What is a Font?

A font can be many different things, depending on the context of its use—or misuse. Although seemingly a matter of semantics, it’s important to understand the distinction between a font and a typeface.

The difference between typefaces and fonts

The terms typeface and font are commonly used synonymously, although they are not the same. A typeface is a collection of glyphs (numbers, letters, symbols, and punctuation marks) as a set. Typefaces include a number of different weights and styles. For example, Garamond is a typeface that includes italics and bold. Typefaces are also commonly referred to as font families or type families.

A font, on the other hand, is a collection of glyphs with one specific weight, style, variant, and/or ...

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