Choosing a font for your logo is an important decision. Logos don’t just communicate words. They communicate identity. So, if you’re going to find the best font for your logo, you have to have a clear understanding of the feel of your brand or business and how different fonts can resonate with your brand’s identity.

In this article, we will be looking at a wide variety of fonts to give you a range of possibilities to consider. If you’ve ventured into the font world before, you know it can be dizzying to choose just one. It’s a process. So, sit back, take your time, and consider these selections.

What is the Best Font to Use For a Logo?

Helvetica

Helvetica is a popular font that has been around since the late 1950s. This family of fonts is used by a variety of corporations, from Panasonic to Mac and Jeep to American Airlines. It is a simple font that communicates neutrality and calm resolve.

Proxima Nova

Designed and published by Mark Simonson in 2005, Proxima Nova is a redrafting of Proxima Sans. Its geometric but approachable lines have come to be associated with such brands as Spotify and Bosh, and the font family has 48 full-featured OpenType fonts.

Times New Roman

This is a classic font that has come to represent reliability and tradition because of its wide use in printed materials from newspapers to books. Although it was developed in 1929 for the New York Times, it remains a widely used seraph font.

Futura

Also from the late 1920s is the sans seraph font, Futura, which is recognizable for its unique geometry. The Futura family is used by such brands as Bed, Bath & Beyond, Calvin Klein, and Domino’s Pizza.

TT Norms Pro

TT Norms Pro is a popular font available in 216 languages. Published in 2017 this classically proportioned font can function well for small or large text.

Garamond

In 1531, French publisher Claude Garamond began developing the punch cuts that would set the standard for clear and graceful printing for the next several hundred years. These days many different people have created variations of this type face. One of the most common ones, Adobe Garamond, was designed by Robert Slimbach and can be found in the Harry Potter series as well as books by Dr. Suess.

FF DIN

Found on signs, packages, and billboards, FF DIN has a techy look to it but is no less popular for that. It was developed starting in 1995 by Albert-Jan Pool and has since become a staple for web and magazine publishing.

Avenir Next

Avenir is a French word that means future, and Avenir Next does bear some resemblance to Futura. But, as Arek Dvornechuck points out, “Avenir is not purely geometric. The font has vertical strokes that are thicker than the horizontals, an ‘o’ that is not a perfect circle and shortened ascenders.”

Avenir Next was published by Linotype and can be found when you look at the buttons on an LG phone.

Myriad Pro

Myriad Pro was published in 1992 as a font for Adobe and was later picked up by Apple. It has come to have many variations and is used broadly on the web.

Rockwell

Rockwell is a slab serif, which means that it is a blocky, dramatic typeface that is often used as a display font, such as a title for a book or an advertisement. Sometimes this type of font can feel archaic, but Rockwell has many variations that have made it adaptable to the web.

Baskerville

Here’s another serif font. It comes from the transitional period when fonts were taking a break from the old-style fonts that had dominated printing for centuries. It’s characterized by wider serifs and greater contrast in the thick and thin strokes. Baskerville’s weight and readability made it ideal for books.

Nexa

Nexa has become another popular font for the web including use in motion graphics because of its legibility. The family includes 16 fonts and weights, and Nexa works well for headlines, t-shirts, and posters.

Cera Pro

This highly geometrical font has a beautiful italic effect due to its perfect 10-degree slope. Jacob Runge has made this simple and readable font ideal for corporate display in print and on the screen. It also supports 150 languages.

Akzidenz-Grotesk

Simple and modern with the technical-looking edge of FF DIN and the reliability of Times New Roman, Akzidenz-Grotesk is a durable font that was originally used for tickets and forms. It has since graced everything from Clifford the Big Red Dog books to the covers of jazz albums.

Mont

Mont is a balanced font that is available in the hairline to black weights and is another one that works good for motion graphics. Supported in more than 130 languages, designers Mirela Belova and Svet Simov made this font striking even in its thin forms, and it works well for simple, head-turning declarations.

