A Beginner's Guide to Purchasing Fonts: Understanding the Terminology

When I first started looking into purchasing fonts, I was lost. There were more terms I hadn’t heard of than ones I had. So, me being me, I started researching them all. 

This post is mainly to help keep me sane with all the terminology associated with fonts, but if it helps you, that’s great too.

ALTERNATE CHARACTER

When a letter within a font has multiple looks to it.

APP USE

Type of license that allows the font to be used in only one application.

BOLD

A font type in which the look of the font is darker and thicker than your average sans serif or serif fonts.

BLACKLETTER

A font type in which the look of the font is darker and has highly decorated caps. It is often referred to as Gothic or Old English font style.

CALLIGRAPHY

A font type in which the look of the font is a form of cursive that has thinner lines for the upstrokes and thicker lines for the downstrokes.

CAPS

The edges or tips of a letter.

CHARACTER

Each individual letter within a font.

COMMERCIAL USE

Font license that allows a font to appear in up to 5,000 products for sale.

DESKTOP

Font license that allows a font to be used for unlimited commercial and personal projects. This can range from physical products to digital ones.

DISPLAY

A font type that is intended to be used for large texts. This type usually doesn’t have a single style associated with it.

EMBEDDING (A FONT)

Putting fonts within a document.

E-PUB USE

Font license that allows a font to appear in one title in a single ebook.

EXTENDED COMMERCIAL USE

Font license that allows a font to appear in 250,000 products for sale.

EXTRACTABLE (FONT USAGE)

The process of pulling a font out of a PDF.

FONT

A graphical way of illustrating text digitally.

FONT FAMILY

Multiple fonts with a similar design.

GRAPHIC

Any digital image or illustration that can be included in logos, flyers, postcards, etc.

HAND LETTERING

A font type of font that looks as if someone wrote it.

ITALIC

Text that sits at a slight slant.

Monospace

A type of font where all the letters are equally spaced within a word.

non-western font

Types of fonts that are in different languages.

open font license

Font license in which the font is free and there are no rules pertaining to what you can and can’t use it for.

OTF file

Stands for OpenType Font. This is the go to for most graphic designers because it gives them the most freedom to change what they want to within the font. OTF files often times won’t show up in an Microsoft programs.

Personal use

Font license that allows you to use a font for projects you won’t be making money off of.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

Font license that allows anyone to use a font for anything. They’re free and when you download the font, you also download the license for that font. This license is often referring to as an Open Font License.

RASTERIZED (FONT USAGE)

The process of changing a font into an image.

sans serif

A type of font that doesn’t have serifs, which are the lines coming off the ends of the strokes of a letter.

script

A type of font that is a cursive style.

serif

A type of font that has little horizontal lines on the edges of each letter.

slab serif

A type of font that has thicker, horizontal lines on the edges of the letters.

symbols

A type of font that is made up of shapes and small graphics.

ttf file

Stands for TrueType font. This font format is one of the oldest formats. TTF file formats work best if you’re using any of the Microsoft programs. 

typeface

A collective of similar fonts. Typeface is also known as a font family.

webfont use

Font license that allows a specific font to appear in multiple websites that are owned and controlled by the person who bought the license.

zipped folder

Type of folder that is shrunk in size by compressing the file sizes. These folders are easier to download and don’t take up as much space on your computer as other folders. The items have to be extracted from the folder before they can be used.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below! And if you’re looking to continue this series:

FONT LICENSES
FAVORITE SITES TO GET FONTS
ORGANIZING THE FONTS ON YOUR COMPUTER

Morgan Morris

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