Which font should I use?

A typography primer for non-designers.

1. A typography primer 

for non-designers
Which typeface 

should I use?

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So, you are designing a presentation or a resume a poster a document… ok, you name it

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But... you’ve got a little
problem
!

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FONT
SHOULD I USE?
Which

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There could be a simple answer 

to your question
Don’t panic

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Yeah! Nope
I’m not with 

an organisation
The correct font 

is specified there
I really can’t 

use that one
Ok, this guide 

is for you
Does your organisation have 

a brand book or a style guide?

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Yeah! Nope
I’m not with 

an organisation
The correct font 

is specified there
I really can’t 

use that one
Ok, this guide 

is for you
Maybe… 

in theory…
Do you have budget for a style guide?
Get a style guide. 

Sooo worth it
Does your organisation have 

a brand book or a style guide?

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Yeah! Nope
I’m not with 

an organisation
The correct font 

is specified there
I really can’t 

use that one
Ok, this guide 

is for you
Maybe… 

in theory…
Nope
Do you have budget for a style guide?
Ok, this guide 

is for you
Get a style guide. 

Sooo worth it
Does your organisation have 

a brand book or a style guide?

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So you want to find 

a good typeface, but…
What exactly 

is “a good typeface”?

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A good typeface 

1) is readable and 2) has character
Maybe too fancyJust rightMaybe too boring
AgAg Ag

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readable?
It’s a complex subject and for the sake of simplicity 

we suggest adopting one simple rule…
How do we know 

if the typeface is

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Ag
AgAg
Ag
Avoid typefaces that are 

obviously hard to read
Comic Sans
Blackmoor LET
Brush Script
Monotype Corsiva

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character?
Ok, but what about

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Typefaces carry an emotional charge. What emotion are
you trying to convey? Choose a typeface accordingly.
Contemporary
Traditional
or CoolWarm

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Let’s begin with
tradition

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RRRRR
Traditional  Contemporary
Novelty
Robust
Simple
Affordable
Straightforward
Classical
Sophisticated
Complex
Luxury
Fancy
R
Didot Playfair Minion Fedra Sans PT Sans Avenir

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Rates
Why some typefaces have a more traditional look? 

The obvious answers would be “serifs”.
Rates
A serif is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol. A typeface with
serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A typeface without serifs is called sans
serif or sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning "without."N
Didot Avenir
Traditional Contemporary

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Bodoni Sans
Wow. What has just happened? The serifs are gone!
Serifs are important — but even if we take them
away, the font on the left still looks more historical.
Rates
Avenir
Traditional Contemporary

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R
The left R has more difference between thick 

and thin strokes. The technical term is contrast.
More contrast 

More sophistication
Less contrast 

Less sophistication
Bodoni Sans Avenir

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R
Suppose we add even more contrast… See?
Very sophisticated (also not very readable).
Low contrastHigh contrastExorbitant contrast
Bodoni Sans AvenirBroadway

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To conclude: tradition and sophistication 

are mostly communicated via serifs and contrast.
Serifs
More contrast
More sophisticated
More historical
No serifs
Less contrast
Less sophisticated
More contemporary
RRRRRR
Didot Playfair Minion Fedra Sans PT Sans Century Gothic

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warmth
The second dimension is

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Geometric
Distant
Factory-made
Rational
Precise
Calligraphic
Approachable
Hand-mande
Emotional
Imperfect
Warm Cool
More calligraphic typefaces have more warmth.
More geometric typefaces are cooler. They are
also harder to read.
Rates
Palatino Linotype Century Gothic
Rates

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This was done 

by a calligrapher.
Beautiful and 

slightly imperfect.
RR
An engineer
with a ruler.
Calculated.
A fashion designer
with a French curve.
Very precise, lots 

of thought.
R
Palatino Linotype Century Gothic Didot
Warm CoolCool

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R
Warm
Once again, it’s not just about serifs! Typefaces that
have more contrast are also warmer.
R
Warm
Palatino Linotype Optima
Cool
DidotR

