Rga

Moderate contrast vertical stress

Grotesque Slab

Typeface shown: Brix Slab

Ball terminals

If one were to weigh the typical example of each classification, these bulky beasts would tip the scale furthest. Although they aren’t simply Grotesque sans serifs with slab serifs slapped on, these typefaces reflect the proportions, structure, and stroke contrast of their serif-less counterparts. Ball terminals are common among Grotesque slabs, as are heavy bracketed serifs and closed apertures. The effect of these attention grabbers can be decorative and eye-catching, and is usually very bold.

Narrow “R” from classical capital proportions

Rga

Minimal contrast

Geometric Sans

Round shapes are nearly circular

Single-storey “A” is common

Typeface shown: ArponaSans

Curves made of semi-circles

The most static and clinical of all the classifications. Geometric sans serifs are constructed out of geometric forms with round parts that are circular or square. It’s important to note that, while shapes like the ‘o’ appear to be exactly round, most proper typefaces do not contain perfect circles, but are optically corrected to appear as round as possible while harmonious with other letters. Geometrics have minimal stroke contrast, and italics are commonly slanted versions of the romans rather than cursive in form.