Skip to content
FontsNotoIconsKnowledgeFAQ

Humanist, or Old Style

“Humanist” or “Old Style” is a historical classification for typefaces that draw inspiration from Roman lettering and the Carolingian minuscule (a standardized form of calligraphy) to include forms that reference the stroke of a pen.

Nicolas Jenson printed the first books using a Humanist serif typeface. He was inspired by the simple handwriting of the Italian Humanists, who—challenged by the ornamentation of Gutenberg's Textura Blackletter—developed a style that enabled them to copy manuscripts more quickly.

Although initially a grouping for serif types, it’s also possible to have sans serifs that exhibit a humanist style.

A type specimen using a serif humanist typeface and sans serif humanist typeface.

Humanist typefaces declined in use in the 18th and 19th centuries, but enjoyed a major revival in the 20th century and remain popular type choices today.

Examples of serif Humanist typefaces include Spectral, EB Garamond, and Sorts Mill Goudy; examples of sans serif Humanist typefaces include Merriweather Sans and Cabin.

License

This content is owned by Google and is licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-SA 4.0

To contribute, see the source files on GitHub

Humanist, or Old Style – Fonts Knowledge - Google Fonts