VOX-ATypI classification

In typography, the Vox-ATypI classification makes it possible to classify typefaces in eleven general classes. Devised by Maximilien Vox in 1954, it was adopted in 1962 by the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI) and in 1967 as a British Standard, as British Standards Classification of Typefaces (BS 1961:1967), which is a very basic interpretation of the earlier Vox-ATypI classification.

Originally a ten-part classification, Vox revised his original proposal within months to a more compact nine-part scheme.

This classification tends to group typefaces according to their main characteristics, often typical of a particular century (15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th century), based on a number of formal criteria: downstroke and upstroke, forms of serifs, stroke axis, x-height, etc. Although the Vox-ATypI classification defines archetypes of typefaces, many typefaces can exhibit the characteristics of more than one class.

At the 2010 ATypI general meeting, the association voted to make a minor amendment to add Gaelic to the calligraphic group in the Vox-ATypI classification, to state that the Vox-ATypI system was seriously flawed, and to create a new working group on typeface classification.

The classicals can be broken down into humanist, Garald and transitional categories, and are characterized by triangular serifs, oblique axis and low stroke contrast. In other classification systems, this group is often referred to as "oldstyle."

Humanist, humanistic, or humanes include the first Roman typefaces created during the 15th century by Venetian printers, such as Nicolas Jenson (hence another name for these, Venetian). These typefaces sought to imitate the formal hands found in the humanistic (renaissance) manuscripts of the time. These typefaces, rather round in opposition to the gothics of the Middle Ages, are characterized by short and thick bracketed serifs, a slanted cross stroke on the lowercase 'e', ascenders with slanted serifs, and a low contrast between horizontals and verticals. These typefaces are inspired in particular by the Carolingian minuscule, imposed by Charlemagne during his reign of the Holy Roman Empire.

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