The sloped crossbar on ‘e’ is characteristic of early Roman typefaces of the so-called Venetian or Humanist class¹, which were inspired by Carolingian script².

The sloped crossbar on ‘e’ is characteristic of early Roman typefaces of the so-called Venetian or Humanist class¹, which were inspired by Carolingian script². Catull³, the font on which the former Google wordmark was based (it's not exactly Catull — some details are simplified, like the serif edges being snapped to 45°), is actually closer to the script than to typical Venetian typefaces — which, once you've seen the whole thing, blows the idea of the old logo looking ‘more professional’ out of the water, unless your profession is ‘medieval scribe’. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox-ATypI_classification#Humanist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vox-ATypI_classification#Human... ² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_minuscule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_minuscule ³ http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/berthold/catull-bq/ http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/berthold/catull-bq/