Imagine hauling around heavy boxes of metal type — a different set for every typeface — and having to assemble your text letter by letter in order to design a document. That seems a world away from our point-and-click, instant world of digital design. Although our design methods have come a long way, sometimes navigating the modern process of choosing and using fonts can seem almost as difficult and complicated as the good old days of metal typesetting and printing presses. This guide is designed to offer a comprehensive overview of fonts: their different categories, how to choose them, how to use them, and even where to find free font downloads. What types of fonts are there? Short answer: there are many, including some crazy ones that defy categorization. Some classifications you may have heard of include Old Style, Blackletter, or Humanist. They generally have connecting letters. Is it a font or a typeface? You may have heard the text you use in design projects referred to as both fonts and typefaces and wondered if the two terms mean the same thing. The distinction dates back to traditional printmaking with metal type. The unique style or design of the alphabet that we identify by name — say, Times New Roman or Bodoni, would be considered the typeface. When those letters needed to be cast at a particular size or weight 10 point bold, for example , that would be considered a particular font. Bodoni bold and 24 pt. Bodoni italic would be two different fonts, but the same typeface. Why do font choices matter? Designers including Erik Spiekermann, Dan Mayer, and Jessica Hische have been known to compare choosing fonts for design projects to choosing an outfit to wear. Think about what your clothes might say about you: based on what you wear, people might rightly or wrongly make assumptions about your style, your personality, your socio-economic background, your age or the age you wish you were , or the kind of impression you want to make. And different occasions and situations call for different apparel. Now, what your clothes do for you, font choices serve the same purpose in a design. Typography often provides that at-a-glance first impression that people gauge and judge the rest of the design by — so your font choices need to be purposeful and appropriate. Are they effectively communicating the qualities you want to project? These considerations are part of what makes choosing fonts such an important part of the design process, one that should be approached thoughtfully. Not sure where to start? This next section will get down to the nitty-gritty of choosing and using fonts with easy-to-understand explanations and practical tips. How to Choose a Font The Basics Your first concern in choosing a font for a project should be that it matches the message or purpose of your design. Before you ever start browsing through fonts on your computer or searching for a new one to buy or download, it would be a good idea to brainstorm some of the qualities or characteristics that you want your design to communicate. This is important because every typeface has its own mood or personality. If you find yourself getting off track, just ask yourself this question: Does this font support the qualities of my brand or complement the purpose of my design? The most effective font choices do just that. Consider context and audience. Where and how your design will be viewed should also figure into your font choices. Or social media graphics, which are likely to be viewed on mobile devices, would benefit from fonts that display well on screen. Who is viewing your design may also be important. Is your audience of a certain age or demographic? Will your font choice resonate with them? Is your font choice suitable? More than the mood or character of a font, and related to context, suitability is more of a functional matter. Will it be practical and easily readable in the context of your design? One of the most common mistakes that beginners make is not realizing what various font categories are most suitable for — for instance, body typefaces versus display typefaces. Body typefaces are used in body copy: book text, magazine or newspaper text, website content, any lengthy passages. These fonts are easy on the eyes and easy to read. This is the category that fonts like Times New Roman and Arial fall into. These types of fonts can be fun and have their uses, but good design, especially design intended for business or professional contexts, often has more subtlety than that. Display fonts can make a big impact when used in the right way, but when used incorrectly, they can make a design look busy and amateurish — or completely unreadable. Is your font choice versatile? Every designer needs a few neutral fonts that adapt to their surroundings and can be a go-to choice when time is tight or nothing else seems to be working. The most useful sort come in a variety of weights such as light, regular, medium, bold, or heavy and styles such as narrow, condensed, extended, or small caps. Having all those options especially for a text-heavy design allows you to assign different styles of the same typeface to different functions within your design, creating a very cohesive look overall. Last year, more than 40 top designers weighed in on some of their favorite, go-to fonts. Although they may not be as high quality or carefully crafted as a typeface from a top font foundry, there are plenty of fonts available that are free to download or commonly available on many operating systems that will do very nicely for everyday design projects. In the serif category, try Georgia, Andada, Crimson Text, Droid Serif, Heuristica, or Merriweather. For some sans-serif picks, check out Franklin Gothic, Clear Sans, Roboto, Lato, Source Sans Pro, or Merriweather Sans. Is your font readable? Readability becomes an important quality to look for in a font to make sure your message comes across. How can you tell whether a typeface is readable, other than your own visual assessment? A business card will need a different sized font than an event poster. If you can still easily make it out at smaller sizes, then it will probably perform well on small screens. In most cases, generous spacing improves readability. Combining Fonts Choosing two or more fonts to use together can be tricky. You want the fonts to complement each other, but not be too similar — different, but so wildly different that they clash. That quality might be general proportions like letter height or width, or two fonts might share an underlying structure or skeleton. Even if the similarity is subtle, it will help give your font combination a basic cohesiveness. Their fonts will share a certain look or structure that makes it easy to pair them. Want to try out a super-family? One sans-serif and one serif font are often enough to do this effectively. But how many fonts are too many? There are those in the design community who would say that one font will do for most projects, and that three is the maximum number you should include in one design to avoid an overly busy or confusing layout. Some designs will call for a certain aesthetic or an extra-decorative look that would benefit from a wider range of fonts. There are plenty of sites of varying quality that offer free font downloads. The number one thing to remember when downloading fonts is to check the license more on that in a bit. First, here are several free font sources to get you started: 1 Font Squirrel: This is probably the best resource for fonts that are both free and licensed for commercial use every single one on the site! Includes a great selection of hand-picked, high-quality fonts that are searchable by classification such as serif, san-serif, or script or tag such as casual, retro, or distressed. Includes hundreds of fonts that are all Open Source which means they can be shared, modified, customized, etc. Many fonts are free only for personal use. FontShop: A source for buying fonts that offers certain weights and styles of a selection of its fonts for free. Must create an account to download. Pixel Buddha: Has a freebie section with a small selection of artsy and hand-drawn typefaces. Must create an account to download. Usually it will be licensed for personal, commercial, or educational use. For a more technical overview, check out this introduction to font licensing from a law firm. Start designing with awesome fonts today! We hope that this guide provides an motivational starting point for learning how to choose appropriate fonts and find free ones! If you have any favorite typefaces or resources, feel free to share in the comments.
