Arbenting

We recently had a reader ask us to do a post about our favorite fonts, and we thought the idea was such a good one, that we decided to take it step farther. We wanted to open this post up to a few other members of the design community to find out from them what fonts they tended to favor. Get a few more opinions and ideas shared in the post than just those that we move towards. So we asked around.

And boy did we get some great responses. Fonts are something that most designers have a soft spot for and as a result, we always enjoy talking about them. Below are the replies we got…And given that the reader originally asked for our favorites, we felt we it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t add our two cent in at the end.

Chris Spooner

Chris Spooner – Blog Spoon Graphics

My most favourite free font is probably Black Rose, other than being the cool font used in the Vimeo logo, it has that great brush script appearance. Being a fan of hand-drawn elements, I can’t help but also recommend Faraco Hand. Out of all the handwriting inspired fonts out there, this is one of my favourites.

I also have a collection of favourite paid fonts, but I’d probably pick out DIN as the one I’m most fond of. I can always seem to find a perfect use for it in almost any project.

Black Rose

Faraco Hand

DIN

Meredith Marsh

Meredith Marsh – FLX Creative

I haven’t purchased a font in so long. But since I use typekit, I’d have to say FF Enzo by FontFont is my favorite right now, especially in light.

My favorite free font – Calluna. It’s a great little serif typeface. (also available on typekit!)

FF Enzo

Calluna

Chad Mueller

Chad Meuller – Inspiredology

Tell you the truth I have never bought a good font that I had to pay for so how bout I give you 2 free fonts…

Rockwell is awesome and Fontin is a great font as well

Rockwell

Fontin

Brian Lovin

Brian Lovin – Elite by Design

My favorite free font would have to be Helvetica Neue, even thought it may be overused, it is still beautiful.

My favorite paid would be Archer, by H&FJ.

Helvetica Neue

*We thought we would note that if you have a MAC then Helvetica Neue is a free font, if you’re on a PC…not so much.*

Archer

Sarah Whinnem

Sarah Whinnem – Madyson Designs

Paid Font: Futura
I love Futura, and am probably guilty of using it a little too often. But I feel that it has many variations that are great for making a bold statement, a clean look, or an elegant idea. It can be used for fun or for something classy. I love how flexible it is.

Free Font: Museo
I’m a fan of Exljbris fonts in general, they are beautifully made and include all the extras you’d expect from a professional font, but some styles are available free (and the paid styles aren’t bank-breakers!). I especially love Museo for its clean lines and unique serifs. It’s not suited for every purpose, but I feel that it shows sophistication while still being a little quirky.

Futura

Museo

Tom Ross

Tom Ross – PSD Fan

It’s nearly impossible to choose 2 favorites, but here goes:

Right now I’m loving the free font: Pigiarniq

As for paid font’s I love Ronnia

Pigiarniq

Ronnia

AJ Troxell

AJ Troxell – Phire Design

Free Font: Geo Sans Light
Subtext: I love Geo Sans because of it’s geometric shape as well as it’s large circular lettering and straight lines.

Paid Font: Futura (of course!)
Subtext: I just can’t help it, i love futura. Clean, organized, perfectly proportioned, and easily readable. My favorite of the family is Futura Condensed.

Geo Sans Light

Futura Condensed

Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass – Just Creative Design

Paid: Gotham
Modern, clean, bold… it’s what I’m all about.

Unpaid:
Helvetica Neue
Modern, clean, bold… also what I’m all about.

You may also be interested in this post from Jacob over at Just Creative Design: Designer’s Favorite Fonts & Why

Gotham

Helvetica Neue

Tim Smith

Tim Smith

Free Font: League Gothic

I love this font! It’s a great typeface for headlines and I find myself using it way too much.

Paid Font: Gotham

The font used in Obama’s campaign is pure awesomeness. It’s versatile, meaning that the typeface does well in many applications. I use this one way too much too.

League Gothic

Gotham

Marco Kuiper

Marco Kuiper – Marco Folio

Best free font: “Diavlo”

In my opinion, Diavlo is seriously one of the best free fonts out there. Jos created a couple of awesome free fonts (including Museo Sans), but Diavlo is a little bit special for me, since I used it on my website (using sIFR) before. It’s just very complete, comes with different widths, all “special characters” are included etc.; All what you expect from a great font!