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Calligraphic 

Warm
Geometric 

Cool
RRRRRR
Jannon Swash Palatino APC Garamond Minion PT Serif Didot
R
Century Gothic
R
Gill Sans
R
PT Sans
R
Candara
R
Fedra Sans
R
Optima

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We hope it makes some sense now. Let’s begin with
discussing the four most prominent font groups.
Contemporary
Traditional
or CoolWarm

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Modern
Geometric
Old Style
Humanist
Readability: Satisfactory Readability: Poor
Character: Warm, traditional Character: Cool, traditional
Readability: Excellent Readability: Poor
Character: Warm, contemporary Character: Cool, contemporary
Star typeface: Garamond Star typeface: Didot
Star typeface: Gill Sans Star typeface: Futura
Contemporary
CoolWarm
Traditional
or

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Before choosing a typeface decide
Frankly, this is the hardest part. If you can’t decide 

on this, just use Georgia or Verdana (or both).
what emotion 

to convey

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You’re about to see 40 typefaces
This typeface comes free with Windows 10 This one comes with Mac OS 10.11
Leads to a Wikipedia article. It’s good to know the
story of your typeface and it’s a good sign when a
typeface is on Wikipedia.
Click and download this typeface 

for free at FontSquirrel.com or search 

the site for similarly tagged fonts.
For one reason or another we 

do not recommend this typeface
Here are some neat icons to help you with selection

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Old-Style Serif
Classical Roman antiquity, Renaissance 

or Baroque, early printed books

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High contrast with serifs, calligraphic, very warm and quite complex
Old-Style Serif
Great 20th century design by Hermann Zapf
Based on 15th-century Venetian type by Nicolas Jenson
Designed in 1915 the US, excellent legibility
Hoefler Text
Was used in Wikipedia logo and this should count for something
A very nice design inspired by Garamond. 45 Styles! Free!
Garamond
Based on 16th century design, the most famous old style type

33. KAPTEREV.COMPhoto by Marc Vassal
Modern Serif
19
th
century Paris, high fashion, Vogue magazine

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Modern Serif
Bodoni
Didot
More fonts tagged “modern”…
Late 18th century Italian design, one of the best of its kind
French design, even more refined and geometric than Bodoni
20th century American variation
Sometimes classified as transitional, it is both readable and fancy
Contemporary narrow typeface with historic look
Even higher contrast, very cool, fashionable and calculated. Problematic
readability as the letters are overly complex. Recommended for headings

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First half of the 20th century, modernism, Bauhaus, Russian constructivism
Photo by Matt Olson
Geometric Sans

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Geometric Sans
Futura
Avenir Next
More fonts tagged “geometric”…
Century Gothic
It’s on both PC and Mac and that’s the only reason we recommend it
An American take on Futura
The original German Futura, one and only
Aesthetically pleasing and highly readable
A semi-serifed contemporary geometric typeface
Based around simple geometric forms like square, circle or triangle. 

Minimalist, straight-forward, modernist. As a rule, have readability problems

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Humanist Sans
Print by William Morris
Late 19th and 20th century arts and cra"s movement, present-day Europe

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Humanist Sans
Gill Sans
Verdana
PT Sans
Segoe UI More fonts tagged “humanist”…
Eric Gill’s greatest design, it’s on every pub menu in London
Highly readable and aesthetically decent (used by IKEA!)
Comes with Office, the best of C-fonts
Microsoft uses Segoe family for branding and interfaces
Versatile and stylish
Designed by Erik Spiekermann, a legend in the world of typography
Not a bad font, but it suffers from gross overuse
Calibri
Based on hand-written text proportions. Very warm, friendly and very readable
Corbel

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Traditional, warm
Contemporary, warm
Modern
Geometric
Old Style
Humanist
We’ve covered groups that have the most character. 

