20 Best Serif Fonts for Logo Design and Branding

When starting up a business, showing clients a beautiful logo is your chance to make a striking first impression. Serif Fonts are a favorite to many brands for its minimalism and clarity which makes it perfect for branding logos. These fonts are characterized by its small strokes or extensions at the outlines of the characters. A lot of it has to do with the brand name, aesthetic, and font style you use. Luckily, we’ve prepared a list of the best serif fonts for logo designs below:

How to Choose the Right Font for a Logo: Size, Format, and Readability

Your logo is your identity and a market research of your community is a must. Before anything else, you should first decide on who your target audience is. Are they playful and creative or more traditional and professional? If it is the latter, you might want to use serif fonts as opposed to decorative and sans serif fonts. Serif fonts are versatile enough that you can read them even at a distance. As for the size, it all depends on where you’ll put it. For outdoor signs and banners, use up to 72 points or larger. For logo-branded apparel and stationery, it is recommended to use 8-12 points. Meanwhile, the average font for small logo-branded items like business cards is 6 points.

Keep reading to see our list of popular serif fonts that can be used for logos and branding projects.

The Best Serif Fonts for Logo Design Projects

Dihot

Inspired by the French designer, Firmin Didot, this modern classic font will give your logos a sense of luxury and sophistication. It is characterized by varying thin and thick sharp lines that are perfect for magazines and luxury brands. Due to its contrasting nature and geometric features, it is best used in large font sizes. If your brand needs a balance of style and class, Dihot brings the sophistry you are looking for.

Bookman

If you want to channel a bit of nostalgia, the Bookman font is a great serif font for branding vintage businesses. It includes various styles, such as cursive, block script, sans serif, and serif, in one bundle. Use this for designing logos for libraries, barbershops, and bars. Bookman has a pop-up effect for its thick lines which can be a go-to for big banners and posters. 

Montage

Another one for luxury brands, Montage is a serif font with thin lines adding a feminine touch. It appears simplistic in nature but brings a great impact, especially when used against a bold background color. This font is ideal for businesses involved in weddings or fashion.

Bodoni Fragile

Inspired by text you often see in packages all over the world, Bodoni Fragile is a decorative serif font with a vintage feel. Use this for web, print, or video branding projects. The thick lines of the font helps your brand stand out, adding a hint of masculinity and elegance at the same time. 

Georgia Ballpark

Does your brand speak elegance? This duo font includes serif and script styles, allowing you to mix and match fonts for your logo design. Combining two styles for a logo gives off a sophisticated yet creative vibe to your audience. Use this font to add personality to company letterheads, signatures, and more. The font is typical of Instagram brands for its aesthetically soothing appeal.

Modern Serif

As it says so in its name, the Modern Serif brings a whole new take on the traditional serif font. It features tight swashes in some of its characters, giving it a distinct look. This decorative serif font is ideal for company signs, business cards, and more. If used cautiously, it can also be used for luxury brands and wedding invites. 

Magical Source

If your brand caters to children , Magical Source is the font for you. Designed with playful swashes and glyphs, this typeface will bring your creative ideas to another level. Choose this font if your brand wants to evoke magic, wizardry, and anything enchanting!

Devroye

Slim and sophisticated, Devroye is the perfect serif font that will look gorgeous on any logo design project. It has the traditional characteristics of a serif font but is designed with slightly italicized characters for that added class. Use this for your standard typography, letterhead, or business card. Devroye speaks of calmness and simplicity which would suit any luxury and lifestyle brand with a spiritual appeal.

Soria

Wondering what the best bold serif font for a beauty brand is? Soria might just be the answer! Inspired by the Didot fonts and art nouveau, this is a stylish serif font suitable for skincare or makeup brands. With its contrasting lines and art nouveau influences, Soria is ideal for designing logo signs, website banners, and social media posts. Soria will stand out pinterest pins and Instagram stories for its verticality and exquisiteness. 

Lanche

Lanche may seem simple at first glance, but it is actually characterized by overlapping sharp lines once used in a text. This serif font adds a touch of creativity to its already elegant look. Use this for creating branded business cards, posters, and packages. The font is perfect for apparel and men’s perfume brands, and every alphabet can stand out as a logo.

Alchemist 

Typically seen in contemporary apothecaries or skincare brands, Alchemist is a handwritten serif font that looks like it was made using a typewriter. So, if you want your businesses to speak to an audience that appreciates that aesthetic, choose this font for merch designs, posters, and cards. The font is perfect is you are looking for a personal brand as a creative professional or hobbyist.

