Tahoma: Italic

Look closely at a capital “Q.” Tahoma’s tail starts inside the bowl. Look at the “a”—it is a double-story design (like a printed book) rather than a single-story one (like handwriting). This gives Tahoma a serious, architectural feel.

If you are reading this on a Windows machine, there is a good chance you have ignored Tahoma for the better part of two decades. You have scrolled past it in dropdown menus. You have seen it power the tabs of your old Internet Explorer. You have watched it render the system dialogs of Windows 2000, XP, and Vista—dutiful, clean, and utterly invisible. tahoma italic

But today, I want to talk about its shadow. Its elusive, slightly awkward, fiercely practical cousin. Look closely at a capital “Q

I feel at home.

When a young designer does see Tahoma Italic, their reaction is usually revulsion: “The x-heights don’t match! The rhythm is broken! The Roman ‘a’ looks nothing like the Italic ‘a’!” If you are reading this on a Windows