In Inspiration Jan 18, 201054
30 of the Best Fonts Designers Should Use for Print
Selecting the right font(s) for use in print can be a bit challenging. Fonts in this category have to be concise, smooth, and be able to hold its own ground without the additional help of other fonts. Although there are a few interchangeable fonts that can be used for web and print, the list we’ve compiled below should help you get a head start on what fonts are the most effective in print.
Many times the choice that seems obvious for designers is serif fonts, due in part to the fact that they work well in the form of a headline or body content. Though with the following fonts you’ll see that we have digressed from filling up this list with serif fonts. Instead, we hand-picked a variety of well-known and a few obscure fonts that we believe do a good job of conveying readability when used for print.
Are we missing any? Let us know in your comment!
Excelsior
Perpetua
Akzidenz Grotesk
Geo Sans Light
Avenir
Stempel Schneidler
Rockwell
Helvetica
Times New Roman
Adelle
Geometric Slabserif
Clarendon Light OT
Memphis
Coolvetica LT
Giza Five Five
Interstate Light
Frutiger Roman
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I personally like Trajan, and think it can work quite nicely for a variety of projects at display sizes but certainly not at text sizes. Among the typefaces listed, Avenir, Helvetica and Perpetua are definitely quality fonts that have stood the test of time. However, I am not sure I would have combined them with some of the other entries. There are a number of free quality fonts (Museo is one of them), but they do tend to be few and far between and I wouldn’t put all of them on par with the work of Adrian Frutiger or even Erik Spiekermann.
I had no idea there was a typeface called Coolvetica, that’s funny!
It kind of looks like a combination of Helvetica and Chalet…
Having said all of that, typefaces, like other aspects of design, are largely a subjective matter and it would be difficult to reach a consensus on what would makes a quality font and what doesn’t. For instance many people think Helvetica is as close to font perfection as we will come while some very well established designers hate it with a passion.
Anyway, great blog, always fun to read!
Jan 21, 2010
Also, if you’re going to post typefaces that “should” be used, please provide reasons for doing so.
Jan 24, 2010
I do agree with Ollie on this though, a few reason wouldnt go a miss if poss.
Jan 24, 2010
but all of them are cool!
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…oh and you forgot Futura (best font of all times) and Gill Sans (the other best font of all times).
Other than that ^^
I really enjoyed it.
Apr 1, 2010
1. This list lacks variety. I know if we don’t count decorative fonts, it’d pretty much break down to Serif, Sans Serif, and Slab Serif. But hey! there are way more variety in those 3 than you would think.
2. Most of the fonts shown here are NOT something I consider the best of its kind. In my opinion anyway.
3. Times New Roman may belong to many lists, but not this one. I think many designers would agree with me on this.
4. Coolvetica. Really? I’d rather put it in my “Fonts You Should Stay Away From” list. Wait a second… I already did!
5. The title “30 Best Fonts Designer Should Use For Print” is VERY STRONG. It’s “Ten Commandments strong”. Therefore, you’re going to need WAY MORE RESEARCH to come up with something to do it justice. As of now, I see few great fonts, a lot of OK fonts, and some “OMG!-How-Dare-You-Put-That-Font-On-This-List” fonts.
Just my two cents anyway.
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thanks
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Aug 17, 2010
Tallys: It’s not good for large print and often looks a little bit jagged when used for large blocks of text.
Trajan: Trajan is an amazing font that is entirely over-used. The movie business has made this font too recognizable to use.
Geo-Sans: Again, a nice font but many designers use it inappropriately.
Rockwell: Frankly, I just hate this font. It’s ugly and I have never seen it used appropriately.
Helvetica: Helvetica is an annoying go-to font for designers. It’s a nice font and it deserves to be on this list but it is certainly not the Jesus of the font world.
Times Roman: I.. what the… is this a joke? It has to be, because when anybody uses this font it simply screams, “I don’t know how to change the default font in Microsoft Word”. It’s generic, over-used, and unattractive.
Other than that, most of the fonts that you posted look a lot a like. I mean, really. Chunk five, RePublic, Memphis, Glypha, and Rockwell are basically the same font with varying levels of boldness.
There are a few good fonts on the list but the fact that you put Times Roman on a list of the best fonts for designers tells me that you either have no taste or that you are very new to design.
Aug 17, 2010
Sep 9, 2010
thanks.
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