Display

A display typeface is a typeface that is intended for use at large sizes for headings, rather than for extended passages of body text.

Display typefaces will often have more eccentric and variable designs than the simple, relatively restrained typefaces generally used for body text. They may take inspiration from other genres of lettering, such as handpainted signs, calligraphy or an aesthetic appropriate to their use, perhaps ornamented, exotic, abstracted or drawn in the style of a different writing system.

Several genres of font are particularly associated with display setting, such as slab serif, script font, reverse-contrast and to a lesser extent sans serif. Walter Tracy defines display typefaces in the metal type sense as “sizes of type over 14 point” and in design that “text types when enlarged can be used for headings, display types, if reduced, cannot be used for text setting.”