Small Text

Nick Sherman

Last edited October 06, 2016

Since the earliest days of typography, there have been efforts to render text at small sizes, usually to fit within limited spacial constraints. Small type is subject to so many constraints which make it challenging to design. Whatever form it may ultimately take – be it stock numbers on newsprint, website photo credits on computer screens, or mouseprint legalese in television commercials – there are bound to be a handful of technical and cognitive issues which require much more consideration than with larger type.
Though my personal fondness of large-scale type is no secret, my interest in the other end of the size spectrum came to me first, while preparing a college research project on Bell Centennial, Matthew Carter’s typeface for phonebooks.
The list Ive put together here consists of fonts which are somehow relevant to the topic of small type. Some have been designed specifically to compensate for issues that arise at small sizes, others relate to traditions of how small type has been approached historically, and others just happen work well at small sizes due to their clear and open forms. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but presents some related items of note.

— Nick Sherman is an independent Brooklyn-based typographer. He contributes to sites such as Typographica and We Love Typography, and has taught undergraduate typography at MassArt.

Typefaces without serifs were known in nineteenth-century England as Grotesque (or Grotesk in German) because they seemed so unusual to most readers. Monotype Grotesque font is a straightforward 1926 design that is among the earliest sans serifs cut for hot-metal machine typesetting. Its simple, clean lines make it amenable for text use, and the condensed and extended versions are useful for... Read More

Before designing this font, C.H. Griffith consulted the results of a survey of optometrists regarding optimal legibility. Excelsior font was then presented by Mergenthaler Linotype in 1931 and remains one of the most legible and popular fonts worldwide.

Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) was called the King of Printers; he was a prolific type designer, a masterful engraver of punches and the most widely admired printer of his time. His books and typefaces were created during the 45 years he was the director of the fine press and publishing house of the Duke of Parma in Italy. He produced the best of what are known as "modern" style types, basing... Read More

The first sketches for the FF Clifford typeface were done in 1994. These drew inspiration from Alexander Wilson’s Long Primer Roman type, which was used to set an edition of Pliny the Younger’s “Opera,” printed by the Foulis brothers in 1751. The Italic is loosely based on Joseph Fry and Sons’ Pica Italic No. 3, from their 1785 specimen. These Roman and Italic designs combine to create FF... Read More

In designing Minion font, Robert Slimbach was inspired by the timeless beauty of the fonts of the late Renaissance. Minion was created primarily as a traditional text font but adapts well to today's digital technology, presenting the richness of the late baroque forms within modern text formats. This clear, balanced font is suitable for almost any use.