Let’s cover some neutral ones as well.
Contemporary, cool
Traditional, cool
?
Less character, 

more neutral

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Rates
Old Style Serif Modern Serif
Rates
Transitional Serif
Rates
Factory-made
Distant
Rational
Precise
Hand-mande
Friendly
Emotional
Imperfect
Warm CoolNeutral
Mass-produced
Convenient
Practical
Cost-effective

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18-19
th
century industrial revolution, newspapers, mass-produced books
Transitional Serif

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Very readable, practical and non-obtrusive but o"en lack distinct individuality
Georgia
Minion
More fonts tagged “transitional”…
Transitional Serif
PT Serif
Century Schoolbook
The best transitional serif available on both platforms
This maybe the first typeface you ever saw in your life
Another timeless design by Eric Gill
Often classified as old-style, it the most popular book font
A well-executed commission by the Russian Government
Times New Roman
Oh, please. Enough is enough. Replace with Georgia or Tinos.
An innovative serif metrically compatible with Times

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It should be Transitional Sans, right? But no, 

typography is not that obvious.
Traditional, warm
Contemporary, warm?
Modern
Geometric
Old Style
Humanist
Contemporary, cool
Traditional, cool
Transitional
Traditional, neutral

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Late 19
th
–early 20
th
century. But also… #e 19 60’s. Swiss design. Helvetica.
Grotesque & neo-grotesque

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Quite readable and neutral, the quintessential 20th century typeface group
Franklin Gothic
News Gothic
Helvetica Neue More fonts tagged “Grotesque”…
Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Celebrated American typeface named after Ben Franklin Designed for the Rubik’s Cube Exhibition, released for free
Remember the Star Wars crawl? That was in News Gothic
“When in doubt use Helvetica” was the common rule once
A replacement for Arial
Excellent free typeface from Poland
Arial
A Helvetica rip-off which is just everywhere

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Modern
Geometric
Old Style
Humanist
Readability: Satisfactory Readability: Poor
Character: Warm, traditional Character: Cool, traditional
Readability: Excellent Readability: Poor
Character: Warm, contemporary Character: Cool, contemporary
Star typeface: Garamond Star typeface: Didot
Star typeface: Gill Sans Star typeface: Futura
Transitional
Readability: Good
Character: Neutral, traditional
Star typeface: Baskerville
Grotesque
Readability: Good
Character: Neutral, contemporary
Star typeface: Helvetica

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We’re almost done!
But there is 

one more thing...

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Traditional, warm
Contemporary, warm
?
Modern
Geometric
Old Style
Humanist
Contemporary, cool
Traditional, cool
Transitional
Traditional, neutral
Grotesque
Contemporary, neutral
? ?

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Slab Serif
Photo by Luca Venturi
Reminiscent of the Wild West signs and posters, it is great for shouting at people.

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Slab Serif
Low contrast with serifs, which look like slabs — hence the name. Comes in
flavours: geometric, humanist or transitional.
Rockwell Charter
More fonts tagged “Slab”…
Geometric design from 1930’s It’s very readable and totally
looks like a transitional typeface
Contemporary humanist Slab Serif, which
kind of escapes the classification

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Behold…
The final map

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Warm
Ag Ag
Ag Ag
AgAgAg
Ag
Old-style serif Transitional Serif Modern Serif
Humanist, Slab Transitional, Slab Geometric, Slab
Geometric Sans[Neo-]GrotesqueHumanist Sans
Neutral Cool
Warm Neutral Cool
Traditional Traditional
Neutral
Contemporary Contemporary
Neutral

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Go take another look, if you didn’t.
Did you find a typeface 

for yourself?

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Want to know more about typefaces and typography?
We think these books are awesome for beginners.
Like, 20% of it is for lawyers.

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www.kapterev.com
[email protected]
[phone]
Alexei Kapterev
Presentation skills and visual communication
m