Serif typefaces tend to represent the historical weight in a more authoritative, professional, and suggestive look. Meanwhile, retro font style is more likely to transport us back to the beauty of eras gone by. Mixing them up, you can create a more alluring design with everlasting appeal.
This article will discuss thoroughly the serif type, the allure of retro fonts, the best way to use them both, and several examples of timeless serif retro fonts you can apply to your creative designs.
Serif fonts are one of the oldest typefaces or typestyles worldwide. By definition, serif fonts feature small serifs or strokes (lines) attached at the end of longer strokes of letters.
Serif fonts, which can be dated back to the Classical world, provide a historical weight with a more confident, professional, and evocative look.
Today, we can find four classifications of serif, namely Old Style (e.g., Garamond), Slab Serif (e.g., Rockwell, Clarendon), Transitional or Baroque (e.g., Times New Roman, Baskerville), and Didone (e.g., Bodoni).
Therefore, one of the prominent benefits of using serif fonts is bringing back centuries of history and authority, enabling the designs or branding to convey trustworthiness and experience.
The magnetism of retro font style indeed holds its timeless charm, more particularly in the world of typography and graphic design. This font immediately brings back the nostalgic feel of the bygone eras.
This font carries its inherent distinct characteristics, such as wide-ranging serif styles, ornate details (serifs, swashes, and other decorative elements), scripts and cursive variations, handcrafted aesthetics, and a limited set of characters.
Accordingly, these retro fonts, especially serif retro font style, are highly applicable for various creative projects. You can apply them for logo designs, web designs, editorial designs, printed materials, or packaging designs.
Yes, the retro font style is still in. However, there are several elements or rules of thumb to consider when you want to use this font for your design applications. Lalalala
A particular retro font means a particular character to your design. Therefore, you need to understand the visual theme you want to pursue.
For example, a curvy retro font can generate a funkier vibe, making it an ideal option for designing a fun 70s-themed party invitation.
A serif retro font style has a lot of delicate details that can evoke visual interest, making your design stand out or even shine and ultimately grab attention.
Please note that you need to apply retro fonts sparingly or not at all. If you do not understand how to use them, you risk creating a cluttered design. You also need to know whether you use the contrast too much.
A vintage look pursuit does not mean you must stick with just one font style. You can mix it up with other styles to create more breathtaking works. This font style can bring together various styles without clashing.
For instance, a sans serif and a script font can deliver a more retro vibe to your design.
Below, you will find examples of serif retro font styles with distinct characteristics that evoke timeless appeal.
Mikage is an elegant serif font that can serve as a minimalist font, display font, or even a retro font style. It is a distinctively classy font embellished with ligatures, making it more alluring without compromising on legibility.
The Everlasting Charm is suitable for logo designs and branding, weddings, labels, social media posts, invitations, product packaging, and more.
If you want something stylish and retro for your design, Breach Mango is one of the best answers. It is a serif font featuring elegant alternates and ligatures in a unique combination of modern and classic calligraphic styles.
This beautiful and stylish retro serif will undoubtedly grab the viewers’ attention from the very first glance.
Get your design a twist of retro font style and a contemporary display style with this FANTASIA – Retro Font. You can get a uniquely captivating sense of nostalgia right from the start.
This font is highly suitable for designing fashion projects, greeting cards, logos, posters, cover albums, invitations, postcards, and the like.
Grachy Firatte is a beautiful serif retro font with ligatures. It is a minimalist yet elegant font that combines class and contemporary style in a stunning way.
Available in OTF, TTF, and WOFF file formats, this pack comes with standard characters, italic characters, numbers, punctations, ligatures, and accented characters of West Europe.
A classic serif font that works well for vintage or retro font styles for various creative design purposes. It has a minimalist look yet complimented with beautiful and exceptional ligatures.
This font can be used to design logotypes, wedding invitations, beauty designs, branding designs, and more.
Looking for a fancy, retro font style at the same time? Diamond is just the right option. It is indeed a fancy retro serif in an extravagant modern-vintage display font style designed with additional alternates.
You can opt for this font if you want to create a distinct branding design that evokes inimitable and vintage flairs.
You will instantly notice the retro font style from Montena Cottage. This font is a beautiful and elegant serif typeface that is fully designed with ligatures and alternates. Moreover, it also has a great combo of modern and classic calligraphy styles.
Providing a high level of readability, Montena Cottage is highly suitable for wedding designs, photography, social media posts, invitations, branding projects, etc.
The above serif retro font style examples can bridge the past and the present, infusing modern creative work with a touch of historical appeal. This kind of font not only generates a unique visual identity but also brings about specific emotions and nostalgia for the bygone era. Still, you need to use it carefully and sparingly or consider the correct design elements.
