Format: Type Specimen

Collected type specimens from the Design Reviewed graphic design archive.

Type specimens are the primary documents of typographic history, printed sheets and booklets produced by type foundries and manufacturers to demonstrate the range, quality, and character of their typefaces. As objects they sit between commerce and craft, and the best specimens are themselves works of graphic design. The Design Reviewed archive holds various specimens from the twentieth century, type design, from the modernist sans-serifs of the 1920s to the phototypesetting catalogues of the 1970s.

Articles Related to Type Specimen

Key Designers Associated with Format: Type Specimen

Explore designers and typographers connected to type specimen design including Jan Tschichold, Emil Ruder, and Hermann Zapf. See also Swiss International Style and 1920s graphic design history

Design artefacts related with Format: Type Specimen

Maxitype Journal, No. 1, Maxitype, 2024


From the graphic design archive:

Maxitype Journal, No. 1, Maxitype, 2024


  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 2024
Graphic Arts: type faces, volume two | folio-grotesk, Typographers, Inc, 1963

From the graphic design archive:

Graphic Arts: type faces, volume two | folio-grotesk, Typographers, Inc, 1963

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: Typographers, Inc
Nespor Type Specimen, Daan Rietbergen, 2021

From the graphic design archive:

Nespor Type Specimen, Daan Rietbergen, 2021

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Designer/s: Daan Rietbergen
  • Year: 2021
Korinna, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1975

From the graphic design archive:

Korinna, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1975

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1975
ITC Isbell, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1980

From the graphic design archive:

ITC Isbell, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1980

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1980
Avant Garde Gothic Condensed, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1974

From the graphic design archive:

Avant Garde Gothic Condensed, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1974

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1974
ITC Cushing, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1982

From the graphic design archive:

ITC Cushing, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1982

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1982
Tiffany, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1974

From the graphic design archive:

Tiffany, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1974

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1974
Zapf Book, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1976

From the graphic design archive:

Zapf Book, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1976

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1976
Zapf International, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1977

From the graphic design archive:

Zapf International, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1977

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1977
ITC Modern No.216, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1982

From the graphic design archive:

ITC Modern No.216, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1982

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1982
Friz Quadrata, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1974

From the graphic design archive:

Friz Quadrata, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1974

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1974
ITC Galliard, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1981

From the graphic design archive:

ITC Galliard, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1981

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1981
New Text, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1975

From the graphic design archive:

New Text, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1975

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1975
Tiffany with Italic, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1981

From the graphic design archive:

Tiffany with Italic, International Typeface Corporation (ITC), 1981

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1981
Club Twenty-One™, Type Specimen, 1999

From the graphic design archive:

Club Twenty-One™, Type Specimen, 1999

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Designer/s: Julian Morey / Club Twenty-One
  • Year: 1999
Lyno Specimen, RP Digital Type Foundry, 2010

From the graphic design archive:

Lyno Specimen, RP Digital Type Foundry, 2010

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Designer/s: Karl Nawrot, Radim Peško
  • Year: 2010
Clarendon, Monotype Design Studio, R. Besley & Co, Monotype, 1935

From the graphic design archive:

Clarendon, Monotype Design Studio, R. Besley & Co, Monotype, 1935

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1935
Albertus specimen, (typeface by Berthold Wolpe), Monotype, ca. 1940

From the graphic design archive:

Albertus specimen, (typeface by Berthold Wolpe), Monotype, ca. 1940

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: ca. 1940
Typos d’Estienne 1960, École Estienne, Paris, 1960

From the graphic design archive:

Typos d’Estienne 1960, École Estienne, Paris, 1960

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1960
letterproef: drukkerij en uitgeversbedrijf, Type Specimen, c. 1980

From the graphic design archive:

letterproef: drukkerij en uitgeversbedrijf, Type Specimen, c. 1980

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: Circa 1980
Benham has Univers, Type Specimen, 1960s

From the graphic design archive:

Benham has Univers, Type Specimen, 1960s

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: c. 1960s
Mecanorma, Typeface Catalogue, 1970

From the graphic design archive:

Mecanorma, Typeface Catalogue, 1970

  • Format: Type Specimen
  • Year: 1970

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