Intro

Intro family is quite large, containing 72 different font styles. Intro has a modern look that many graphic design companies use. It is essentially a sans font, but contains the occasional serif which gives it a playful feel.

Gilroy

Here’s another font well suited to graphic design for the web, signage, corporate and editorial. This modern san serif has 20 weights ranging from light to extra bold. Gracing everything from toilet paper to playbills Gilroy has an in-the-moment feel.

Bodoni

This font was developed with bold contrasts between thick and thin in mind and has been used to great effect in some of the legendary logos of our time including Vogue and Calvin Klein. Bodoni also graced the cover of Patti Smith’s album Radio Ethiopia.

Khula

Khula is a contemporary Google font from the Devanagari family and was designed by Erin McLaughlin. When spacing is added between the letters, it causes them to stand out without being bolded or italicized. It was designed to complement Open Sans and comes with five weights.

Flix

The rounded characters in this font give it a graphic element that doesn’t require a lot of symbolic embellishment. Produced by Fontastica, this all-caps font has a single weight but comes either bold or outline.

Choplin

German designer Rene Beider created this slab serif to be modern and durable. New and old inspiration give this font a bold character. It’s related to the Campton family of fonts, but the serifs are sharper and sturdier which make this a good companion to an assertive brand.

Teko

Here’s another contemporary font that takes a simple and clear stand on a layout, making it eye-catching and readable. This Open Source font from Indian Type Foundry has five font styles and is square in proportion. The lighter weights are ideal for headlines but fit well with one to two word, logotype statements.

Randrake

This is a modern script logo that elevates the style from get-well cards to chic displays, making it a good companion to brands that have a fashion focus. Randrake is produced by Micromove and fits in with both print and digital mediums.

Yeseva One

Dedicated to his wife, designer Jovanny Lemonad named this font after the phrase, “Yes Eva,” and wrote that Yeseva One was “a sign of complete agreement between a man and a woman.” The “feminine essence” comes through in this stately, contrastive font.

Cormorant

This thinly styled font with sturdy serifs, has the flair of age without the stodgy side effects. Inspired by Gamarond, Cormorant would fit well with a brand where knowledge and experience are musts. Designer Christian Thalmann handled every last aspect of the font’s conception and design.

Mike Sans

Mike Sans is an unshakeable font in bold, square characters. Available in 8 different weights, the faint curves of the edges give the font an air of approachability. Nevertheless, Mike Sans has the unmistakable look of a no-nonsense brand.

FF Avance

Developed by Evert Bloemsma, FF Avance flaunts an edgy feel with upper and lower serifs pointing in opposite directions. Bloemsma said, “The overall image of text could be more pleasant because serifs can bring more differentiation of forms, a wider spectrum of forms.

An expression of dynamic movement, a stream of thoughts. Reading is moving.” High energy brands might feel at home in this font.

Alegreya Sans SC

Originally intended by designer Juan Pablo del Perol for longer texts, specifically literature, this delicate font becomes pronounced when bolded or italicized. A brand that takes artistic values into business may want to consider this font for a logo.

Quentin Pro

This modern font has a bold, eye-catching look that is at home on movie posters. Perhaps this is why one site considers Quentin Pro to be an ideal logo font for a startup venture.

Nunito Sans

Nunito Sans began life as a display font from creator Vernon Adams and was expanded on by Jacques Le Bailly to include different weights, making it more versatile. But it retains its point of origin, and its high x-height and short descenders make the font feel open and ideal for a brand that is expanding its vision.

Cutive Mono

Here’s another one from designer Vernon Adams. Cutive Mono is an open source font that borrows inspiration from the typewriter typefaces of IBM’s “Executive” and “Smith-Premiere” models. This gives the font a classic look of reliability.

Didot

A common font in the fashion world and used on Michael Jackson’s album “Invincible,” Didot comes from a family of French printers and publishers in the late 1700s. One of their versions of the typeface was used for the George Armani logo.

