Type Triangle

I wanted to make a graphic about fonts. Then I realised that placing a few letters on a regular —and inevitably square— two dimensional plane would only give me two variables to play with. Boring. So this post has become more an experiment in graphing than a perfect commentary on typography.

Here, I've tried to represent a plane with three scales on it (formal–informal, masculine–feminine and classical–modern) that explains some fonts.  Each point represents the extreme of a different scale, the opposite extreme being approximately spread over the adjacent edge. I found that it does not work so well unless the three points are polar opposites, which does not work in itself if the three points represent ends of different spectrums. But the real trouble with the triangular plane is that not all combinations of the attributes are possible, for example you cannot place a font that is feminine but neither classical nor formal. (Such as Curlz MT?) Nevertheless I think it is an interesting thing to look at!

If you fancy yourself a type buff, see if you can name each font shown without looking them up. The ones I've included are: Century, Futura, Garamond, Gill, Helvetica, Minion, Modern, Optima and Times.