Humanist (Venetian) Serif vs Trajan

Trajan was influenced by Humanist (Venetian) Serif.

Type specimen — Humanist (Venetian) Serif (Serif family); set in Cormorant (OFL)

Humanist (Venetian) Serif

The earliest roman printing types, cut in Renaissance Italy to imitate the humanist scribal hand. Warm, sturdy, and unmistakably pen-formed, with a strongly slanted stress and a sloping crossbar on the lowercase e.

  • Steeply inclined (oblique) axis of stress
  • Low to moderate stroke contrast, heavy overall color
  • Sloping bar on the lowercase 'e'
  • Heavily bracketed, often blunt asymmetric serifs
  • Short ascenders/descenders with sturdy, rounded proportions
Full Humanist (Venetian) Serif guide →
Type specimen — Trajan (Glyphic / inscriptional); shown in Cinzel, a close match (OFL)

Trajan

Carol Twombly's 1989 all-capitals titling face, drawn after the Roman inscription at the base of Trajan's Column. Monumental, classical, and inescapable on film posters and book jackets.

  • Capitals only — no lowercase
  • Small, triangular, flaring (incised) serifs
  • Moderate contrast with subtly modelled strokes
  • Classical Roman inscriptional proportions
  • Wide R with a long, gracefully curving leg
Full Trajan guide →

At a glance

Humanist (Venetian) SerifTrajan
Era1460s–1490s1989
DisciplineTypographyTypography
RegionItaly, VeniceUnited States
FamilySerifSerif
Formal traitshumanist, old-style, bracketed-serif, oblique-stressglyphic, incised, flared-terminal, low-contrast

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