Expletus Sans

Some of the fonts we have looked at can be used for display or for text, but Expletus Sans is not versatile. It is explicitly for display and one glance at it tells you why. Where letters have intersecting lines, in Expletus there are gaps, giving the font a highly stylized feel that is nonetheless striking on a white background.

Moon

Like the celestial body for which it is named, Moon is stark with rounded edges and it graces, not surprisingly, a 2018 moon phase calendar. This free font designed by Jack Harvatt, is versatile enough to go with a variety of fonts.

Walk On

Walk On is a highly contrastive font that may bring to mind other fashion fonts that we have looked at. It’s not surprising then that Hanson Chan originally developed Walk On for the fashion brand Wang and Lynch. This dramatic font is now free.

Boogaloo

Developed by John Vargas Beltran, Boogaloo was inspired by Latin American culture and musical genres, as well as fonts on LPs from the 60s. Boogaloo references a happy, carefree nostalgia.

Natasya

Natasya is a script font almost reflective of graffiti the way some of its curves nearly come to a point. As such it may be suitable for a hip, up and coming brand that wants to attract a modern, edgier clientele.

Neue Swift

This font comes to you from Dutch designer Gerard Unger and was originally released in 1985 with updates in 1995 and 2009. Available in six weights, Neue Swift features prominent serifs that make the font easy to read and ideal to use if your logo has multiple words.

Catamaran

Catamaran is the brainchild of Pria Ravichandran from India. Its Unicode compliance signals that this font was designed specifically for our digital era. It is made of 9 weights and has a solid, stable look that might go well with a construction company brand.

Herona

Herona was designed with e-sports and video game design in mind, so if your brand is tech focused with a fun edge, try out this font for your logo.

Gafata STD

The principal designer Lautaro Hourcade originally designed this font for smaller sizes in medium to long text blocks. But it’s quirky look makes it a good choice for logos if your brand is striking out in new territory and you want to communicate the difference quickly.

Kanit

In the Thai language, Kanit means mathematics, so it’s not hard to imagine that this font has a technical and even futuristic look. Coming in a variety of weights, this free font was designed by the Thai type foundry Cadson Demak and is another good option if you have a tech brand.

Blackpast

Speaking of futuristic, Blackpast is a highly stylized display font that recalls posters of science fiction movies. With some lines exaggerated and others missing, this font is perfect for edgy tech brands who want to stand out.

Big Caslon

Big Caslon is the first font of the Caslon family to be available for display in the digital world. Released in 1994 by the Font Bureau, designer Matthew Carter wanted to revive the 17th-century era type faces of William Caslon I. Big Caslon blends sharp serifs with faint geometry to make a big statement.

Sacramento

This semi-connected script font was inspired by the hand-lettered brochures of the 1950s and 60s. It has a nostalgic feel and evokes a formal letter, which, in the digital world, feels causal because of its handwritten appearance.

Leafy

If your brand needs a natural touch, Leafy font is exactly as it sounds. It has a raw, unpolished feel thanks to brushwork by Ieva Mezule. This free font has 95 characters and is a great way to represent individuality.

Glober

The winner of the 2014 Modern Cyrillic gold medal is a sans serif with 18 weights, support of 130 languages, and a great look on the web. Glober’s bold, magazine-style look has great readability and makes an excellent pairing in a logo with supporting text.

Open Sans

Open Sans was developed by Ascender Corp’s type director Steve Matteson and has an upright posture, but a friendly appearance. Matteson optimized this font for web and mobile use, as well as print.

Benford

Benford is a layered font with a decidedly vintage look. Think of a label for old-fashioned cream soda with a picture of a man with a handlebar mustache and you’ve got the idea. If your brand is attracting the vintage crowd, this font could be for you.

Racing Sans One

Racing Sans One is another font that kind of looks like it sounds. The letters are slanted forward as if they’re in a cartoon race for the finish. As described by the creators, Impallari Type, it is a “high contrast sans” that pays tribute to the forgotten genre of contrasted sans dating back to the turn of the twentieth century. With this font, think relic in motion.

