Is serif or sans-serif better? We contend that you may very well want to incorporate both into your projects. Serif Fonts: The Pros and ConsĪs with all creative choices, there are no right or wrong answers in graphic design there are only unattractive layouts and the eyes that wish desperately to avert them. These retro little font families were designed to make a more eye-catching print advertisement or newspaper headline. Slab serif fonts were their way of giving hungry consumers something fresh and new to look at. Slab SerifsĪs commercial print media first caught fire in a modernizing world, the graphic designers of the day needed to find some way to distinguish their layouts from the rest of the crowd. Known for their delicate restraint and subtlety, these fonts tend to favor vertical stroke weight made bolder through the use of hairline serifs.ĭidone fonts can evoke a range of feelings, from the cryptic and the archaic vibe of an old, hand-drafted map to the traditional omnipotence of an aged book on legal jurisprudence. Didone Fontsĭidone serif fonts can be considered something like the little black dress of typography. It is at this point in time where we begin to see these typefaces take on more weight in their vertical strokes, evolving beyond the more uniform and regular foundation that old-style fonts had already established. This family of fonts represents the period of time separating old-style and modern serif fonts. Many old-style fonts embody an "italicized" vibe on the vertical axis, sporting diagonal elements that add a little bit of interest to some typefaces that may otherwise feel too clinical or straightforward.
A far cry from the Gothic, black letter fonts that came before them, old-style fonts are designed to be readable enough to serve as the body of a large block of text.
Old-Style SerifsĪ product of the invention of the printing press, the first serifed fonts sought to unify the beauty of calligraphy with the utility of Roman numerals, which were simpler and easier to read. These movements took place in the Western world, but other languages of the East such as Cyrillic or Chinese can be enhanced with serifing, as well. Over the years, the evolution of serif fonts has left a legacy in its wake, giving us a diverse range of styles to look back upon and utilize.