What's the difference between a font and a typeface?

You see text all around you, whether it’s printed in a leaflet or shown as you scroll a web page or social media app.

The question I’m asking today in this blog is whether it is a font or a typeface.

It doesn’t matter what you call them, as I’m sure most people know that you’re referring to the text.

Let me give you an example.

My clients may ask me if they ‘can have that in a bold font’ or ‘can you make the typeface bold’, and I know exactly what they mean. They are referring to the text on their leaflet, flyer, website or whatever artwork it may be.

Technically, there is a difference between a font and a typeface, so let me explain. Let’s take Arial, which I’m sure you’ve all heard of and have probably even used at some point.

Arial is often called a font, whereas it’s a typeface. A typeface is defined as a complete set of characters created in a particular style.

This typeface then contains a series of fonts that each have a specific weight, such as medium, book or bold. A specific style, such as condensed or italic, and there may even be an extended version, too.

Think of a suitcase.

The easiest way to describe it would be to think of a suitcase. The suitcase is the typeface, and the clothes contained inside are the fonts. You may have different styles of clothing, different thicknesses suitable for many occasions, and you choose the one that’s the best fit for the occasion.

I hope this has explained the difference between a font and a typeface and busted any myths for you. You can always contact us for more information.