Garalde (Old-style) vs Minion
Minion evolved from Garalde (Old-style) — a digital old-style serif in the late-Renaissance roman tradition.
Garalde (Old-style)
The classic old-style serif — humanist roots refined by Aldus Manutius and the French punchcutters, with moderate stroke contrast, bracketed serifs, and an inclined stress that recalls the broad-nib pen.
- Moderate contrast between thick and thin strokes
- Fully bracketed serifs flowing into the stems
- Angled (oblique) stress, from the broad-nib pen
- Slanted, pen-formed serifs on the ascenders
- Even, warm text color tuned for long reading
Minion
Robert Slimbach's 1990 digital old-style serif for Adobe — a clean, neutral Renaissance-inspired text face engineered for the page and screen, and a default workhorse of professional publishing.
- Old-style serif structure with moderate contrast
- Gently bracketed serifs of even, restrained cut
- Angled humanist stress inherited from the pen
- Balanced, neutral proportions tuned for clean body text
- Optical size masters from caption to display
At a glance
| Garalde (Old-style) | Minion | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1490s–1700s | 1990 |
| Discipline | Typography | Typography |
| Region | Italy, France | United States |
| Family | Serif | Old-style Serif, Humanist Serif |
| Formal traits | old-style, bracketed-serif, moderate-contrast, calligraphic | old-style, bracketed-serif, moderate-contrast, neutral |
More comparisons
Advertisement