TypeTalk: When In Rome

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Q. I’ve heard the term Roman used in reference to typefaces. What does it mean?
A. Today, the term Roman most commonly indicates an upright typeface, or an upright version of a member of a type family, as opposed to slanted typefaces and italic or oblique weights, which are cursive. Examples of this are Mark Simonson’s Felt Tip Roman and Letraset Bordeaux Roman, where Roman is part of the name and indicates an upright version, and Bernhard Modern Roman, Underware’s Sauna Roman, and Linotype Frutiger Roman, where Roman is used it indicate an upright weight.
Figure 1.Two examples of typefaces with the word Roman in their names, indicating an upright design.

Figure 2.These type families use the designation Roman to indicate an upright book weight. (Not all weights shown.)

The exception to this rule (and a confusing one at that) is when the term Roman is part of the actual name of the font, such as ITC Mendoza Roman and Times New Roman, and whose cursive versions are indicated with the term Italic following Roman, such as Mendoza Roman Book Italic and Times Roman Italic. In these cases, Roman is referring to the more traditional meaning of the word, which describes serif typefaces of the early Italian Renaissance.
Figure 3. The word Roman in these typeface names (ITC Mendoza Roman and Times New Roman) indicates a serif design, not an upright one as in the previous examples.

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