Aren’t they the same thing?
After being shot down by an over enthusiastic designer for calling a typeface a font to a client over the phone this particular developer would now disagree. You see to Joe Bloggs A type and a Font are the same thing, to a developer it’s like saying a Gerbil and a Hamster are the same thing. To them they’re both a small, furry and sometimes smelly caged pet. A designer of the other hand is a little pickier when it comes to detail, after all they are trained to look at the smallest details. He would say to the developer..
“A Gerbil is nothing like a Hamster, Hamsters for a start like to live alone and seem to wake up when you go to sleep. Gerbils on the other hand are the complete opposite, they are happiest in groups and love being active, chewing and gnawing at the bars till you play with them.”
So yes, fonts and typefaces are technically different though relate to the same thing.
What is a typeface?
Think of a typeface as the ‘design’ of the design of the alphabet, the shape of the letters that make up the typestyle. The letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type. So when you say “Arial” or “Garamond” you’re talking about a set of letters in a specific style, a ‘typeface’.
What is a font?
Think of a font as the digital file that contains/describes the typeface. Think of the font as a little piece of software that tells the computer and printer how to display and print the typeface.
Adobe’s type glossary description
According to Adobe’s type glossary: “A font is one weight, width, and style of a typeface. Before scalable type, there was little distinction between the terms font, face, and family. Font and face still tend to be used interchangeably, although the term face is usually more correct. A typeface is the letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type. A typeface is often part of a type family of coordinated designs. The individual typefaces are named after the family and are also specified with a designation, such as italic, bold or condensed.
F*** you designer snob!
Next time you encounter a stuck up designer who likes to take every opportunity to correct you on design related jargon, just think, here’s one small dollop of typography info to counter his attacks. I’d be so blunt as to knowingly misdescribe the font/typeface then counter his verbal nonsense with your new found knowledge.
Time to brush up on your typefaces
Check this out…Typeface Periodic Table
What’s your favorite Typeface and why?
Now if you don’t comment below we’re going to presume it’s Comic Sans and you wouldn’t want that would you?
December 16th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
[...] Frog explains the difference between a font and a typeface… [...]
December 18th, 2009 at 4:50 am
Persuasion SSi. Comic Sans is only my SECOND favorite. =P thanks for the article.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Thanks for the info (^-^)v
December 18th, 2009 at 5:39 am
Great Article! Now I fully understand the difference.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Nice article, my favorite fonts right now are frutiger and gotham.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Nice info. Thanks!
December 18th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Thanks for lighting us up, didn’t know about that.
Love the Tusj typeface, a sketchy version of Georgia made by Magnus Cederholm, a norvegian designer.
December 20th, 2009 at 6:14 am
“F*** you designer snob!” made me laugh out loud. That was awesome!
Great little intro in to this. I had no idea. They were all fonts to me!
December 20th, 2009 at 8:14 am
My favourites:
Akzidenz-Grotesk, Avenir Next, Chronicle Text & Display, DIN, Gotham, Helvetica & Neue (of course), Museo & Sans, Proxima Nova, Soho, Scout & Stag.
December 20th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
My favourite font is Optima because it is so clean and fresh, and I love it’s subtle, cunning, suggestive serifs that give it an authority that most sans-serif fonts don’t have.
December 20th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Right now I’m very fond of Futura, Avenir, Myriad Pro and Museo.
December 21st, 2009 at 4:21 pm
@Jµ That’s a lovely hand drawn font…typeface
One to put in the toolbox.
@thomasmmm Comic Sans… how could you, go wash your mouth out (sn)
December 21st, 2009 at 6:01 pm
[...] What is the difference between a Font and a Typeface? | Frog's Digital Design Blog (tags: fonts typography typeface comparison design) [...]
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:13 am
Essential and excellent post…many thanks
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 am
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December 22nd, 2009 at 3:06 pm
[...] What is the difference between a Font and a Typeface? [...]
December 26th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
My favorite font is definitely Century Gothic. I also love Futura and some less known, free fonts.
Great article anyway
January 5th, 2010 at 10:52 am
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January 5th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
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