When designing with type, the use of numbers can take a layout from good to great. I'll detail the four main styles below, what they look like, and how to use them to the best of their ability. I'll add a few tidbits of related information as we go.

Numbers, actually, can be anything, 10, 200, 0.0125, whatever. So, when typographers talk about any one of those characters that make up numbers, we call them figures. 10 is a number, but 1 and 0 are figures.

Historical interlude: Ever notice why figures don't always look that similar to the Latin script (what we use to write English)? That's because they are of Arabic origin. The Romans used Roman numerals, of course, up until about the 12th Century (1300 A.D.) when the Arabic style took over Europe.

There are four basic styles. Let's dive in.

1. Tabular Lining

Best for: Tables & Columns

The most common figures found in fonts are tabular lining figures. Tabular meaning for tables, of figures that are all the same advance width. Lining meaning the figures align horizontally with each other, usually around the height of the capitals. Think of an Excel spreadsheet, or a receipt. When the figures are aligned, it makes it easier to read the table and scan for information. Making something easy to read is one of the typographer's main goals.

Some typefaces have figures a little bit shorter than the caps to balance the color and weight with the rest of the typeface. In some cases, if the figures were as heavy (stroke width) as the caps, they would stand out as being too dark. It's an optical adjustment thing, and a stylistic option for the type designer. See Helvetica, as an example, of figures that are a little shorter than the caps.

The stand-out characteristic of tabular lining figures is usually a one with a lot of white space on both sides, sometimes compensated for with a flag and foot serifs to try to fill more of the white space.

This is a similar concept to monospaced fonts, where all of the glyphs are the same width, as seen in 'typewriter' designs.