The type nerd website Typographica recently released its list of notable typefaces released in 2008. Given the biblical flood of digital typefaces released every day, attempting to highlight quality over dreck is probably a worthwhile exercise.

People who care about typefaces may have strong and often eccentric opinions on some matters, but are surprisingly unanimous about high quality faces. There is often a moment of almost religious intensity for typophiles when a beautiful typeface swims into view. Sometimes the deciding factor is the way the face sets in body text, or a particularly graceful letter, or the relation of one letter to another, or an evocation of a particular epoch or event.

Although type design, like music, is highly influenced by precedent and fashion, the best typefaces have a completely distinctive personality. If a designer does not respect that personality, the typeface will not work for her.