5 Most Popular Fonts with Graphic Designers
Fonts play a significant role in design layouts as they add layers of meaning and value to your design. Therefore, it is important for graphic designers to choose the right font. Whether it is used in a logo, digital advertisement or website, fonts should be clean, tidy and legible.
The right font plays a role in crafting the look and feel of your design. So, when choosing a font you should always take into consideration the legibility, aesthetics and purpose. Remember, the font you choose can make or break your design.
Concise intro to the top 5 fonts
Due to its versatility and design, many professional graphic designers would use the following 5 fonts often. They are mostly used for Branding, Logos, Posters, and Websites.
1. Helvetica
Helvetica is a Sans-serif font that was designed by a Swiss designer, Max Miedinger. He was famous at that time for designing the Neue Haas Grotesk typeface which was then renamed Helvetica in the year 1960.
This font is most commonly used across many other industries as it has a more serious look and feel to it.
Many graphic designers choose to use Helvetica in their design because of its clean, bold and modern look. It is used by top brands such as Apple and Microsoft. Apple uses Helvetica for all its IOS platforms. It was designed to not give an impression or any meaning which makes it very adaptable for many projects.
Fun Fact: Helvetica is the Latin word for Switzerland.
2. Garamond
Garamond is a Serif font that was designed in the early sixteen century by a French Type designer, Claude Garamond. As this font has been around for a long time, there are many different versions of it. Now it is given the name “Old style typeface” because of its type design.
This Serif font is a classic because of its elegant style and legibility. It is used by many graphic designers and they use this font for printed materials such as story books, magazines or any other printable that has lengthy text.
Fun Fact: One of the famous storybook series that uses this typeface would be Harry Potter by J.K Rowling.
3. Futura
Futura is a geometric Sans-serif font designed in the year 1927 by a German typeface designer, Paul Renner. Similar to Helvetica, it is a versatile and high quality font. If you want a modern and clean look, you should use Futura.
It was created based on near-perfect circles, triangles, and squares with strokes of even weight and contrast. Hence, it is so popular among designers because of its clean, standardized, and legible style. Some famous brands that use Futura are Calvin Klein (Futura Light), Dolce & Gabbana (Futura Demi Bold) and Ted Baker (Futura Medium).
Fun Fact: The Futura font was designed as a contribution to the public housing program in Frankfurt. This font is similar to the Bauhaus design style of the period
4. Bodoni
Bodoni is a Serif font designed by an Italian typographer and Type-designer, Giambattista Bodoni. This font has always been considered modern even though it was designed in the late 18th century and it has been frequently used since then. This font was inspired by the font Baskerville which is a serif font as well.
It is commonly used in graphic design because of its combination of thin and thick strokes which makes the font look aesthetically pleasing and modern. It is best used in large headers for titles.
Fun Fact: Magazines like Vogue or posters like Mamma Mia use this font!
5. Frutiger
Frutiger is a Sans-serif font designed in the year 1976 by a swiss type designer, Adrian Johann Frutiger, who influenced type design in the 2nd half of the 20th century for more than 45 years.
Frutiger is known for its variety of variants and weights. It is widely used in graphic design because of its distinct, clean, and modern look which suits a variety of styles in the design industry today. Because of its versatility and legibility, Frutiger is a font that can be used in any situation.
Fun Fact: There are many brands that use Frutiger in their logos, for instance American Airlines (Frutiger Roman) and Panda Express (Frutiger Cond Bold).
So, there you have it, the top five fonts used by graphic designers. If you are starting out in the design industry, you can consider mastering these fonts first in your work!