30 Fonts You Want to Have
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 6:19 pm by
aj 
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Everyone has their own personal preferences when it comes to deciding what fonts to you one their designs. Depending on the project type and what the design is for, certain fonts make more sense in certain situations than in others. There are millions of fonts out there - not one list could ever list them all. Some are available for free, and others will cost you a little bit of dinero, but in the end, the larger font collection you have the better off you’ll be in ensuring you have the perfect font to meet your clients needs.
We’ve compiled our own list of 30 fonts we think you should have if you don’t already have them. The list is a mix of some popular ones as listed in a “Favorite Font” thread over at Mintpages, and some of them I have added myself because I happen to be a big fan on them. Each font also has a url listed where you can grab it from (damn we make it convenient for you huh?) Enjoy!
The List
1. Rockwell [Paid]
2. Segoe UI [Free]
3. Helvetica [Paid]
4. Calibri [Paid]
5. TW Cen MT [Paid]
6. Bello [Paid]
7. Myriad [Paid]
8. Century Gothic [Paid]
9. Fat Love [Free]
10. Decker [Free]
11. Non Serif [Free]
12. Interstate [Paid]
13. Lane Narrow [Free]
14. News Gothic MT [Paid]
15. SF Arbocrest [Free]
16. SoopaFresh [Free]
17. Ubahn [Free]
18. Vrinda [Paid]
19. Babel Sans [Free]
20. Bitstream Vera Serif [Free]
21. Bold Bold [Free]
22. Franklin Gothic Demi [Paid]
23. GoodOT [Paid]
24. Din Regular [Paid]
25. Sansa 2 [Paid]
26. Marcelle [Free]
27. Avant Que [Free]
28. Stag [Paid]
29. Apex New [Paid]
30. Arrival [Paid]
Your Thoughts?
What fonts would you like to see on the list? Obviously like I said, we can’t list them all. I’m sure I missed plenty of great ones. These are just a few that come to my mind. Feel free to use the comments to let us know what you thought of this list - what shouldn’t have been on it and what should have.
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I always try to go for free fonts. I’ve used this for many different projects. Have to give credit.
Geo Sans Light
Terrific list. The funny thing is, I’ve got just about all of these paid fonts, but none of the free ones. Thanks!
@Eddie - It’s always good to have a mix of premium and free fonts. Clients will feel better knowing they weren’t just getting the “same font” treatment. Btw, I have Geo Sans as well
@Ron - Thanks for the feedback!
Yesss. Nice list, always great to get some help finding the quality free type out there.
@aj - totally agree. but when you’re doing volunteer work for a group that can’t afford to buy fonts, it’s gotta be free! It also kinda makes for an interesting challenge when you can’t use exactly what you want.
just for that, though, i’ll throw in two of my favorite non-free fonts:
Ocean Sans, and Cooper BT
Eddie,
When you mentioned Ocean Sans, I immediately thought of Comic Sans and shook my head. However, Ocean Sans makes Comic Sans look like the retarded cousin from Arkansas. Thanks for the suggestions.
A good mix of both free and paid fonts. Thanks!
#7 Myriad, comes packaged with photoshop nowdays, it’s called Myriad Pro in the font list. It isn’t like having the whole font family, but close enough for the casual designer.
Great font list, but many of these look very similar to each other (Myriad and Arrival, Din and Apex). Plus, when you go with a font that’s been around for a while and is one you have to pay for you end up with a complete set of weights (light to Black condensed). Currently, Interstate is in 90% of my work.
I love typography. It’s a great source of inspiration.
Thanks. I really need a font like Fat Love (which I do not seem to be able to locate from the link). Can anybody point me to some similar fonts. Much obliged!
Thanks for the fonts i’ll add them to ever increasing collection
Enjoying this font talk but I am curious at the relative lack of serif fonts, perhaps a generational bias? Both a good regular serif and a narrow serif might make a useful addition to your type case. Remember, legibility is very important, and in situations where budget/aesthetic constraints mean setting a lot of copy in a small space, the serif faces can maximize legibility with less leading…..
Nice list, 31.Adobe Caslon
@Jim - Link has been fixed
aj,
Tanks very much, (also for the site which was of my first into Google Reader!)
Jim.
Never know when you are going to need a spooky skull font!
http://skulladay.blogspot.com/2007/09/free-skull-font.html
I really am digging the boldface fonts as of late. Something that makes them seem so fun.
Truely great post. Thank you very much, added them to my collection.
Thanks. I’ve been looking for a reference like this for months now.
Calibri is actually available free - it comes with the MS Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007. (And you get the rest of the Vista fonts, too.)
Frutiger is my number one.
Great list - thanks! Some really cool ones there that I’ve not seen before.
Century Gothic, Fat Love, Decker & Bold Bold are top notch.
But whats with Avant Garde? Bifurk?
Great job ! Really nice.
Myriad and Futura are my favorites. I just couldn’t help notice the lack of seriff fonts in the list. Georgia is a classic, and so is Trajan. What are your favorite seriff fonts?
I love Fat Love. I will tell my readers over at Photoshop Daily Tips. This took you a long time to write, thank you!
God I love Rockwell. I use it so much I want to have its baby.
This list rocks. Thank you.
Great post! I remember that a while back i tried to come up with a sort of essential additional font-pack. Sites using one of those fonts could add some sort of badge and link to the download of the package.
A way to have a richer typography experience for visitors as well as designers.
I still think it might be worth a thought.
Brilliant list, I would though like to see the german font “Dax” in there.
Commonly used today and could be nice into this list.
Hi!
nice list but…
“Decker” look suspiciously like “Avant Garde”…
“SoopaFresh” Looks like Arial Black or similar but with rotations.
there my suggestions:
>AUdimat. (free) http://www.smeltery.net/
>Bodoni.
>Century Schoolbook. http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/new-century-schoolbook/
>Chúcara Text.(post in the blog or send a mail to author) http://letritas.blogspot.com/2006/05/chcara-una-tipografa-econmica.html
=)
Dax, Frutiger, Corpid, Meta, Warnock, Garamond(italic!)