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Typography terms and font anatomy illustration

17 Basic Kinds of Fonts

The 4 Main Types of Fonts Defined

While there are hundreds of sub-categories, almost every typeface falls into one of these four primary buckets. Understanding the difference is the first step in good design.

1. Serif Fonts

The Traditional Choice. Serif fonts have small “feet” or decorative lines at the ends of their strokes. They are widely used in long-form print (books, newspapers) because these feet guide the eye horizontally, improving readability.
  • Vibe: Trustworthy, classic, formal, established.
  • Famous Examples: Times New Roman, Garamond, Baskerville.

2. Sans Serif Fonts

The Modern Choice. “Sans” means “without.” These fonts lack the decorative feet, offering clean, straight lines. They dominate the web and digital screens because their simple shapes remain clear even at low resolutions.
  • Vibe: Modern, clean, minimal, approachable.
  • Famous Examples: Helvetica, Arial, Futura, Open Sans.

3. Script Fonts

The Elegant Choice. Script fonts mimic handwriting, calligraphy, or cursive styles. They range from formal flourishes to casual messy markers. Use them sparingly—typically for headlines or invitations—never for body text.
  • Vibe: Elegant, personal, creative, fancy.
  • Famous Examples: Pacifico, Great Vibes, Allura.

4. Decorative (Display) Fonts

The Attention-Grabber. This catch-all category includes fonts designed purely to be looked at, not read through. They might look like graffiti, horror movie titles, or bubble letters. Perfect for logos and posters; terrible for paragraphs.
  • Vibe: Unique, loud, thematic, bold.
  • Famous Examples: Lobster, Bangers, Monoton.

Now Let’s Take a Closer Look…

Those are the “Big Four,” but the world of typography gets much more granular. Below, we’ve broken down 17 specific categories—from Slab Serifs to Grunge—that professional designers use to set exactly the right tone. Let’s dive in.

1) Serif

Serif fonts are typefaces composed of lines with their ends embellished with small marks or strokes making them easy to read. Serifs originated in the Latin Alphabet. An example of classic serif fonts are Times Roman, New Century Gothic, and Palatino. serif font … [Read More]

SEO services in Rhode Island – a recommended source

BonFX has spun off a child company: Oxbow SEO! If you need qualified search engine optimization services, please visit Oxbow SEO here! You might also pop by our SEO Meetup in Providence for high-value content, networking, and killer coffee. We have a very cool space to meet in for the first few Meetups, thanks to very cool art gallery ArtProv. We’ll take you from the humble example from antiquity of how to stretch pizza dough up through the most cutting edge SEO methods that work today. rhode island seo So, check out OxbowSEO when you need a local SEO consultant in the Rhode Island area!
SEO Rhode Island

Search Engine Services in RI

 

A boatload of squeeze and landing page template designs and elements?

“Graphics Sifu” –  Everything you need from a squeeze page templates package

squeeze-page-templates Every now and then I come across a crazy deal as owner of this design blog. I don’t know how people make money on some of these packages they put together, but this one is LOADED to capacity! Let’s not ask how they make money, but rather, how can we take advantage of their hard work to put this together. If you are like me, you are tired of wasting time 1) searching for the right product and 2) discovering you bought the wrong one. The best product for something like putting together squeeze pages is one that has EVERYTHING you need in it, and it shows you in a transparent way. Fonts, graphics, templates, HTML snippets, buttons, dividers, text-effects, ribbons, etc. In short, all the standard items you know you have seen on squeeze pages (that YOU yourself have bought things through!) are right here and you can “see what’s in the box” before purchasing! Boom! Transparency works for you in this case. Look at all the value they packed in this deal! If you need all the pieces to slap together a squeeze page template or a landing page template, this one dinky purchase will save you a ridiculous amount of time. Here is a list of what it contains. It’s too long to read so just skim it. Basically, it’s in there:
Order Buttons Blecher Buttons Guarantee Seals Guarantee Certificates Comparison Tables Screen Captures Sticker Shapes Number Displays 1 Number Displays 2 Box Shadow Highlight Graphics Divider Graphics Minisite Template (Wood) Minisite Template (Futuristic) Minisite Template (Plain) Minisite Template (Envelope) Minisite Template (Grunge) Credit Cards Signature Fonts Handwritten Fonts
OTO Graphics Step-By-Step Graphics Doodles Squeeze Page 1 Squeeze Page 2 Squeeze Page 3 Squeeze Page 4 Squeeze Page 5 Squeeze Page 6 Squeeze Page 7 Squeeze Page 8 Squeeze Page 9 Squeeze Page 10 3D Text Effect Photoshop Text Styles 1 Photoshop Text Styles 2 Photoshop Text Styles 3 Web Ribbons 1 Web Ribbons 2
Banners Pack Star Ratings Headline Graphics Order Buttons 2 Dvd-Rom Mockup Book Mockup Card Mockup Box Mockup Bullet Point Graphics Header Graphics Minisite Template 1 (Health) Minisite Template 2 (Dating) Minisite Template 3 (Money) Minisite Template 4 (Secret) Minisite Template 5 (Real Estate)
And look at these previews! Yep, it’s all there and then some. Click below to see them all: best-landing-page-templates So, take a look at this deal up close. You can download all this for HOW MUCH? How can this be possible? Click through for the price (we hid it because you have to see it to believe it…and you’ve read this far!).

