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The 12 Best Fonts For Design: Inspired by Massimo Vignelli

POSTED ON NOVEMBER 7, 2014

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Celebrated Italian designer Massimo Vignelli controversially claimed we use too many typefaces. Depending on where
you stand on typography/design will depend on whether you agree with the statement or not, I personally wholeheartedly agree with Vignelli and call for a greater degree of discipline in the usage of fonts. You can read an opposing
article about this statement and listen to an interview with Vignelli here.

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Massimo Vignelli: Gabriela Herman NYC photographer

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There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence. Massimo Vignelli
The Vignelli quote above represents how I feel about design: that to use less actually improves design: its not a
competition to see how much variety of colour, typefaces and images you can spray haphazardly across a page, or how
obvious the design has to be. The world is so saturated with bad design that when an outstanding piece of work does
make it into the public realm, its a relief to the eyes. But to use less is far more difficult than throwing cheap filters and
gimmicks onto a page to compensate; therein lies the skill of a truly great designer: to strip a design back to its raw
elements is to expose any inherent weakness and flaw. Very few designers can work with a minimalist style and get it
right. Unfortunately.
I dont think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word dog with any typeface and it doesnt
have to look like a dog. But there are people that [think that] when they write dog it should bark. Massimo
Vignelli
The following list is inspired by Vinellis quote; after careful consideration of the most classic fonts available and many
years experience working with type, I dont believe you can better anything on this list. A good designer should have an
intimate, working knowledge of every one of these fonts, at the very minimum. If I could only ever use 12 fonts again in
my life these are ones I would want in my design arsenal:
12 fonts is all a great designer needs:

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DIN is an acronym for: Deutsches Institut fr Normung (German Institute for Standardization). The font was originally
released in 1923 by the D Stempel AG foundry and used mainly for technical drawings and blueprints. It wasnt until the
1960s that DIN gained popularity after Letrasest made the font available as a rub down sheet. The font represents
industrialism and efficiency perfectly with its technical appearance and is one of my favourite fonts ever.

Futura was designed by Paul Renner in 1927: one of the most important and widely used fonts of the 21st century.
Futura is a classic representation of a geometric sans-serif typeface very reminiscent of the Bauhaus style. Constructed
from simple geometric forms with strokes of near-even weight, the typeface is symbolic of Russian Constructivism and
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the early modernity. Futura is such a cult classic that it has inspired endless copies, the most famous being Avenir
(designed by Frutiger). Futura has been used by Shell, VW, IKEA and HP.

Adrian Frutiger along with Eric Gill are the most well-known typographers due to their most celebrated fonts carrying
their names. Frutiger, who was already well known for his Univers typeface, was commissioned to produce the font
Frutiger in 1968 for the new Charles De Gualle International Airport as signage. The font has more warmth than the
other sans serifs on this list and this has attributed to its popularity in advertising; the NHS, Royal Navy, London School
of Economics, Canadian Broadcasting Company and Swiss road signs all use Frutiger.

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Designed by Eric Gill in 1926, originally for a Bookshop window fascia, the font was released in 1928 by Monotype. Gill
Sans is best known for its use on the London and North Eastern Railway and the iconic Penguin books. The proportions
are based on the monumental roman capitals (as found on the coloumn of Trajan) which differentiates the font from
sans serif geometric faces such as Futura. Gill Sans went on to inspire other humanist sans serif fonts such as Syntax
and FF Scala Sans (my favourite book font).

Helvetica: a true design classic that even has its own film, does it really need an introduction? Designed by Max
Miedinger at the Haas type foundry in 1957 Helvetica was originally called Neue Haas Grotesk. Helvetica is the most
widely used font today. Love it or not, helveticas neutrality offers a chameleon ability to absorb and adapt to any styling
you wish to add. If I had to choose only 1 font to use forever it would have to be Helvetica, purely for versatility. Used by
companies such as 3M, American Airlines, American Apparel, BMW, Jeep, JCPenney, Lufthansa, Panasonic and many
more.

