26 Responses to “27 Classic & Elegant Serif Fonts”

1. saravana kumar on Oct 13, 2009 said:

   I consider TRAJAN PRO as the best & the most classical of them all and it should have been in the list.

2. Ebi Atawodi (@ebiatawodi) on Oct 13, 2009 said:

   I particularly love Minion and I fell in love with Sabon having worked on some print from Booz&co. I don’t know about ITC Garamond…my all time favourite in the list will be Baskerville. It’s great for large type!

3. Ben Hughes (@mustbebenhughes) on Oct 13, 2009 said:

   Oh! What a nice list. Also another good one that I refer to often if Plantagenet (referred to on my local machine as Plantagenet Cherokee)

   Here’s more info on that one:
   http://www.tiro.com/Plantagene.....ndex3.html

4. Elizabeth on Oct 14, 2009 said:

   I usually never use serif fonts, I’m not used to them because I don’t like serif. But when choosing a type of font, i include them and then discard them lol.

5. Roy on Oct 14, 2009 said:

   I like to add ‘Rotis Serif’ to the above list.

6. Jin (@jzy) on Oct 14, 2009 said:

   I’d add Hoefler Text to the list.

7. Douglas Bonneville (@dbonneville) on Oct 14, 2009 said:

   I think my favorite “rediscovered” classic font is New Century Schoolbook. I used it on a printable PDF of top fonts recently. Seeing it in a “teacherly” context, there was no question why it’s called “Schoolbook”. For some reason, it has the patience and upbeat temperament of a saintly 7th grade teacher, but does double-duty as a college prof…

   It didn’t make my “Top 19 Fonts” post, but it was in the top 40, and my fondness for it has only grown. I love when something old becomes unexpectedly new again.

   And you know, I never, ever, ever get sick of the lower-case “a” in Garamond. I think that has to be my favorite letter in any typeface. It’s a work of art

   This is great list Jacob.

8. Mahima Pushkarna (@mahimapushkarna) on Oct 14, 2009 said:

   Arnhem, esp for body copy when well typeset. The primary typeface used in the book Modern Typography by Robin Kinross. Read about it here;
   http://www.davidtorno.com/MacT.....ton001.jpg
   preview it here:
   http://www.fontshop.com/search/?q=arnhem+normal

9. BMCD on Oct 19, 2009 said:

   Very resourceful. Especially nice that you laid out examples and links. I find that using serif fonts in formal designs is very effective. When I say formal I mean things like press releases and websites or print marketing for formal businesses like accounting firms, law offices, and high profile businesses.

10. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Oct 19, 2009 said:

    Thank you for your patience in waiting for my response, it’s been a busy week. Thank you to all those that have suggested more great serif fonts!

    Saravana,
    Thank you, Trajan is certainly a lovely typeface even if it is overused.

    Ebi,
    ITC Garamond is one of those ones that you either love or hate. In fact there was an essay on this topic that is worth reading. I hate ITC Garmond.

    Douglas,
    I recently used New Century Schoolbook in a logo of mine (MEGS) which is actually for a University program. Seemed like the perfect fit.

    I forgot about your top 19 fonts list, I have added the link to your comment now.

11. Douglas Bonneville (@dbonneville) on Oct 19, 2009 said:

    Jacob: thanks for the tweet and link! You are the Oprah Winfrey of Graphic Design. Now I just need to complete my semi-biographical auto-biography.

    Funny about the MEGs logo and it’s application in a University setting, with my comment about the college prof! How funny. I have another post in the works about “font personalities”, which might be like a Rorschach test for type-lovers :). It’s fascinating how fonts are chosen for their perceived persona, even to the average office worker setting a memo to print:

    “I want this to be funny and light hearted” = Comic Sans

    “I really need to grab their attention” = Impact

    “We’re having a picnic!” = Brush Script

    “I’m *very* professional” = Copperplate

    Or how ’bout…

    “I’m sophisticated” = any typeface, but all lower case

    

12. Minneapolis Web Design Guy on Oct 19, 2009 said:

    It might be because I’m easily influence by big ads and things like Macs, but I just have a really hard time getting into Serif fonts. I know this is something that I need to fix, but I just don’t like the way they look for most projects. Guess I just haven’t found the right client to fit them to.

13. Rory (@crearegroup/) on Oct 21, 2009 said:

    Nice selection Jacob, I love a serif very tasty. Shame in this day and age we can’t use more fonts in our web design…DAMN THOSE LIMITED WEB FRIENDLY FONTS!! Baskerville, kerned, oh so good! Just read your ‘How To Choose A Font’ blog to nicely written bro….take it easy.

14. Erik on Oct 22, 2009 said:

    Great list and you’ve got my favorite in it, Caslon, it such a great font, old but wise as I always say.

15. WebDesign on Oct 23, 2009 said:

    I’ve reviewed all the fonts that you have mentioned but I personally love Helvetica. Is there anyone who is passionate of using “Helvetica”?

16. Douglas Bonneville (@dbonneville) on Oct 29, 2009 said:

    Looks like Brian Hoff got the jump on the “single letter” post idea - he focused on “g” in bunch. Great looking, interesting post:

    http://www.thedesigncubicle.co.....wercase-g/

    Now I have to finish up my “a” post…

    Graphics are a big deal on posts like these. I’m going back and revamping a few font posts with enhanced graphics like PDFs.

    For instance, here is a link to my personal top 10 fonts list, but updated with a nicely laid out PDF to go with, and HUGE preview graphics. Now you can zoom in, etc…

    http://bonfx.com/top-10-fonts-.....pdf-chart/

    I’ll get around to revamping my other font-related posts like this…much more fun…

17. Web Design Company Sheffield on Nov 6, 2009 said:

    Where is Trajan Pro, its web-safe and renders on most OS’s - unlike many of the fonts you have listed, However thats no longer a problem with the likes of Cufon and Sifr etc.
    nice list though! thanks

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