By Tiffany Huang, Creative Content Producer
Many businesses have their own brand standards for what visual elements should look like. These brand guidelines include elements such as hex codes, different logo styles, and also what typefaces to use. Take a look at the brand guidelines for Slack or Uber, for example. However, many businesses, especially newer or smaller ones, do not have established guidelines. In that case, the designer has more creative freedom to choose an appropriate typeface.
When choosing a typeface, it’s imperative to consider the context. Each typeface has unique characteristics that make it suitable for different projects and mediums. In particular sans-serifs are a popular choice for body copy. On a digital screen, they look clearer and less congested than serif typefaces. The lack of decorative serifs also make sans-serif fonts a good option for small point-size body copy in magazines or other print material.
However, within the sans-serif classification, there are so many different typefaces. It’s important not to get caught up with just using one, and instead explore all the different options there are. You don’t want to use the same typeface for every single project with no regard to the brand’s uniqueness. Here are some sans-serif options that you can get for free from fonts.adobe.com.
1. Acumin
Acumin is a transitional typeface that is part of the Adobe Original series. Adobe Fonts features 90 versions of this typeface which means there are plenty of variations that can maintain the typeface’s legibility at any size.
2. Poppins
Poppins is an open-source typeface from Google. The geometric sans-serif typeface features a consistent stroke width in both horizontal and vertical strokes. This gives it a clean, easy-to-read characteristic, making it suitable for modern website designs.
3. Proxima Nova
Proxima Nova is a family that is constantly growing; it began with just four variations and now has 42. According to the creator Mark Simonson, the typeface takes the characteristics of a modernist, serif-font and combines it with the look of a geometric sans-serif. The modernist characteristic is evident in the lowercase letters’ variation in stroke weight and creates elegance.
4. Roc Grotesk
The wide x-width on Roc Grotesk gives the typeface a very full appearance, filling space up very easily because of the large counters and wider letters. The wide look also gives the bold variations the impression that they have been stretched to fill space. Thus, this typeface would be more suitable for headers, as using Roc Grotesk for multiple lines of body copy would not be the most readable option.
5. Sofia
Sofia is a geometric, sans-serif font, but the letterforms resemble that of a humanist font. From “I” to “S” to “W,” the letters all have a unique width that gives the font some variability. The typeface also features a unique ligature with the letters “f” and “i.”
6. Soleil
The Soleil family in Adobe has 12 variations, and all are suitable in headlines and body copy. There is not an immense difference between the stroke widths of thin, regular, book, bold, and extra bold, but each option is distinguishable enough to make a difference in appearance. Hence, this is a very versatile typeface for any material, context, and density.
7. Stratos
The difference between the width of capital and lowercase letters give this typeface a unique look. The capital letters feature a much smaller proportion of width to height in comparison to the lowercase letters. This characteristic and attention to the typeface’s readability make it very suitable for long body copy.
When finding an appropriate typeface for your projects, make sure you go through all of your resources carefully. There are so many great options out there that can help invoke the exact feeling you’re going after, so keep searching until you find the perfect one. Don’t settle for the same, overused typefaces and instead venture out to find one that better suits your needs.