Different types of fonts are available for you to use when designing a logo. However, selecting the proper font is like selecting the right color to paint your house.
You want to get it perfect since that new coat will revitalize your house and reveal a lot about the people who live inside to your guests.
Fonts, like colors, are used to trigger certain reactions and build distinct mental connections with a brand.
Each font has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, as well as psychological significance, which should be considered when designing a logo.
There are hundreds of free fonts accessible today, but the majority of them may be divided into five basic types, or “font families.”
All these styles have distinct qualities, and the fonts in these families play an important part in their symbolic meaning, influencing your final logo design.
1. Serif Fonts
Serif fonts are the most classic and unique type of font. They are named after the little feet at the top and bottom of the letterforms.
Serifs were invented by the Romans, who flared their brushstrokes out at the top and bottom, resulting in what are now called serifs. Serif fonts first appeared in the 15th century and remained popular for three centuries.
Even within this one category, there are several classifications (Old Style, Classical, Neo-Classical, and Transitional, to name a few).
While a casual observer may put them all together, a type of geek will explain the difference between the weight and ascender heights.
2. Display Fonts
Display fonts, often headline fonts, are intended to capture and retain a viewer’s attention. They are commonly seen on billboards, advertising, book covers, and packaging.
Any font greater than 14 points in size is termed “display” and sets the tone for a design component.
3. Slab Serif Fonts
Slab serif fonts have the most appealing, broad serifs. They are the noisier relatives of the classic, silent serifs that gained popularity in the nineteenth-century billboards, posters, and pamphlets, meant to proclaim their message from a long distance.
Later, they evolved into more elegant versions, such as the ever-popular Clarendon, which could be used for lengthier paragraphs of text.
Slabs nearly always give a design a vintage feel and have undeniable raw agility. The classic forms are ideal for any outdoor-related brand.
At the same time, the more refined modern versions always feel a little artsy, possibly because almost every typewriter font is a slab serif.
4. Retro Fonts
The retro font transports readers decades into the past, giving creative compositions an “old-fashioned” appearance.
This font is available in serif, sans serif, and script types and is frequently used as strong headlines in retro and classic posters, logos, and packaging. This is one of the best different types of fonts.
5. Sans Serif Fonts
Sans serif fonts lack serifed feet. They first appeared in the mid-nineteenth century but took off in what is known as the “Modern” era in the twenties and thirties.
They were deemed innovative and flamboyant, like shorter skirts and the Charleston dance craze.
In the mid-century, German designers experimented with footless forms and developed typefaces that are still popular and recognizable today, such as Futura and Helvetica.
Sans serifs are still the most cost-effective, efficient, clean, and modern option. They are also readable in various sizes, and their less-detailed designs have worked exceptionally well on digital screens.
Sans serifs are strong; while they work well for long paragraphs of text, they have always shone in larger applications like headlines and logos.
6. Script Fonts
Script fonts are among the best types of fonts, and they are designed to resemble cursive handwriting.
Similar to party invitations, they are divided into two types: formal and casual. Formal scripts, as the name suggests, are the most costly. They evoke the magnificent handwriting of 17th—and 18th-century masters.
They are easily identified by their exaggerated curls and flourishes that extend from the serif, known as swashes. These must be handled with caution.
Using them for large quantities of copy might make your design look like the Declaration of Independence.
Casual scripts emerged in the twentieth century and resemble the work of sign painters rather than calligraphers.
These scripts feature fewer swashes and are easier to read. They are suitable for anything with more informal, homespun vibes, such as logos, posters, and brochures, and they have a timeless sense.
7. Dingbat Fonts
Dingbats are fonts that use shapes and symbols instead of the alphabet and numeric letters. They are also known as printer characters or ornaments.
Pictograms, design components, user interface elements, buttons, graphics, and bullet lists are just a few examples. Dingbat fonts are quite helpful and should be included in your basic type collection.
8. Handwritten Fonts
Handwritten typefaces were uncommon to obtain even ten years ago instead of formal or informal scripts.
It frequently lacks the structure and clarity of traditional script letterforms instead of replicating the loop and flow of natural handwriting.
They may also be sans serif and look like your dad’s all-capital letters in a birthday card.
Handwritten fonts are difficult to define because of their immense variety, but the current growth of available forms is interesting.
They are ideal for book covers, posters, and logo design because they provide a creative, unique touch that practically all small businesses strive for.
9. Monospaced Fonts
Monospaced fonts were produced to match the typewriter’s specifications. They are known as non-proportional fonts or fixed-width fonts.
In other words, as opposed to variable-width fonts with varied spacings and widths–they are proportionately spaced–all of their letters occupy the same amount of horizontal space.
Courier and Monaco are two examples of these fonts. Their attractiveness doesn’t distinguish them, and they’re sometimes more difficult to read than proportional fonts.
On the other hand, Monospaced fonts are usually handy in circumstances when objects must line up.
10. Novelty Fonts
A novelty font is any typeface that does not fall into one of the major groups – serif, sans serif, Old English, script, or cursive.
They are frequently attention-grabbers, utilized in headlines or call-outs, and frequently define the personality of your content.
Novelty fonts are enjoyable to seek and collect. There is a new typeface for every mood or style you can imagine. There are no laws to break while making a novelty typeface; thus, the possibilities are limitless.
11. Comic Fonts
If you’re searching for a comic book theme, comic fonts are typically pleasant, simple to read, and most popular for usage in comics and cartoons.
When selecting fonts, consider ultra-legible fonts that are easy on the eyes and brain for people of all ages.
You’ll also want to consider compatibility in whatever project you’re working on. For example, you don’t want the normal light-hearted comic font if you’re trying to convey a more serious message. Compared to other forms of typography, comic typesetting has a unique role.
With cartoons and speech bubbles, the font carries the strip’s tone and is not subordinate to the overall design, as with most other typography.
The lettering significantly impacts the feel and impact of the message. Keep in mind that comic-style fonts are overused. If you have the option, choose something else.
12. Stencil Fonts
R. Hunter Middleton developed the Stencil fonts in 1937. They were made of uppercase letters with rounded corners and broad main strokes with face breaks.
The idea was created for the Chicago-based Ludlow Typograph Company, where he worked.
The letters were developed primarily to make newspaper headlines and were produced with hand-assembled brass matrices for their line-casting machine.
Stencil usage has become common not only for newspaper headlines, public signs, and crate marking but also for posters, graffiti, and street art.
13. Blackletter Fonts
This font set the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed with movable type. It is also known as Gothic or Old English.
Its black texture and highly designed caps with dramatic thick-to-thin strokes and serifs distinguish it. Blackletter is a highly styled font with complex swirls that are fairly readable.
14. Calligraphic Fonts
Calligraphy is an old writing method that employs flat-edged pens to produce distinctive and creative letters.
The movement and direction of the pen controlled the thickness of the lines. This is a fine art typically employed for printing formal invitations or letters.
15. Typewriter Fonts
Typewriter fonts were designed to look like the traditional mechanical typewriters used to compose letters and papers before the digital age.
The offered options are ideal for applications that require a retro or vintage style. Gilles Le Corre’s 1913 Typewriter is an excellent example of this sort of font.
These fonts frequently take on a dingy appearance to reflect inconsistencies and look similar to those seen in ancient, well-worn poetry and literature books.
Typewriter fonts are ideal for poster design, journaling, and designs incorporating scraps of old letters and stories. They never go out of fashion.