Canilari

This font is something of a loner. It doesn’t look quite as stiff as a normal serif font and almost has the rounded feel of many sans serif fonts. Likewise, it hints at old-style fonts on the one hand and new on the other. It’s hard to pin it down, which may work well for brands that have a similarly shifty personality.

Cormorant Garamond

Another free font designed and developed entirely by Christian Thalmann, Cormorant Garamond, was inspired by Claude Garamond but is not dependent on him. The resulting font is stately, clean, and gentle with the sort of grace that calls to mind time-honored, happy traditions.

Fresh Guava

This playful script font was developed by Khurasan and is as fun and spritely as it sounds. Put it to use for your fresh and inspired food brand, and you might just have a winner.

Ribeye

Ribeye is another font that’s quirky and fun. This contrastive serif font has a cartoony feel faintly reminiscent of tattoo lettering but is also very readable. Think playful biker dude, and you might have the right font for your logo.

Ostrich Sans

Ostrich Sans has stretched out the x-height to give it a distinct length coupled with its rounded characters. Appropriately, it is only available in uppercase letters to make the most of its style. If your logo needs to raise its voice to be heard, consider this font as an option.

Rochester

This script font is inspired by Victorian and Art Deco calligraphic forms and has a graceful feel. If you want to strike a formal, elegant tone, this might be the font for your brand.

Cloudsters

Cloudsters is a ligature logo font with a clean and modern feel that can give your logo a stylized touch. Ligatures are characters that combine two letters into one shape. For example, the “f” and “i” will often blur together, so a ligature makes one character out of them.

Pacifico

Pacifico is another script font that looks great with food brands. This 2011 brush script is another Vernon Adams designed font inspired by 1950s surf culture. Originally commissioned by Google, this font was redrawn by Jacques Bailly in 2016.

Modesto

This font finds its inspiration in 19^th and 20th-century hand-painted circus signs. So, Modesto brings the “Dumbo” style font into the digital age. If your brand would benefit from references to fruit crate or cigar box style lettering, this font is one to consider.

Passion One

This is a passionate font for big displays. It is solid and sturdy, and its heavy weight would go well with a body building logo.

Lexlox

Here’s another stylized font from Khurasan. Thick letters crowd against or on top of each other in a way that speaks of luxury.

Gruppo

Squat and spread out, Gruppo is Vernon Adams style-conscious font with thin letters made for displays where a “less-is-more” aesthetic speaks to the heart of the logo.

Abril Fatface

Abril Fatface comes in 18 styles and is part of the larger Abril family designed by the TypeTogether foundry. 19th-century advertising posters from Britain and France provided the inspiration for Fatface’s heavy, dramatic characters. If your brand is making previously custom-made items broadly available, this font might be a good one to consider.

Playfair Display

A traditional design of transitional font genre, Playfair Display can be found in headlines of journals and fashion magazines where its stately presence creates an expectation of elegance. It is influenced by the designs of John Baskerville and works with Georgia as a body text.

Lequire

Here is another modern font with heavy stylization, including gaps in lines, lines that are missing altogether, and little diamonds in the middle of “o’s” and “c’s.” It has a techy feel that once again calls to mind science fiction posters from the early eighties. Campy technology brands might do well with this.

Life Savers

Speaking of campy, Life Savers is a fun font that reaches back, once again, to the days of hand lettering artists in the 1950s. This font playfully calls that time to mind, and maybe even a few specific Life Savers ads. If your brand needs a nostalgic and silly font, Life Savers is for you.

Rufina

Our final font is Rufnia, a font that takes its inspiration from stencil design but arranges the breaks differently so that the letters look less stenciled than loosely assembled like you would a model before gluing it together. This font works well for brands with artistic endeavors, like an art gallery.

Conclusion

As we come to the end of our list, you should have more than enough fonts to play with and consider as you design the right logo for the personality of your brand.

A big shoutout to FontSquirrel and Indentifont for helping with the font example images.