It was specifically designed for highway signs. She adds, “Sans serifs are for wayfinding or signage applications.” One of the most recognized fonts in the United States, Clearview, is a sans serif font. “If you’re building an app or designing a site, sans serifs are generally the way to go,” says DeCotes, because legibility is a concern on screens that are small or have lower resolutions. Some sans serif font families, like Arial, are meant to work as body copy - text that goes on for more than a sentence or two.) Signs, text in apps, and names on maps tend to be sans serif.

Sans serif fonts also work well where there’s very little room for copy. “The conventional wisdom is that sans serif fonts are supposed to mimic handwriting, which has more of a flow to it,” says Todd. However, sans serif typefaces can also evoke today’s handwriting, which is missing the extra strokes that were a product of the brush or quill. That association still holds for example, Todd uses sans serif for a comic book set in a contemporary, cosmopolitan, and fashion-oriented Los Angeles. “When you’re reading a 9.5 font in a printed book, serifs help you distinguish the letterforms and create flow as you’re reading.” “Serifs often lend a bit more legibility at smaller scales,” says DeCotes. They also have real functional value as body copy. When working on book design for a story set during World War II, Todd used serif fonts to give readers the feeling they were in a world that existed prior to modern design conventions. “Serif fonts can have a more clinical and institutional look to them,” says Todd, who uses serif fonts to evoke earlier eras. “They feel a little bit more old-timey,” says designer Madeline DeCotes. Serif typefaces like Times New Roman are suggestive of typewriters’ old style - The New York Times and other reputable institutions that have existed for over a century still use this font. Serif fonts can look authoritative, professional, and suggest the weight of history or experience. Looking for a crash course? Study the basics of type with this guide to understanding and using fonts.

Serif vs sans serif vs monospace