Serif, Sans Serif, Sheriff

Typographers, page designers and members of a page layout team in a newspapers, magazines and book publishing have thorough understanding of serif and sans-serif typefaces. The typefaces in printing (fonts, letter types) are categorised among others as serif, and sans serif. Serif typefaces are those letters that have strokes such as at the bottom of letters and at the edges; small lines at the end of characters that appear like little feet.

Serifs have many different shapes like bracketed (Times Roman), slab (Stymie), hairline serifs (Bodoni). Serif fonts are usually used in the newspapers, and magazines like the Classic serif fonts. Times New Roman is a serif typeface. It was commissioned by The Times newspaper in the UK in 1931 but it is no longer used by it. They saved space and increased clarity.

However, it is the most common typeface. Sans serif is a font (letter types or characters) that has no feet, or strokes at the bottom of letters and at the edges. San Serif typefaces were developed only around 100 years ago. Modern sans serif was created on 1816 by William Caslon IV at the English Type foundry: the English Egyptian Typeface was designed in capital letters in 28 points.

After this, Akzidenz Grotesk was created in Berlin’s German Berthold type foundry; and an instant hit. Many other type foundries designed sans-serif typefaces similar to Akzidenz Grotesk, and a lower case has been included to make it more suitable for text. The fonts in sans serif category are Helvetica, Avant Garde, Arial. Among the sans-serif typefaces the most popular font is Helvetica which was designed in 1957.

Sans means ‘without’: sans is a French word. It has been found that serif fonts are easier to read in printed works; increase contrast and spacing between letters; Times Roman is popular for its readability Sans serif fonts are better on the web, better at small sizes because they do not smear as they have simple forms; sans-serif Arial on computer screens for younger viewers.

Sheriff is a position of authority. Sheriff in England and Wales is the chief executive officer of the Crown in a county having administrative and judicial functions. In Scotland, sheriff is a judge. In the United States, sheriff is a county official; the top law enforcement officer; historically, the sheriff was also commander of the militia in that county; and sheriffs are usually elected. In India, the sheriff of Mumbai is an apolitical position held by a prominent person who usually receives important dignitaries.