Designers Only Need These 6 Fonts. Trash the Rest.

World-renowned designer Massimo Vignelli once said, "Out of thousands of typefaces, all we need are a few basic ones, and trash the rest".

Some of Vignelli's work:
- Corporate identity for American Airlines
- Graphics for United States National Park Service
- The subway map for the MTA New York City Transit Authority

Today we'll explore the 6 classic typefaces that Vignelli believes are all that you'll ever need for any project, ever.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
1:17 Garamond
1:58 Bodoni
3:00 Century Expanded
3:40 Futura
4:56 Times Roman
5:40 Helvetica

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#webdesign #typography #graphicdesign #helvetica #futura

Thanks for watching the video!

[MauriceM.]

1. Garamond (serif / classic / smart)
2. Bodoni (serif / „premium“ / elegant)
3. Century Expanded (serif / readable!)
4. Futura (sans-serif / geometric / functional)
5. Times New Roman ... ... no comment :D
6. Helvetica (sans-serif / often used)

Hope I could save you some time! Give this comment a like if I helped you. Otherwise great video and thank you!

[shravangubbi]

They say Times New Roman is so boring that you start to find the content written in it interesting. There can't be a better compliment for a newspaper font

[jakeperl]

I think the point here isn't so much "NEVER use any fonts but these 6" but more an encouragement to designers who may be creatively paralyzed by the thousands of choices out there, as if to say "with a little discipline, look at the amazing variety of looks that can be achieved with only these 6 great faces!" Limited choices can be an incredible accelerant of creativity.

[artrock]

There is only ONE tried and true font that has brought joy, passion, and pure comedy gold to the masses. And that font is:

Comic Sans

[Limozo]

This really shows you really need to learn about typography and typeface design. You’d be surprised

[abhijeetmandal]

1) 1:17 Garamond
2) 1:58 Bodoni
4) 3:00 Century Expanded
5) 3:40 Futura
6) 4:56 Times Roman
7) 5:40 Helvetica

[raghavkumar]

I'm a freelance graphic designer who is new to this field, I chose FUTURA as my permanent font and I'm glad to take that option.

[jeollim]

Absolutely disagree with this. If people only used 6 fonts, everything would look the same; no variety, no ever-growing font face creating community, and it would take away a huge element that contributes to design.

[SP_Sour]

I don't agree with the notion that anyone should stick to only these 6 for their whole life, but it's good to know which fonts are versatile, reader-friendly, and generally well-liked.

I think a bit of variety every once in a while goes a long way and can make a distinct impression. If I see a logo with a totally unique typeface, it tends to stick in my mind for a good while.

[Kevin_Rau]

Just some clarification for those newbie designers watching: 1) Vignelli's first name is pronounced MAHsimmo, not muhSEEmo; 2) Giambattista Bodoni was Italian, not French (although he was certainly inspired by French typography); 3) at 3:41, you're moving into sans serif fonts from serif fonts, not the other way around as stated.

[bylyone]

Personally, Montserrat is my always my go to font. It’s my default font for Wireframe and even finished client’s website.

[soyjerem]

Enough of a statement to make any typographer and type designer's blood boil, lol.
I admire Vignelli's work, and his ideals are certainly interesting, but ultimately extremely detached from reality and human emotion. Designers should not use modernism as The Bible of Good Design.

[EmceeJoseph]

Worth mentioning a couple fixed-width fonts for when you need to typeset code and stuff:

1. Consolas (Windows terminal font)
2. SF Mono (Mac terminal font)
3. Ubuntu Mono (Ubuntu terminal font)
4. Fira Code (Lot's of great developer-oriented ligatures!)

Reply with some more if you know.

[scottcitron]

Times was commissioned by the Times of London (newspaper), not TIME magazine.

[stefansimon]

I am a graphic designer for 15+ years, and basicly use 2-3 types of fonts. One of this fonts is Helvetica (Neue). Sometimes i use something special, but it is not necesary. I believe in the elegance of simplicity.

[scottcitron]

And Futura is a san serif, not a serif font!

[Mithferion]

Avenir Next and Neue Frutiger are my preferred Sans Serif fonts every day of the week, but I also like Futura and Neue Haas Grotesk

[SaraBrunettini]

Massimo Vignelli is a source of inspiration! "If you can design one thing, you can design everything"

[UTJK.]

My uncle too that is professor of Fine Arts at university told me Bodoni is his favorite typeface, and consider it one of the most beautiful ever... And I can swear he had a look across all sorts of ancient and modern documents.

[garanceadrosehn]

I am not a connoisseur of font selection, but it's interesting how many of these are fonts that I have preferred to use. My own "favorites" list includes Palatino, and then some specialized fonts for programmers/coding, and a few fonts which were designed to work better for people with dyslexia. (I have a few friends with dyslexia and they do tell me those fonts are easier to read). Out of your list the only one I've never used is Century Expanded.
Back in the 1990's I got somewhat obsessed with the variety of fonts available, and for awhile I must have had at least 80-100 fonts on my computers. But after awhile I realized that all that meant was that I spent a lot of time deciding which font would be "Perfect™" for some document, only to find that 95% of the time I ended up with one out of just a dozen different fonts.