Graphic design is a modern tool to communicate with the audience that can be considered art to some extent. People pay attention to aesthetics in any domain as beautiful things make our lives better. Professional designers know that in addition to geometrical shapes, signs, and symbols, the font is an integral part of their work, and it makes the whole composition.
Graphic designers have an eye for detail, and they understand that using a suitable size and formatting style will make the perfect font. There are more than half a million fonts, but a professional designer needs three font types for the project, making it uncluttered and pleasant to read.
The font choice is so crucial as it influences the first impression of your website and your brand identity overall. That is why designers spend a massive amount of time researching the fonts available and choosing the one that reflects the essence of a particular project and meets its needs to the fullest extent.
In this article, you can find the top 9 fonts selected by the professionals who analyzed various factors to make your design projects highly appreciated by commissioners and the audience.
- Helvetica
- Garamond
- Trajan
- Futura
- Bodoni
- Bickham Script Pro
- Frutiger
- Rockwell
- Caslon
1. Helvetica / Helvetica Neue / Helvetica Now
Professional designers widely use Helvetica in their projects since this font makes the text look light and unique. Some people think that the spacing between the characters needs to be less tight. It may be because every designer has their own view on the project, and in many cases, Helvetica was the best choice, that’s why it got the first place.
Mike Parker, typographer, type designer, consultant, and historian was the Helvetica font creator as we know it today. It has always been a ubiquitous and versatile font because of its numerous weights, widths, and sizes. The clarity and neutrality of this font made public and governmental institutions rely on it in their documents.
You can imagine the importance and popularity of Helvetica after reading this quote from The Guardian:
“Today the Helvetica font is ubiquitous, used to spell out major brand identities (Nestlé, Lufthansa), shop names (American Apparel), public signage (the New York subway system was an early adopter), tech companies (Microsoft, Intel, Apple – current iPhones use the fashionably skinny Helvetica Neue) and self-defeating ironic T-shirt slogans (“I hate Helvetica”).”
Taken from: https://inkbotdesign.com
2. Garamond
Garamond is widely used in textbooks, magazines, and websites, especially for educational purposes. It was named after sixteenth-century engraver Claude Garamond and created in the later Renaissance in 1510.
Despite having lots of versions, the Adobe ITC Garamond, designed in 1989, is the most popular font version. Garamond`s brilliant popularity is grounded on its bold and subtle style that is perfect for academic requirements.
The native writers will provide you with in-depth research and high-quality work so that you can see the predicted grade and suggestions for improvements if they are. Recently, a German publication agency named Garamond the second-best font after Helvetica. Apple and Microsoft Windows used new variants of the font for their interface designs.
Taken from: https://www.freefonts.io
3. Trajan
Trajan is extensively used in the film-making industry, especially it`s known due to numerous Hollywood movie posters. A symbolic existence in society, religion, law, and class characterizes the font.
The old-style serif typeface, Trajan was developed for the purpose of Adobe by Carol Twombly in 1989. The font creator got her inspiration from Trajan’s Column where Roman square capitals were inscribed. Trajan design was improved by numerals and punctuation, and bolder versions.
It’s fascinating that Twombly`s ancient style interpretation gave the world a font family whose clarity and beauty ornament not only printed materials but is extensively used in digital design projects and improves creative skills. Take into account that Trajan was created for display in large sizes that’s why pay special attention when you use it in print.
Taken from: https://www.designyourway.net
4. Futura
You can use Futura to achieve the maximum in a limited space: logos, slogans, corporate typefaces, and books with a need for a small text. Designed in 1927 by Paul Renner, Futura represented the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933 visual elements thanks to its forwardness and boldness.
Based on geometric shapes, such as circles, triangles, and squares, Futura helps the text to look perfect. Futura was named “the typeface of today and tomorrow” due to its spirit of modernity.
Some designers dislike the font, but for many, it became an integral part of their graphic design experience. World-famous brands, such as Nike, Supreme, Gillette, PayPal, Red Bull, and many others use Futura font versions in their logotypes.
The font is extremely widespread in film and video making industries. Due to its ability to be captured and recognized quickly, transport is the other area of its use, for example, Mercedes-Benz panel graphics and Boeing airliners’ cockpit controls exploit the font.
Taken from: https://designsrock.org
5. Bodoni
The foremost thing professional designers appreciate in Bodoni is its aesthetic attractiveness. Giambattista Bodoni, an Italian publisher, and typographer created it at the end of the 18th. When it was first released, it was classified as a classical font due to Bodoni’s rather rational structure.
Later the font became a new design of Roman or Renaissance letter styles, known as modern font or Didone design. Geometrically shaped in a discreet manner, it is a charming feature of any project.
