Different Types of Fonts And How to Choose One

You’ll first need to understand the basic styles, which include:

• Serif
• Sans-serif
• Script
• Monospace
• Display

We’ll go through each font style to highlight what it looks like, popular fonts in the style, and what they’re good for.

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Serif

What does it look like? The identifying feature of serif fonts is the tiny strokes or projections on every end of a letter. Serifs improve readability by making it easy to distinguish the difference between a lowercase L and a capital I. Some of the most used serif fonts include:

• Times New Roman
• Georgia
• Courier New

What’s it good for? Serif fonts have long been considered the most readable fonts. They’re commonly used in print newspapers, magazines, and books, and are recommended to be used in MLA format. Print media prefers serif fonts because it helps guide the eye along a single line of text.

Despite their readability in print, serif fonts can be problematic with digital media. The letters can blur together on low-resolution images and make it difficult to read. While computer monitors and smartphone screens have improved over the years, serif fonts are still not preferred.

Sans-serif

What does it look like? Sans-serif fonts are what you’ll see most commonly in your day-to-day life. These fonts are aptly named as they don’t have the serif projections on the letters (sans means without). You’re probably familiar with some of the most common sans-serif fonts, which are:

• Arial
• Calibri
• Verdana

What’s it good for? Search engines, websites, and social media platforms prefer sans-serif fonts because of their improved readability on a digital screen. Sans-serif fonts are the simplest fonts available and provide clean text that can be used across many platforms.

Script

What does it look like? Script fonts are inspired by handwriting and calligraphy. You’ll notice that most script fonts will look like they’re in cursive, but not every letter will connect or flow the same as if someone had written it in cursive. Letters will include swooping letters and curls, called swashes. Script fonts typically come in one of two styles in casual and formal fonts. Casual scripts are simpler and easier to read, while formal fonts are more embellished. Common script fonts you might see are:

• Harlow Solid Italic
• Brush Script MT
• Fairwater Script

What’s it good for? You’ve likely seen script fonts on wedding or baby announcements, event invitations, and award certificates. Overall, script fonts aren’t considered easy to read (as you can see above) but can look great and enhance your print when used in the appropriate setting.

Monospaced

What does it look like? Monospaced fonts are fonts that utilize letters that take up the same amount of space. For example, the space for capital A and capital I will occupy the same amount of space on a line as one another. Typically, the A and I don’t take up similar space on a line, but a monospaced typeface will format your text in this way. It also conveys a typewriter feel with its consistent spacing. You’ll also see that some serif or sans-serif fonts fit into a monospaced format as well. Examples of some monospaced fonts include:

• Courier New
• Lucida Sans Typewriter
• Consolas

What’s it good for? While monospaced fonts aren’t always the most appealing to a designer, they do have their place. Monospaced fonts make it easy to create a proportional block of text based on the number of characters you want to use. For instance, if you’re making a sign and have space for 20 characters on each line, monospaced fonts make it easy to count characters without trying to compensate for narrow letters like I and a lowercase L.

Display

What does it look like? The fifth font type has many names that include display, decorative, fantasy, and others, but we’ll go with display for the sake of brevity. Display fonts are the diverse fonts of the bunch. This is where you’ll find different styles like thick scripts, stencils, ultra-light, ultra-bold, and others. The diversity of display fonts comes with their function with signage. Similar to monospace fonts, display fonts can come in serif, sans-serif, and script styles. While display fonts aren’t usually used in everyday writing or as a preferred font on a website, you might see these common fonts on logos and banners:

• Chiller
• Playbill
• Jumble

What’s it good for? If you’re not making a sign, logo, or banner, display fonts don’t have much practical use. They can be difficult to read when small and irritating as the novelty wears off after a few lines. Use display fonts when your project or signage calls for it, but we don’t recommend setting one as your default font for your outgoing emails.

What’s best for you? Knowing how to choose a font depends on how you’re going to use it. For those who regularly send emails, write a blog, or do anything else online, a sans-serif font is always going to be the best choice. Choose something that doesn’t fall under the display category because, again, it can be off-putting after a few lines.

A monospace font can look nice and give a vintage feel that comes with a typewriter but isn’t required for the medium. Someone who’s going to type and send a physical letter of any kind should stick with serif fonts because of their readability.

Knowing how to choose a font for what you need is important. Some types of fonts are considered unprofessional or difficult to read in certain situations.Use this guide to help you make the right decision about a font for what you need.