when and how was the san serif fonts invented and developed?

Answer 1

William Caslon IV, the English typefounder, introduced the first sans serif typestyle, Egyptian, in an 1816 specimen book.

* Sans serif did not become widely used until after World War II.
the Swiss Bauhaus school of designers got a hold of them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ("Helvetica" is the Latin word for Switzerland), idolizing their purity and directness.


* Strokes are uniform in most san serif styles, with little or no contrast between the thick and thin strokes.
*Emphasis is almost always vertical.
*Most are geometric in their construction; some combine both organic and geometric qualities.
*Also Known As: grotesque, gothic

Examples: Arial, Helvetica, Frutiger, Futura, Trade Gothic

Description of the Change in Punch Magazine
http://www.shinntype.com/Assets/Depts/Essays/Punch/CL_punch.html

William Caslon
http://www.myfonts.com/person/caslon-iv/william/

Design Tips
http://www.ruddle.com/design_type.html

Answer 2

San Serif type was invented for creating an informal type that was easily recognized. The size of the type face and the clean reference made it ideal for many publications. It was also less formal that Palatino, Century Schoolbook and a myriad of other. Optima as an informal type face was used to speed up recognition within the California Job Case used to catalog type for assembly within the print frame that made up the plate. Serif type especially small type, 12 point or less was difficult to recognize and slowed down the typesetting process.

When the Linotype was invented by Ottmar Mergenthalern in1886 the lead slugs it produced often broke the delicate serif of Palatino and part of the type destroying the slug and leading to many retypes. San serif type usually Optima was used to decrease the damage to the type and streamline operations. However with the advent of photo-lithography the serif returned as hot metal molding for type was no longer necessary.

Answer 3

Sans (meaning without) serif is a typeface which is without any flourish at it's extremities.

It seems that a Roman sculptor who, hurrying to finish a grave stone, slipped at the end of a character and chipped off the top side of one of the ends, making a V shape. In order to balance this up, he decided to do the same to the other side and to the top and the bottom.
I was a printer all my life, this was the story that I was given. I don't know if it is true.