Bodoni`s recognizable typeface gained its popularity in the fashion industry, in particular logos and headlines. However, in Europe designers prefer using it in body text. The font is recognizable by very thin “Hairlines,” which contrast to the thicker lines.
You have definitely seen it in world-famous brand logos: Vogue, Calvin Klein, and Gucci. Using it in magazine printing allows featuring the crisp detail of the fine strokes on a high-gloss paper. The variant of Bodoni font called “Stilson” is the primary headline font for The Washington Post newspaper.
Chauncey H. Griffith designed Poster Bodoni in 1929 that is widely used in Mamma mia! posters. Prominent Italian designer Massimo Vignelli claimed it to be “one of the most elegant typefaces ever designed.”
Taken from: https://www.designprintdigital.com
6. Bickham Script Pro
Adobe programmed the font to be used in-house in 1989, but very soon, professional designers highly praised its compelling style. Richard Lipton’s Bickham Script is known for its flowing nature and formality. The script typeface is based on the lettering of 18th-century writing masters, depicted in the fantastic George Bickham’s engravings. Creativeness combined with simplicity makes Bickham Script Pro the writing as an art.
The extraordinary typeface is mainly used for visuals or Printables for formal occasions. Using Bickham Script, you can add an element of beauty and calligraphic elegance to headings or short passages.
With the Bickham Script Pro, it’s easy to create interesting designs, covers, names and logos. This font will attract the audience’s attention and make your design project look incredible.
Consider that it is specifically suitable for branding projects, homeware designs, and product packaging. If you want to make your project look appealing and funny, then you should definitely exploit the Bickham Script Pro.
Taken from: https://textfonts.net
7. Frutiger
Swiss designer Adrian Frutiger gave the name to the font family. Frutiger is known to be a “humanist” typeface since its characters are clear and readable. It explains why many designers worldwide adore using this font, and Erik Spiekermann named it “the best general typeface ever”.
The designers are attracted by the opportunity to make a small size text recognizable at a distance. Concorde was the first to commission Frutiger to design a minor metal type company: Sofra Type.
Nowadays, it’s widely used in display work and signage designing, as well as the development of Web 2.0 Logos. Many institutions around the world exploit the Frutiger font as an official typeface, such as universities, colleges, companies, organizations, signage programs in hospitals and airports.
Frutiger Stones were created, using polished pebbles as the boundary and inspired by natural elements. Positive, Regular, and Negative fonts look extremely creative and interesting and can make any designer project special.
Taken from: https://designsrock.org
8. Rockwell
Product of Monotype Corporation, Rockwell was released back in 1934. It is quite legible and straightforward when used for display and small size text designs. The slab serif font design`s main features make it resemble horizontal strokes. Its blocky nature makes Rockwell be widely used for headlines instead of body content.
The radiance of the end product is achieved through Rockwell`s distinct design — geometric shapes. It is entirely created of straight lines and right angles that may create an impression that’s mechanical and unnatural.
On the contrary, it is an example of warmth and amiableness within Slab Serifs. The magnificence of this font is grounded on its ability to combine various features and be used for scientific purposes, be retro, modern, and playful at the same time.
The Guinness World Records, Docklands Light Railway, and publisher Tall Lighthouse are famous representatives of those who used the font. Rockwell`s splendid design can meet all your requirements while keeping the quality intact.
Taken from: https://www.pinterest.com
9. Caslon
Inspired by Dutch typefaces, William Caslon created a safe and dependable font family that got his name: thus, you can find many font versions. Carol Twombly modernized the 18th-century version of Adobe in 1990. This modern variant is quite true to the elegant source, however, optimized for the digital design and printing demands. Dutch Baroque font features distinguish it from the others and make it beloved for the robust texture.
Caslon font includes everything needed by the professional designer: small caps, swash letters, alternates, ligatures, expert characters, and a number of period ornaments. The font has many variations that developed throughout its long history, but they are all recognized by main distinctive features.
The problem is that many of them were designed for written versions and render very small when used for web body text on the screen. It’s impressive that the Caslon font was used for printed copies of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
In general, it is perfect for body content designing, such as magazines, journals, books that you can design for both online and offline use. It is perfect for content that requires large amounts of reading, always looking appropriate and making the reading process easy.
Taken from: Wikipedia
Bottom Line
Now you know what are the top 9 fonts that would be popular among professional fonts designers in 2021. Hopefully, knowing their origin, history and purpose would help you when deciding which font to use for your project.
Choose wisely, as the right font can help the project achieve its goals and better convey its main ideas. Now that you’ve decided on which font to use, don’t forget to send a survey to your users to see what they think about your new design.
