid and consistent, while some of them have very unique traits. Just look at the small bowl of the lowercase ‘a’ or at the small eye of the lowercase ‘e’. These characteristics make Garamond one of the most easy to read fonts in the world.

Today, the one and only set of original Garamond type is in Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp.

Didot

Created in 1784, the Didot font is as fresh today as when it first appeared. Member of the most recognisable fonts gang, Didot is the first font that unmistakably defined the modern style known as Didone.

Inspired a little bit by Baskerville due to its increased contrast and vertical stress, Didot has strong, clear forms and flat serifs. His neat and clean look make it more appropriate for fashion and cultural uses. Remember the new Zara logo? If not, check out the article on that here if you want to see this font in action.

Rockwell

Last but not least, let’s move our attention towards the Rockwell font. It’s a reinterpretation of an older font called Litho Antique and it was released in 1934. Made almost entirely out of straight lines, perfect circles and sharp angles, Rockwell is a simple serif font. Although the shapes are pretty complex, they don’t feel overwhelming at all. Also, because of its shape, it doesn’t read well when used in the body of a text. We recommend it mainly for the titles, it will surely be more effective.

When you think about Rockwell, you cannot help to not think about the architecture and design of Modernist movement. Simple, bold and captivating.

These are just some of the most recognisable fonts in the world. But, as we like to think, these are some of the most relevant fonts that everybody should have in mind when starting a creative project. Choosing a right font is as important as choosing an appropriate logo or catchphrase. If ever in need for a pinch of inspiration, check WhatFontIs.com. We have lots of fonts available and one of them might be exactly what you are looking for.

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