Bodoni MT is a stately, formal-looking typeface with fine, almost straight serifs and a high contrast between its thin strokes and its thicker strokes, which is especially obvious in its heavier weights. It has a “bright” look on the page, compared to an older-style typeface such as Garamond with less severe contrast. Nobody would mistake Bodoni for a friendly, informal typeface; on the contrary, it shines in formal situations, preferably with plenty of space around it. The regular width can be used for text, at a large text size and with ample space between the lines; Condensed is for short lines in narrow spaces, and the Black and Poster thrive best in titles or on posters.
Bodoni MT is Monotype’s take on the typefaces of the 18th-century type designer Giambattista Bodoni. There are many different typefaces based on Bodoni’s various type designs, and although they all bear a family resemblance, they’re all different. Each one, like Bodoni MT, may have several different styles, weights, and sizes.
The Bodoni MT family comprises two widths, normal and condensed, both with two weights, with italics for each; plus a Black and Black Italic and the extremely narrow Bodoni MT Poster Compressed.