landing-page-templates

P.S.: Remember, in the time it took you to even READ this article, much less read another, what, 20 more, you can download this sucker and start playing with it. Don’t waste any more time: this is the squeeze page templates and landing page templates package you were looking for 🙂

P.S.S.: Click the “instant access button” and stop looking for “better” free ones. You haven’t even seen the price yet! Once you see it, you’ll regret having wasted time looking in other places. Click above!

Yo, Font-Addict! Grab 350+ font combinations for web and print — in print from Amazon or ebook (40% OFF) from Gumroad. You know you want to!

A Free Expired Domains Scraper?

UPDATE: 12/14/2105: Big updates and price drop – head right over to Oxbow Domains to check it out! Elliot and I have been working on “Ox” for months! From concept, code, logo and brand identity, to typography and e-commerce! There are a lot of disciplines all wrapped up in our beta release of Ox, our expired domain scraper. The free period is only during beta, but check it out and get on the list for updates on the commercial release. Note that every beta will have a free trial period! Whatever expired domains you find you get to keep! So check out the latest entry into the realm of expired domain software with a modern, clean-design, cross-platform twist.
free expired domains scraper..Current release is 0.9.3. This is the free (as in beer!) beta release of Ox, our standalone domain scraping app, which can find hundreds or even thousands of expired domains in just hours. Ox supports proxies and automatically returns DA and PA for each available domain, and domain availability checking is provided by Namecheap (you can check their supported TLDs page to get an idea of what’s available. Basically, just about everything). … Ox is in beta so it’s a totally free expired domains scraper during this time. But when it goes on sale…[s]ay goodbye to subscription payments–Ox will pay for itself the very first day. No caps: Since Ox is running from home, you don’t have to worry about arbitrary limits being placed on your searches. Run it as long as you want! Searches 1m+ are quite easy and you can find thousands of domains from one URL. … Oh, and the beta expires June 7th, so don’t waste time and free domains. Give it a shot now!
Source: Ox Expired Domains Scraper

The 100 Top Typefaces (in a Huge Sortable Table)

top best fontsAn Inspiring Collection of Fonts

FontShop sold a typeface collection called “100 Best Fonts” for a limited time in Germany a little while back. The website for this special promotion generously listed the names of all 100 best typefaces for graphic design with background information in German. When the typeface collection was no longer available, the promotional site itself retained a life of its own, serving as a go-to reference for graphic designers looking for inspiration. The PDF on the promotional website is a beautiful piece of design work, a nice visual resource, and just plain fun to look at even if you don’t read German. (NOTE: You can click the typeface names for more info) How could this great list be improved? I was interested into what categories and classifications these classic fonts were placed, what foundries they were from, and what interesting insights might avail themselves if I could see all the data in one place. I also wanted one place to see examples of all these great typefaces, so I put those together too. Enjoy, and leave a comment! … [Read More]
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This week — no. 14

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Merriweather sets the tone in one line. Lato stays out of the way and lets it.

MERRIWEATHER 700  +  LATO 400

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UX for Cats book cover

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350 font combinations you can steal.

The Big Book of Font Combinations

Every pairing shown in context — web, print, headings, body. Open it, find one that works, use it.

That's it. That's the book.

In print or ePub 40% OFF on Gumroad

Scrolling Google Fonts for "the right one"?

You've been at it for 20 minutes. You'll be at it for 20 more. There are 1,500 fonts in there.

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Recent Inspirations

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  • Fonts Similar to Century Gothic October 13, 2026
  • Fonts Similar to Baskerville October 13, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Bodoni Moda? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Urbanist? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Figtree? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Outfit? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Jost? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Andale Mono? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Agenda? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Fraunces? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Marcellus? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Zilla Slab? October 5, 2026
  • What Fonts Go With Utopia? September 30, 2026

About BonFX

Douglas Bonneville has been a graphic designer since 1992 and has written about type here since 2009. BonFX is a blog about typography and design, and the books that came out of it.

  • The Big Book of Font Combinations
  • The Preposterously Huge Book of Google Font Combinations
  • UX for Cats

More about BonFX →

Start Here

  • Font Combinations: The Complete Guide
  • The 100 Best Fonts
  • 17 Types of Fonts
  • 29 Principles for Great Font Combinations
  • 23 Really Bad Font Choices
  • 20 Free Google Wedding Font Combinations

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