6 Sharp Alternatives To Boring Serif Defaults

Starting a new design project is a great opportunity to test some new typefaces. I am sharing with you 6 serif typefaces which are a totally good choice to replace any boring serif font like the Times. All of them have specifically strong shapes and their sharp aesthetic takes inspiration from the inscriptional forms of letter carved from stone. They are built with straight lines and triangular serifs. Static and stable characteristics of this typefaces are giving stability and boldness in both display and text sizes.

All of these fonts are often used in “brutalist” designs, as it is more and more popular among designers nowadays.

So, let’s begin:

1. Beirut

Beirut is a serif typeface originally designed by Luzi Gantenbein in 2014. It is designed in two styles, display and text and it is available in 6 weights with italics — Light, Light Italic, Book, Book Italic, Regular, Regualr Italic, SemiBold, SemiBold Italic, Bold, Bold Italic (Black in Display Version). Beirut is available for web use and you can buy it on Luzi-Type official website.

2. Fortescue

Another serif typeface, released in 2009 by Colophon Foundry. Fortescue is available in 3 weights with italics — regular, semibold and bold. The Pro set comes complete with extended characters for use in Eastern & Central European languages. You can check prices and buy Fortescue on Colophon official website.

3. Sabre

Sabre is a typeface Designed by Gareth Hague in 2015 and released through Alias Foundry. Sabre is available in 6 weights—Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Black. It is working great both as a headline font and paragraph text. You can buy Sabre on FontShop.

4. Portrait

I would say Portrait is beauty of the display face. Designed by Berton Hasebe in 2013, Portrait is collection in 4 families totaling 29 styles. Portrait is released through Commercial Type and you can buy it on their website.

5. Stanley

Ludovic Balland took an inspiration from Times New Roman and designed this amazing typeface. Stanley is released through Swiss foundry Optimo in 2012. It offers excellent legibility and incredible sharpness at very small sizes. It is available in 3 weights—Regular, Bold and Poster and you can buy it on Optimo official website.

6. Bluu Next

Bluu Next was designed by Jean-Baptiste Morizot and is currently released by Velvetyne. It consists of a single style—Bold with italic, but it has an amazing details which cannot be unseen. You can download font on Velvetyne official website.

Finally…

It’s so easy to end up falling back on the same old fonts, but researching and finding new typefaces brings you a ton of possibilities and new ideas for new projects. Making the right choice on typography is crucial because a type is hugely expressive!

I hope this collection of 6 serif typefaces can help you in your future projects!

You can follow my work on Dribbble for more inspiring ideas!