Which serif font

Times New Roman. Freight Text. Tiempos Text. Type Pairing Lookbooks Font research done for you. GT Sectra. While there are a ton of different categories, such as script, display, gothic, the two main categories are serif and sans serif.

Understanding the difference between these two categories will help you start narrowing down which one is right for you. Fortunately, recognizing the difference between the two is pretty easy. Simple, right? The serif font is more ornamental and has serifs extending from the ends while the sans serif font on the left has clean and very precise ends.

Serif fonts have a history that dates all the way back to the 18th century when stonemasons would carve letters into rock. Today, we see a lot of serif fonts in traditional mediums such as newspapers, magazines, and books. As mentioned above, the most notable characteristic of serif fonts is their decorative tails and strokes. Serif letters also commonly use strokes that vary in weight meaning some areas of a letter may be thick while others are thin. The distinct characteristics and history of serif fonts give people a feeling of elegance, confidence, and trustworthy.

This usually makes them a good fit for companies who want to appear more reputable, established, and serious. Professional businesses such as law practices, editorials, and insurance companies are all examples of companies that a serif font would be a good choice for. Photo Credit: Different Perspective. They use a serif font to show people that they are experienced and knowledgeable when it comes to helping them with their litigation needs.

The use of serif in their logo and headers, give you the feeling that their team is established, educated, and going to take your case seriously. From their logo to the fonts used in their articles, they use a serif font to give people the feeling of tradition and reputability.

Serifs are also conventionally associated with print newspapers so their use of this font also creates a sense of formality and credibility. While serif fonts focus heavily on embracing tradition and history, sans serif fonts take the opposite approach and embrace simplicity and the feeling of being modern.

The main characteristics of serif fonts are their lack of serifs and use of simple, clean lines that are the same width throughout. The clean, crisp lines of sans serif fonts are the main reason many web designers prefer this style of font for on-screen use. The clean lines and sharp edges are able to render out more clearly on a screen which increases legibility for users. Sans serif fonts give off a feeling of being casual, informal, friendly, and very approachable.

Companies who want their brands to appear more youthful and relatable tend to use sans serif fonts. These traits make sans serif fonts are a popular choice among many start-up and tech companies who want to give people a sense of being cutting edge and more humanistic. Wix wants people to know that their product is easy to use, offers great customer support, and makes creating a website fun, and they accomplish that with their font choice.

By choosing a clean and rounded font, they give people a feeling of relaxation and approachability from the second someone interacts with their brand. HubSpot is another example of a company that uses a sans serif font in their branding. The rounded and clean appearance of their logo and website fonts give people similar feelings of friendliness and approachability.

For example, a trendy tech company, such as Uber wants their brand to convey a much different message than a more buttoned-up company like The New York Times. Before starting your search for a font, brainstorm some of the qualities and characteristics of your brand.

Also, think about the medium in which people are going to be interacting with your company. This will give you a roadmap to follow when researching fonts. You can then check any possible fonts against your brainstorm list to make sure it fits those qualities and use cases.

In the early days of Apple, the tech giant primarily used a serif font in its branding before eventually switching to a more modern looking sans serif font.

Look at the two examples below. Which one looks more like the cutting edge industry leader we all know today? Overall, you want to ensure that your font and all of your design choices for that matter reflect your brand. When used properly and chosen for the right reasons both serif and san serif fonts can be effective. It can be easy to want to choose a ton of fonts to use in your designs, but doing so can actually hurt your brand.

Choosing multiple fonts for your brand can be an effective way to create hierarchy in your designs. Ultimately, the choice of the best serif web fonts would depend on the exact project, the type and the context of a website and the requirements set by stakeholders. Need to add one or more fonts to a serif font you like? Try sans serif in large sizes. See the example below — serif font in headlines is combined with sans serif for the body text. Source: Asaro. Well, kind of. The strokes at the end of Latin letters that differentiate a serif from a sans serif would translate in other languages to the difference between classic and modern fonts.

Thus, the signs of modern serif fonts are used in multiple languages and typefaces. Check out these two:. They still work! We decided not to bore you guys to death with single letters on a pastel colored background. Instead, we pored over some effective websites with the best serif fonts to show you how serif fonts work in action. Source: Ancient Peaks. Source: Donauhof Wien. Source: Xavier Bourdil. Source: Coucoushop. Source: Drella Gallery. Source: Jennifer Heintz.

Source: Portion. Source: Nurture Digital. Source: Emergence. Source: Leader Bag. Source: Sikkema. Source: Isabelle Fox. Source: Rally Interactive.

Source: Evert Source: Design Thinkers. Source: Outline. Source: Walking Men. Source: Festival Franciacorta. Source: Awwwards. Source: Measponte. Source: Iglucraft. Source: CIS Russia. Below is a well-researched list of the most popular font sources from mcflugie. See where your fellow designers are purchasing or downloading fonts for free in What if you have already like a web font on a certain website?

Click on it with browser extension app WhatFont and see a pop-up with brief info.