When discussing music font, we are more likely to refer to the so-called musical symbols—a Unicode block consisting of characters representing modern musical notation. We can find specific typefaces for the book design of music publications or composers in the form of scores and parts.
Interestingly, it doesn’t end only for musical notations but expands to broader design ideas. Numerous creative projects use the combination of images, fonts, and colors for all-time outstanding album covers, for example.
There are also more recent digital music (audio and video) streaming service platforms with memorable logos and fonts, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Google Play Music, and the like.
Moreover, such typefaces are also highly applicable and suitable for other design purposes beyond the music industry. Let’s explore them further.
Robert Paterson provides the following music preparation guidelines for composers and music publications. It comprises thorough details for printed scores and parts, such as paper quality (size, opacity, etc.), page numbering, title page, general and specific instrument comments, and also typefaces.
Music text uses two basic styles of music font for page numbers, headers, technical indications, and others. They are commonly in the form of
It is recommended to consistently use the same font style and family or as few fonts as possible. Still, different styles in a font family – bold, plain, italic, narrow, or wide – are acceptable if appropriate.
Apart from great music, album packages also play a crucial part. The following are the 5 best examples of album covers – and the typefaces they use – chosen by Billboard in the music industry throughout the time.
#1 – Elvis Presley’s Debut Album
Titled ELVIS PRESLEY, the cover has a bold typography in the form of bold display font in pink and green colors put horizontally like a frame of the background photo of the legendary singer.
#2 – Madonna’s Third Album
Looking like a magazine cover, the album – True Blue – has the singer’s retro portrait with her name written on top in a blue, bold, all-caps display font, imprinted with the album title in a grey handwriting script.
#3 – Nirvana’s Iconic Album
Despite the controversial photo for the Nevermind album cover, the blue water background gives an iconic music font for the band name in black Onyx font and the title in a wavy effect of an original display font.
#4 – Beyonce’s 2013 Album
The album has the same name as the singer – BEYONCE – designed in a minimalistic style of a San serif font known as Knockout in the pink and subtle grey combo. It symbolizes both the feminine and masculine statements of the singer who has been branded as a fierce (and sexy) woman.
#5 – Taylor Swift’s Fifth Studio Album
Titled 1989, the album cover is truly iconic and brilliantly puts handwriting script in a unique yet memorable black marker effect under a retro-nostalgic Polaroid photo of the singer.
The above iconic album covers have taught designers about a typeface’s essential role. Still, there are more spectacular music font options to expect, especially in serif, sans serif, and display font ideas.
Rolland Ligature Serif Font Typeface is a modern serif font with an instant vintage vibe. This pack is available in ligatures, standard glyphs, Web Font, international accents, multilingual support, and more. No wonder it is highly suitable for creative works like music font for videos, movie posters, elegant crafting, invitations, brochures, etc.
It is a sans-serif display font with a unique, elegant, minimalistic yet highly readable design. A combination of classy and modern typeface that is perfect not only for album covers but also for other creative projects – photography, labels, wedding designs, product packaging, watermarks, and more.
A modern sans serif font that gives a striking look of compromising classiness and minimalism. With great proportions of subtle contours and contrasts, this font family comprises glyphs that won’t fail design ideas. You can ideally use this typeface for designing album covers, event posters, games, magazines, videos, logos, and more.
Want to give a touch of futuristic vibe to your creative design projects? Try this Gaming Sporty, a modern display sans serif font. This font falls under tags of futuristic, sci-fi, movie, gaming, techno, robotic, and more. It is great for music font options and also headlines.
Looking for a memorable typeface with a high level of readability? You can try this simple yet attractive sans-serif font. Giving an immediate magazine cover look, this pack consists of character standards, accented characters (West Europe), numerals and punctuation, etc.
An exceptional display font designed in perfectly natural handwritten, bubble-type font. The natural strokes of free writing are classic and minimalist, giving an expressive and artistic look with cheerful and youthful vibes.
Accordingly, this typeface is simply perfect for fashion design, streetwear, stylish text overlay on any background photo, and many more.
Another modern sans serif duo font that shows a clean, futuristic look. This font works well for various creative graphic design projects like post templates, videos, games, layout designs, advertising branding, magazines, and more. Requiring simple installations, the pack includes standard glyphs, regular and Italic files, web font, and ligatures.
If you prefer a vintage look to your design, Chole can be the answer. It is a sans-serif display font in a groovy retro style. This font is undeniably suitable for the 80’s time in mind, such as posters, movie titles, packaging, logos, illustrations, comics, and more.
Indeed, there are abundant music font collections. Some are designed for the specific notation program or music publication guidelines. Some are more versatile and can be used for text documents and other creative design purposes.
Choosing the right one unquestionably will make your designs distinct and catch the eye.