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Trade Gothic was designed by Jackson Burke in 1948; not as high profile as the other fonts on this list but a personal
favourite of mine. I especially like the extended version and will use this in preference to the over-used Helvtica Neue
extended font. Industrial and technical: Trade Gothic has similarities with both Helvetica and DIN.

Released by H Berthold AG type foundry in 1896, Akzidenz Grotesk is the original sans serif face and was the
inspiration to many other typefaces including Univers and the most famous font of all times: Helvetica. Akzidenz,
Helvetica and Univers are difficult to tell apart but can be differentiated by the C and uppercase G, J R and Q; Helvetica
also has a higher X height. Akzidenz is a prime example of pioneering avant garde design being superseded by much
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more successful imitators.

The oldest typeface on the list, Garamond takes its name from French punch cutter Claude Garamond (1480-1561),
although Jean Jannon (c 1621) redesigned Garamonds original work which became the basis for many revivals; the
origins of Garamond today must be attributed to both punch cutters. The original Garamond face was adopted by the
French Court (1540) and subsequently influenced type styles across Europe at this important time. In 1621 Jannons
redesign of Garamond became the house style for the French Royal Printing Office (under the name Caractre de
lUniversit) but in 1825 The French National Printing Office adapted this font and claimed it as the work of Claude
Garamond. Revivals of Garamond began in the 1900s inspired by both Jannon and Garamond; today the most
prominent versions of Garamond are: Adobe Garamond (Robert Slimbach) and ITC Garamond (Tony Stan). Sabon (Jan
Tschichold) is also considered a Garamond revival.
Garamond is used extensively in print as a book font and considered one of the most legible serif typefaces for print. A
true classic serif font.

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Designed by Carol Twombly in 1989 Trajan (like Gill Sans) is inspired by inscriptions from the Trajan Column based on
Roman Square Capitals. The classic and statesman-like representation of the font has attributed to its uptake as an
official font for many Universities and Political Parties; Trajan also enjoys popularity on many cinema posters and book
covers. A great font for titles where all caps are required.

Minion was designed for adobe in 1990 by Robert Slimbach (who also designed Adobe Garamond). Another classic
serif font used extensively for book design; the reason I have chosen this font is purely based on it being used for the
typographic must-read bible: Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst (a stunning example of typesetting
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elegance). Minion is one of the most complete families of a serif font available with a staggering 64 sets on offer.

Like Garamond, Bodoni is another set of classic typefaces which attribute their name to the original designer:
Giambattista Bodoni (in 1798). Variations include: ATF Bodoni, Bauer Bodoni, Bodoni Anitqua, Bodoni Old Face, ITC
Bodoni Seventy Two, ITC Bodoni Six, ITC Bodoni Twelve, Bodoni MT, LTC Bodon 175, WTC Our Bodoni, BodoniEF,
Bodoni Classico and TS Bodoni. The most popular of the revivals are ATF designed by Morris Fuller Benton (in 1907)
and Bauer by Heinrich Jost (in 1926). Bodoni is used predominantly for print in posters, book cover design and logo
design: most prominent examples being Nirvana, Hilton Hotels, Lady Gaga and Tom Clancy (the author). Bodoni suffers
as a digital font due to the thick and thin strokes displaying what is known as dazzle (the thin strokes breaking down), a
kind of legibility degradation, as the font is used at smaller text sizes. Digital version of Bodoni are scaled with
mathematical calculation as opposed to the original metal typesetting fonts which have been individually scaled with
perfect proportion. Bodoni is best used as a title and branding font at larger point sizes.

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Designed by Matthew Carter in 1972 Shelley is based upon the scripts of eighteenth century master calligrapher
George Shelley: inspired by the thin and thick strokes of a quill nib. Of all the script fonts available Shelley is the finest
example and one I always find hard to replace or better. I love this font and have used it many times for branding and
titles to soften a design without being overly feminine.
Other fonts to consider:
12 fonts is a tough selection, there were others that came close to the cut but the above list represents the best
selection to cover all needs. Also worth considering are the following typefaces; a good designer should be intimate with
all the fonts on this list above and below:
Avenir
Baskerville
Caslon
Century Gothic
Clarendon
FF Scala + Sans
Joanna
Sabon
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Optima
Univers

Article originally posted November 27, 2012

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