Minion is inspired by late Renaissance typefaces, without copying a specific model. Its name refers to an old type size, and it was designed as a sober, functional and elegant text typeface.
At a glance
Origin: Adobe, United States.
Designer: Robert Slimbach.
Date: 1990.
Evolution
It has been enriched several times, notably with Minion Pro, which adds Greek and Cyrillic alphabets, small caps and optical sizes.
Famous examples
Shipped with Adobe software, it sets a huge number of books, academic journals and publications.
Current use
It remains one of the most used text typefaces in publishing, for its readability and versatility.
Alternatives
Garamond Premier, Sabon, Crimson Pro.
Great typefaces glossary
Akzidenz-Grotesk, Arial, Avenir, Baskerville, Bodoni, Caslon, Circular, Cooper Black, Didot, DIN, FF Meta, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Garamond, Georgia, Gill Sans, Gotham, Graphik, Helvetica, IBM Plex, Inter, Minion, Montserrat, Myriad, Neue Haas Grotesk, Optima, Poppins, Roboto, Sabon, SF Pro, Source Sans, Source Serif, Times New Roman, Univers, Verdana