You probably don't think about the letter "g" very often. Why would you? It’s just a circle with a hook, or maybe it’s that fancy thing with two loops that you see in a New York Times article. But here is the thing: the g in different fonts is arguably the most complex, controversial, and inconsistent character in the entire Latin alphabet.
Take a second. Look at the screen right now. If you are reading this in a standard sans-serif font like Arial or Helvetica, you're looking at a "single-story" g. It’s a loop with a tail. Simple. But if you open a physical book, you’ll likely see a "double-story" g. That’s the one with two closed loops connected by a tiny neck.
Most people can't even draw it from memory.
In 2018, researchers at Johns Hopkins University ran a study that went viral because it exposed a massive glitch in our collective brains. They asked people to identify the correct double-story "g" among four options. Most failed. They asked people to draw it. Most couldn't. We see this letter thousands of times a day, yet the way g in different fonts shifts between these two distinct architectures makes it a total ghost in our visual memory.
The Two-Faced Nature of the Letter G
Typography isn't just about making things look pretty; it's about historical baggage. The "g" we use today is basically a survivor of a turf war between medieval scribes and Renaissance printers.
The single-story g—the one you likely write by hand—is the "infant" version. It evolved from eighth-century handwriting styles. It’s efficient. It’s fast. You make a loop, you swing a tail down, and you're done. When you see this g in different fonts like Futura or Calibri, it feels modern and approachable. It doesn't get in the way.
Then there is the double-story g. This is the "looptail" version. It’s a masterpiece of Romanesque influence and 15th-century printing. Type designers like Claude Garamond loved it because it balanced the weight of the line. It’s sophisticated. It’s also incredibly hard to design. If the "ear" (that tiny stroke sticking out of the top right) is too long, the letter looks like it’s wearing a baseball cap. If the "link" connecting the two loops is too thin, the letter feels fragile.
Why fonts choose one over the other
It usually comes down to "readability" versus "legibility." Those aren't the same thing, by the way. Legibility is how easy it is to tell one letter from another. Readability is how easy it is to scan a whole block of text.
Serif fonts—the ones with the little feet, like Times New Roman or Georgia—almost always go for the double-story g. It adds "texture" to the line. In long-form reading, these complex shapes help your brain recognize word patterns faster. On the flip side, digital-first fonts (sans-serifs) often strip the g down to its bare essentials. It’s cleaner on a low-resolution screen.
Honestly, the g in different fonts tells you exactly what a brand wants you to feel. Google’s logo used to have a double-story "g" in its old serif typeface. It felt like a library. When they switched to their custom "Product Sans" in 2015, they moved to a single-story g. Suddenly, the company felt less like an encyclopedia and more like a playground.
Exploring the G in Different Fonts: A Visual Breakdown
You really have to look at specific examples to see how wild this gets. Typography is a game of millimeters.
The Geometric G (Futura)
Paul Renner designed Futura based on circles and triangles. His g is basically a perfect circle with a straight-down hook. It is cold. It is efficient. It’s the kind of letter that would fire you without a severance package.
The Humanist G (Gill Sans)
Eric Gill's famous typeface is a weird hybrid. While it’s a sans-serif, its g in different fonts category is firmly double-story. It has this quirky, pinched look. It’s British, polite, and slightly eccentric.
The Script G (Zapfino)
This is where things go off the rails. In calligraphic fonts, the g often becomes a massive, sweeping flourish that dives three lines below where it started. It’s not about reading anymore; it’s about vibes. It’s the "g" you see on a wedding invitation that you can't actually decipher, but you know it cost a lot of money.
The Slab Serif G (Rockwell)
Imagine a "g" that goes to the gym and only does leg day. Slab serifs are chunky. The loop is heavy, and the tail is thick. It’s loud. It’s the "g" of a 1920s circus poster or a modern tech blog trying to look "industrial."
Why Our Brains Struggle with the Double-Story G
The Johns Hopkins study I mentioned earlier wasn't just a fluke. The researchers, led by Michael McCloskey, found that even though we read the double-story g perfectly fine, our "writing" brain and "reading" brain are stored in different compartments.
We don't "see" the letter; we see the idea of the letter.
Because we almost never write the double-story version by hand, we don't have the motor memory for it. When you see that specific g in different fonts, your brain recognizes it as a "g" through a process of elimination. "Well, it’s not an 'a', and it’s not an 'o', and it’s in a word where a 'g' should be... so it’s a 'g'."
It’s a bizarre quirk of literacy. We are fluent in a visual language that we can't actually replicate.
Does it matter for SEO or Web Design?
Kinda. If you’re building a website, the font choice for your body text changes how users perceive your authority.
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- Single-story g: Professional, tech-forward, minimalist. Best for apps and dashboards.
- Double-story g: Academic, traditional, trustworthy. Best for news sites, blogs, and long-form storytelling.
If you’re trying to rank on Google or get into Google Discover, user experience (UX) is a massive signal. If your font is too "busy" because you chose a typeface with a distracting, overly-ornate g, people will bounce. They won't know why they’re annoyed, but their subconscious will be working too hard to decode the letters instead of the message.
The Technical Side of Designing the Letter G
If you talk to a type designer (yes, they exist and they are very intense), they will tell you the "g" is the hardest letter to draw.
The "descender"—the part that hangs below the line—is a nightmare. If it’s too deep, it hits the letters on the line below. If it’s too shallow, it looks like an "o" that’s been caught in a door.
In a double-story g in different fonts, the designer has to manage three distinct spaces: the upper bowl, the lower loop, and the "aperture" (the opening of the loop). If those three spaces aren't balanced, the whole font looks "bottom-heavy."
Look at Helvetica. Its g is actually quite awkward. It has a tiny little "chin" that juts out. It’s functional, but many typographers hate it because it lacks the grace of a font like Baskerville, where the g flows like a piece of silk.
Practical Takeaways for Using G in Different Fonts
If you're choosing a font for a project, don't just look at the uppercase letters. Look at the lowercase g. It is the "tell."
- Check for "Clash": If you have a lot of "g", "y", and "p" characters in your brand name, make sure their tails (descenders) don't overlap. Some fonts have "short descenders" specifically to prevent this.
- Context is King: Use a single-story g for instructions or technical data. Use a double-story g when you want to tell a story or build an emotional connection.
- Accessibility Matters: For readers with dyslexia, the distinction between a "g", a "q", and a "p" is vital. "G" in different fonts can sometimes look too much like a "9" or an "8." Fonts like OpenDyslexic emphasize the "weight" at the bottom of the letter to keep it anchored.
- Test at Scale: A fancy double-story g might look great at 48px on a poster, but at 12px on a smartphone, it might just look like a blurry smudge. Always downscale your font choice to see if the loops "clog up."
The humble "g" is a tiny piece of design history sitting right in front of your face. Whether it’s the sleek, one-loop modern version or the complex, two-loop classic, it’s a choice that defines how the world reads your words. Next time you’re scrolling, take a second to actually look at it. You’ll never see a page of text the same way again.
To master your own typography, start by auditing your current brand fonts. Open a word processor, type a string of "g" characters in different fonts like Verdana, Garamond, and Montserrat, and zoom in to 400%. Look at how the loops connect and how much "white space" is left inside the letter. This visual exercise will train your eye to spot high-quality typefaces that improve readability for your audience.