————————

Best paid font: “Unknown”
I’m sorry – I really don’t know the answer to this one. There are so many high quality (paid) fonts out there, that I really can’t make a selection. I really like the “thin line” fonts, but that depends on the situation too. Also, some paid fonts are really beautiful but way too expensive, so it shouldn’t be “the best”.

Diavlo

Museo Sans

Jon Phillips

Jon Phillips – Spyre Studios

I have a thing for Museo, but my favorite free typeface has to be League Gothic. I find it’s a great sans-serif display font that works in many different situations – if used right. I like to see it printed as much as I enjoy seeing it on the web. As far as paid fonts go, I love Hoefler Text. In fact I love pretty much everything from H&FJ. I like Hoefler Text because it’s a very classy serif typeface, and also because it comes in many different weights, italic and small caps, so it’s definitely a versatile typeface.

League Gothic

Hoefler Text

Brian Yerkes

Brian Yerkes – Biran Joseph Studios

My favorite paid for font is “Futura”. I really like this font for it’s simplicity , and its geometric structure. it is perfect for heading and body fonts on print designs, and also is also strong when used as the typeface for an identity. It’s gives an image of forward thinking and efficiency…perfect for almost every business.

I don’t think I could pick a favorite free font, because so many are needed for all of the different situations. However, one that I enjoy using for some projects where I need to convey a more casual feeling, is “Anke Hand”. I’m a sucker for handwriting fonts, and Anke Hand works so well when I need the text to be clearly legible, but also more casual than a normal rigid font. Also, it looks a lot like my own handwriting so I enjoy using it for personal projects also!

Futura

Anke Hand

Fran Jeitz

Fran Jeitz – Fudge Graphics

Commercial Font: Avenir Family by Adrian Frutiger. I’ve recently used this font in a couple of projects and love the versatility the different weights have to offer. It’s very clean with a lot of character (no pun intended)

Free Font: Public Gothic Family by Antrepo. This font has a great nostalgic feel to it and I’ve recently used it for the sidebar titles and main navigation on Fudgegraphics.

Avenir

Public Gotham Family

Andrew Houle

Andrew Houle – My Ink Blog

Favorite free font – League Gothic -
League Gothic is an awesome professional looking font that is totally free thanks to The League of Moveable Type (http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com). It’s an old classic, and it’s perfect for big, bold headlines.

Favorite commercial font – Archer -
I don’t even own this font, but I definitely have drooled over it a number of times.

League Gothic

Archer

Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Favorite Free Font: Chunk
I’ve used this font in a couple of projects recently, and I think the thing I like about it most (besides the solid feel of it) is that it’s a slab-serif font, giving off the same vibes as fonts like Georgia, which I used to use in a lot of projects. At the right size, this is a great font for headlines, blog post titles and even logos. I’m sure I’ll find more and more uses for it as time goes on (it was released not too long ago).

Favorite Paid Font: Gotham
I used to be a die hard Helvetica fan (and still am) but I realized that my favorite paid font that I use is definitely Gotham. I’m actually using it for a rebrand for my Guerrilla design company website which should be released in a few weeks. I also utilize it a lot, like the Chunk font, for blog titles and headlines. I have the full family, so I can use the thin versions as well as the more sold bold and black font weights.

Chunk

Gotham

Matt Ward

Matt Ward – Echo Enduring

Favorite free font: Oregon. Haven’t had to buy any fonts yet though.

Oregon

Angie Bowen

Angie Bowen – Arbenting

My favorite paid font is Mrs Eaves. It’s so simple and elegant as well as being extremely versatile.

My favorite free font is Fontin because it’s so clean and easy to read but at the same time has tons of personality.

Mrs Eaves

Fontin

Rob Bowen

Rob Bowen – Dead Wings Designs

Picking a favorite paid font is easy, Mrs. Eaves hands down. It is such a versatile and clean font that I am constantly finding myself turning to it for a professional look. And though, Futura would run a close second, I think if I had to be honest, I’d go with the Eaves.

Now a free font, though I would veer in Helvetica Neue’s direction, I think I would land on Andes. It may not be the classiest or freshest, but I sure do like it.

Mrs Eaves

Andes

A Final Word

We appreciate you stopping by and checking out the post. For more from the Arbenting team, make sure you Subscribe for free to the blog.