Bright

Ever wondered what it’s like to combine a modern and retro look that speaks to any generation? Bright is the serif font for you! Bold, playful, and casual, it is the perfect typeface to use in social media ads, flyers, and website logos. It can also be used as album covers, podcast thumbnails or enhance any creative brand.

Calymati

Do you want your brand to cater to men with style? Calymati invites the trendy and the quirky.  Another one for those with old souls, Calymati features swashes, bold lines, and thin strokes in one stylish font. This font is ideal for such as brand logo stickers, liquor labels, or magazine headers with men as the primary audience.

Chinook

Perfect for boutique brands, Chinook is playful yet exclusive. Chinook strikes a perfect harmony between vintage and contemporary. Designed with bold characters, this is ideal to use for large-sized projects like store signs, wall art deco, and billboards.

Esther

Influenced by calligraphy strokes, Esther is a truly elegant font featuring soft lines at the end of some characters that can be connected when used in texts, making a unified design logo. This typeface is ideal for branding stationery, letterheads, and style guides for feminine and artistic brands.

Mystic Gate

Is your brand dark-themed? Best used in Halloween or horror-inspired businesses, Mystic Gate is the most suitable for branding posters, emails, and invitations for escape rooms, haunted attractions, and anything spooky.

Wonder Night

Take yourself on a magic carpet ride with the Wonder Night font. Inspired by tarot cards, this display typeface with sharp serifs and decorative glyphs will look great on event planning logos, invitations, and signs for Halloween and magic-themed parties. You can also the font for covers in Illustrated Children’s books.

Humble Boy

If you have a younger audience, Humble Boy is the font for you. This cute and playful font with bright colors resembles handwritten typefaces inspired by chalkboard texts. Use this to add a personal touch to kiddie clothing brands, school supplies, and more.

Jolie

For a truly minimalistic serif font for branding logos, choose the Jolie font. It is a block script featuring thin long lines that look elegant against dark-colored backgrounds. This typeface is suitable for image and video watermarks for production companies.

Mantana

Mantana is a funky and bold font inspired by the ‘70s. Use this dynamic typeface to put your logos on signs, posters, and letterheads. The font communicates free spirit and youth, which is perfect if your target audience is young. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Serif Fonts

What is a serif font?

Serif fonts have small extensions on the ends of each letter, making it easier to distinguish one letter from another. They are most known for their high readability level so they are commonly used in books, documents, and magazines. 

What is the most common use for a serif font?

The most common use of serif fonts is for long-body texts. Some examples are books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and online articles. This is because their serifs make them easier on the eyes and can be read easily as opposed to other typefaces.

What features are common to serif fonts? What do serif fonts look like?

The common feature of serif fonts is their decorative extensions at the end of each stroke, making it easier to distinguish one letter from another. Serif fonts look like they have tails at the end of each letter. These serifs also vary in weight depending on the kind of serif font you’ll use.

When to use and not use serif fonts?

Serif fonts are commonly used in printed materials such as books, newspapers, and magazines, as well as in formal documents and invitations. They are considered to be more readable and easier on the eyes when used for large blocks of text, as the serifs help to guide the reader’s eye from one letter to the next.

However, serif fonts should not be used for websites or other digital materials. Additionally, serif fonts may not always be the best choice for more modern or casual designs, as they can sometimes appear outdated or stuffy.

Usually, Serif fonts are popular for professional brands. However, depending on the color, themes and target audience, Serif fonts can also be very exciting and used for a lively vibe. 

What is the difference between serif and sans serif font?

The main difference between sans serif and serif fonts is that sans serifs do not have extensions at the end of each letter, unlike serif fonts.

Are serif fonts good for online reading and websites?

Yes, serif fonts are good for most online publications, particularly news and journalism websites. 

How to use serif fonts in Word?

Simply open a new document, then browse the available list of serif fonts in the Command Group inside the Ribbon at the top of your MS Word document. Feel free to try multiple ones until you find the perfect font for you.

What is better in readability? Serif or sans serif?

When it comes to readability, it ultimately depends on how you use them. For large-size projects, sans serif fonts may be the better choice. Meanwhile, serif fonts increase the readability and speed of reading long-form, smaller texts.

We hope this article will help you decide which font types to use for your logos. You can take a look at our list of premium fonts for any of your crafting needs!