r/identifythisfont

I guess it would be a terminology guide and tips for identifying what you're looking at.*

We all see posts here asking "What is this font?" and frequently that answer is "it's not a font, it's lettering."

An interesting new category is AI: most likely, it's not a set of prefabricated letters to be used systematically, although that is already possible and will only get more up to an acceptable level of quality to be used. A lot of lettering is already and will be AI, and it will get more and more acceptable in terms of quality. Any rule of thumb for identifying that in October of 2026 will quickly be outdated.

*Because we keep seeing these posts that are some old lettering and asking "What font is this?", I think it might be best to address that one scenario when you land on this sub rather than trying to get across a general dictionary and conceptual framework. Address the one super-common scenario rather than all of them in some "correct conceptual framework," let's say.

Thoughts?