The Top 5 Worst Fonts

Adam over at the PrintCEO blog yesterday pointed out a print design blog that provides a list of the top five worst fonts. I have provided the list below in graphical form so you can see the fonts they are talking about.

Before going any further, I need to point out the obvious - that this is a totally subjective list, just one print designer's opinion. Having said that I think these fonts are all overused today. PCs and Macs both come with a large variety of free fonts and there are thousands of inexpensive fonts at places like fonts.com and Font Shop. So there is no reason to use the same fonts that everyone else is using.

There is one point this designer makes that I completely agree with. Apart from Times New Roman, these fonts are not very easy to read, so they should be used sparingly. And if you want to draw attention to your label finding an unusual and rare font is an inexpensive way to add impact to your labels. Just make sure it is easy to read.

Comments

[Dr Adrian Steele of Mercian Labels Ltd (UK)]

Peter

Another interesting and thought provocing post as I've some to find on this blog.

On the issue of fonts, I dont think that many people are aware that many font, perhaps even the majority are actually copyright, and you sould really only use them with a license. Indeed we have had to buy some very expensive fonts to use for blue chip clients who have had a branding agency design a font specifically for them, to use in their branding and consequentally labelling.

Apart from the resources mentioned, do you know of any really good resources to find a downloadable list of open source or freeware fonts that anyone can use on any platform without having to worry about unknown licensing issues?

regs

Adrian

[peterrenton]

Adrian,

As always good to hear from you. You pose an interesting question. As you say, most fonts do carry a license, but there are some fonts that appear to be completely free of any licensing restrictions. You should check out:
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=OFL

Also there is a German web developer who has a list of free fonts here:
http://www.alvit.de/blog/article/20-best-license-free-official-fonts

Hope this helps.

Regards, Peter