TypeTalk: Italic vs. Oblique
Most designers and related creative professionals are familiar with the terms Italic and Oblique, yet confusion does exists on the part of many regarding the differences between the two. While each refers to a slanted, or angled design, there are important distinctions between both terms, which in turn can influence their potential usage.
Italics are an angled typeface that has different design characteristics from its upright, roman companion. They are most often a separate yet complementary design, with unique features and frequently different character widths. Many italics have a somewhat calligraphic appearance, especially those that are designed for a serif typeface. Italics designed for a sans serif typestyle are often quite similar to their upright companion with the exception of a few (or more) differing characters, such as the lowercase a, g, and/or the f.
Obliques, on the other hand, are simply slanted versions of their roman companion with no major design differences, other than their angle. They are most often found in sans serif typeface families, although not all sans serifs have obliques as opposed to italics, as noted above. (An important point to note is that although this is a broadly accepted naming convention, there are exceptions to this unofficial, yet commonly applied rule. For instance, different versions of Helvetica can be found with the same slanted design named both italic and oblique.)
Professional-quality, “true-drawn” obliques and italics are not just computer-generated slanted versions of their roman companions, often referred to as “fake” italics or obliques, but are either hand-drawn or skillfully modified to optically correct the distortion that results from this action. In his blog post entitled Fake vs. True Italics, Mark Simonson describes the work that went into designing the italics for his Proxima Nova family, effectively illustrating the differences between the two. So remember: if professional typography is your goal, stay away from any fake, or computer-generated obliques or italics (including those that are commonly created in word-processing programs,) as they will degrade your typography and thus, the overall design.
So now that you know the difference between italics and obliques, how do you decide which to use? Both are commonly used for emphasis, as well as stand-alone usage. Most italics, especially the calligraphic variety, have a stronger contrast when used with their companion roman, compared to an oblique, which can be used in much the same way as italics, but has a softer “voice,” if you will. Therefore, when doing your font exploration, consider how much contrast is required for the project at hand, and conduct your search accordingly.
[…] https://creativepro.com/typetalk-italic-vs-oblique/ […]
[…] are interacting with the app to get something done, quickly. The chances of our users knowing the differences between oblique and italics are slim; the chances they care are even slimmer. What percentage of […]
thanks very fantastic article
[…] TypeTalk: Italic vs. Oblique https://creativepro.com/typetalk-italic-vs-oblique/ […]
Good explanation for CSS newbies like me! ;-)
When a font is oblique, good design says it MUST be a slant of about 18 degrees (1 pixel per 3 pixels) as THAT’s the sweetspot for obliques,