Garamond was designed in the mid-1500s by Claude Garamond, based on Roman text, for example the use of clear and straight lines for capital letters. The lower case letters have a short height, drawing more attention to capitals, which seem to tower over them. It is a serif font, with selfies curving inward, and some letters tilted slightly diagonally, for example the o. In the time of its creation, these Roman style typefaces were becoming more dominant than the previous gothic type. It was commonly used until the end of the 1700s, but began to become more widely used again in the early 1900s.

Helvetica is one of the key typefaces of the international typographic style. It was created in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, taking inspiration from neo-gothic German and Swiss typefaces. Originally it was named “Neue Haas Grotesk”, after the neo-gothic typeface “Grotesk”, and the Haas foundry in which it was created, but it was renamed to Helvetica for more worldwide appeal. It is intended to be clear, easy to read and simplistic, seeming unobtrusive when used for a wide range of media, and carrying a sleek and modern appearance. In current times, it is used in street signs across the world, such as in Austria and the USA, and even government documentation.

Proxima Nova is a modern typeface, designed in 1994 by Mark Simonson under the name Proxima Sans, he was inspired by the proportions of previous neo-gothic style typefaces such as helvetica, but felt they all lacked the geometry of other modern typefaces like futura, and therefore crossed these elements of the two font styles to create something new, which became Proxima Sans. In 2004, he expanded the typeface into a font family, Proxima Nova, adding improvements such as more styles, weights, symbol characters and over time, characters from various other languages. It is commonly used for digital media such as websites, for example Buzzfeed news, Etsy and Wired.

Type Specimen screen examples:

This modern, simple design is inspired by the Swiss style of graphic design, with simple use of shape and colour to highlight key parts of the screen, for example the H of Helvetica and the subheadings. I also like its use of diagonals and parallel lines, and the spacing. Its limited colour palette also adds to the sleek, minimalist look.

This screen is interesting, as it uses letters to create shapes, I am also drawn by the space theme, linking with the modern aesthetic of the typeface Futura, which it showcases. It also uses brightly coloured text, against a black background.

This screen breaks up the words into separate lines, the spacing filling the screen and creating a more visually pleasing arrangement, the even spacing also creates a sense of rigidity and simplicity. The larger letters are positioned behind, with a lighter colour, while the smaller ones are in black, making both parts equally visible.