Choosing between sans serif and serif fonts is one of the most essential decisions when creating a visual identity for your brand. As the basic typography for most popular fonts nowadays, both have their own characteristics, benefits, and ideal applications.
When it comes to portraying your brand’s messages and identity, you have to consider both sides to find the one that suits you best. That being said, you should take a closer look at the basic differences and main benefits of serif and sans serif, as well as some useful tips on choosing one or combining both.
To understand the basic differences between serif and sans serif typefaces, you must first acknowledge the characteristics of both fonts. Starting from a serif font, this basic typeface is marked by small decorative strokes that can be found at the end of every letter or character. These strokes are called serifs—hence the name—and serve as the basic identification for the style, as seen in some popular fonts like Georgia, Garamond, and Times New Roman.
Different from serif fonts, sans serif fonts usually lack decorative additions in their characters. Because of this, the font is considered cleaner, neater, and more modern. Among the most popular examples of sans serif include Calibri, Arial, and Helvetica. Three are often used as the main fonts of body text instead of titles or headings.
See also: Condensed Modern Sans Serif Fonts – All You Need to Know
In addition to the main characteristics of both fonts, another thing to consider is their benefits in design. Here are some significant advantages of serif and sans-serif fonts that you can consider.
As one of the most popular typefaces, serif font is often associated with tradition and authority. The font itself conveys the message of stability, making it suitable for brands or companies that want to achieve the same goals.
Another benefit of serif fonts is related to their readability level. With their clean characteristics, serif typefaces easily guide your audiences along the line and help them understand your brand’s message perfectly. In other words, serif fonts can be used for easy-to-read materials, whether printed or digital.
From an aesthetic perspective, this font is mostly elegant and classic. Therefore, you can use it to embellish a touch of refinement in your brand design.
See also: How to Boost Readability with Serif Fonts
Sans serif font perfectly supports a contemporary look in a design. This font will be a perfect match for brands or companies that want to stand out as modern icons.
The fonts are highly legible in terms of readability because of their clean and simple characteristics. Various sans-serif styles look better on screen than printed materials, so they are more commonly used on digital representations.
Another good thing about sans serif fonts is their high level of versatility. They adopt styles, typefaces, and variations to suit your brand’s needs. Whether you want to go with a minimalist project or experiment with the bolder one, there’s always a sans-serif font in store to meet your criteria.
Now that you have read the basic differences and benefits of both sans serif and serif font, the next step is picking the right font for your brand. There are at least three considerations to consider when finding the best representation for your brand’s identity.
Instead of going with one specific typeface, another great alternative is combining serif and sans serif font for your brand’s visual identity. To do so, you can use both fonts according to their main characteristics.
For instance, pick a serif font for headings or other elements that the audience needs to see first. Meanwhile, sans serif fonts can be used as the main typeface of body text to enhance the readability of detailed information. With a proper combination, both fonts will create a dynamic and balanced design to represent your brand.
In conclusion, both sans serif and serif font have their specialty and uniqueness to help represent your brand’s visual identity. Now that you understand the characteristics of both fonts, the choice is yours. Which one do you think is the best suit for your brands? Do you only need to choose one or have a trust to combine both? It’s time for you to decide!
