No. 6. Better Living through Chemistry

One of the things that really intrigues me about type is the challenge its creators have to maintain style consistency across every glyph of any given typeface. One might suggest that for a traditional serif, the task is made easier; Especially when one considers that serifs have been around arguably since the Roman Empire — over two millennia of reference material to draw from. But it's actually quite difficult. Type designers have not only been designing Roman-style serifs since Gutenberg perfected movable type circa 1439, but they've also managed to inject some of their own personality into individual glyphs, each drawing from their own ideas of what constitutes the perfect Roman serif letterform. What's particularly intriguing are style elements that don't necessarily appear anywhere else — such as the unique tail of the R — and yet, still manages to demonstrate chemistry with the rest.