Adobe Garamond Pro is a revival of an old style serif of 16th-century France that channels the strong, precise forms of its metal predecessor and possesses a delicate flow from stem to foot. Its varied stroke thickness and humanist axis point to handwritten forms of broad nib pens. It is a reliable neutral with a spirited, dynamic italic. Despite the original’s prevalence across Europe, several revivals were actually based on the work of Jean Jannon.

ITC Century, a modern serif revival, derives from the original Century, Linn Boyd Benton’s custom typeface for Century magazine (1896), as well as Morris Fuller Benton’s Century Expanded and Century Schoolbook. The face is extremely legible thanks to Fuller Benton’s research during Schoolbook’s development, thus the Supreme Court of the United States requires that every booklet-format document be typeset in the family. Letterforms mean business with long, bracketed serifs, while large ball terminals and the flowing curl in the Q’s tail add flair. Its condensed proportions and tight letterspacing are effective for periodicals.

Archer is a geometric slab serif designed for Martha Stewart Living magazine. Gentle curves, bouncy ball terminals, and a nod to antique tradition soften its authoritative strokes. Sixteen fonts, which are structurally inclined toward lighter weights, constitute an extensive typographic palette. When the face was released publicly in 2008, corporations looking for facelifts embraced Archer’s warm candor—a hasty decision that Martha herself would have deemed a recipe for disaster.

ITC Stone Sans, an interpretation of a humanist sans, tackles the difficulty of pairing typefaces that were designed independently of each other. Stone exudes strength with its slightly condensed proportions and angled terminals, and stands out for its straight Q tail and minimal G. While originally intended for beginners, Stone Sans is useful to designers of all levels, because it is especially legible for informational graphics and on low-resolution devices like laser printers.

Univers is a neo-grotesque sans serif conceived as a total system for both metal and photosetting. A departure from Futura’s severity and Helvetica’s invisibility, Univers’ simple, homogenous structure is legible from afar and appropriate for long text. The numbering system for its 21 styles was a response to naming inconsistencies. With horizontally-cut curve ends, a square dot over the i, and G without a spur, Univers is neutral to different languages, as well.