Build your brand:How to choose the right fonts

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Build your brand:How to choose the right fonts

Build your brand:How to choose the right fonts

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The typefaces you choose can have a huge impact on the way your brand communicates.

After all, it's not just what you say:It's how you say it. By choosing fonts that reflect your brand's values—traditional or quirky, fun or formal—you can attract the right kind of customers.

Whether you're building your brand from scratch, reworking your logo(opens in a new tab or window) or updating your website, we're here to set you up with the right font choices—so you can put your best foot forward.

In this article, we've created 20 unique font combinations to help give you a little inspiration when getting started on creating your own brand in Canva Pro(opens in a new tab or window)—the design tool built for the non-designer, to help your brand shine. All of these fonts are included for free in Canva.

And if you'd like to take your fonts to the next level, then check out this free Typography and Layout course(opens in a new tab or window) from Canva Design School.

01. League Spartan

League Spartan is a modern typeface with strong structure and geometric form. This contrasts well against the elegant and more traditional style of Libre Baskerville. Using a serif for your body copy makes more dense information easy to read.

Here are examples of templates using the League Spartan font:Music Store Etsy Shop Icon(opens in a new tab or window), Mint Green Clean Minimalist Annual Report(opens in a new tab or window), and Brown Blue Water Beach Water Surfing Water Bottle Label(opens in a new tab or window)

02. Julius Sans One

Julius Sans One offers a fine stroke, its broader baseline makes it a great display font. With a similar weight, Josefin Sans is a complementary choice for the body copy. As contrast is key for choosing type combinations, League Gothic creates a strong separator for the two sections.

03. Archivo Black

A bold, rounded typeface combined with a lighter, condensed style will make for happy font pairing. All three fonts in this example are strong, masculine and easy to read.

Here's an example of a template using the Archivo font:Green Bold Promo Instagram Story(opens in a new tab or window)

04. Libre Baskerville

Don’t be afraid to use one typeface across your entire brand. Finding fonts like Libre Baskerville that have style variants is a clever way to create nuance without overcomplicating your designs.

Here's an example of a template using the Libre Baskerville font:Blue Modern Building Art Museum Club Fundraising Poster(opens in a new tab or window)

05. Bebas Neue

Bebas Neue is a favorite out there in the design-sphere. It’s condensed and clean form makes it excellent to use for headings. The rounded comparison of Bebas to Montserrat makes for a tidy and contemporary pairing.

Here are examples of templates using the Bebas font:Travel Blog Instagram Post(opens in a new tab or window) and Coral & White Minimal Corporate Project Outline Report(opens in a new tab or window)

06. Lora

Lora has brushed curves that make it a very elegant and sophisticated typeface. The effect of using italic and regular together is charming and feminine.

07. Roboto Condensed

Roboto Condensed is a sans serif typeface with a reading rhythm that is more like that of serifs, therefore a great choice for body copy as well as headings.

08. Cooper Hewitt Bold

With strong arches and curves, Cooper Hewitt is a classic typeface with excellent variations to use to separate your headings, subheadings and body copy respectfully.

09. Playfair Display

Playfair Display is an excellent typeface to use for wedding or invitation design. The heavy style of Playfair Display Black offsets beautifully against Playfair Display Italic, creating a harmonious hierarchy.

Here are examples of templates using the Playfair Display font:Brown Room Photo Fall Promotional Instagram Post(opens in a new tab or window) and Cream Fashion and Retail Instagram Post(opens in a new tab or window)

10. Norwester

Norwester is an attention-grabbing, geometric font best used for headings. The pairing of Norwester, Kollektif, and Montserrat is structured, bold and well-composed.

Here are examples of templates using the Norwester font:Orange Hiking Wild Men's Appreciation Pinterest Graphic(opens in a new tab or window) and Yellow with Texture and Wooden Barrel Beer Label(opens in a new tab or window)

11. Source Sans Pro and Source Serif Pro

Source Sans Pro and Source Serif Pro were created to be used as a pair in design. They are another excellent example of marrying up a serif and a sans serif to create typographic harmony.

12. Yellowtail

A fun pairing:Yellowtail is a fat brush script typeface with a mix of connecting letterforms. Contrasting nicely against the bold and more basic style of Open Sans Bold and Open Sans light.

Here's an example of a template using the Yellowtail font:Breakfast Party Fundraising Eggs Poster(opens in a new tab or window)

13. Cinzel

Cinzel is considered contemporary, although it was inspired classical Roman style. With the delicate strokes of Quattrocento and Lora’s curves, this is a fine combination to use for headings or for invitations.

14. Oswald

Oswald has been redesigned as a web font to work across all digital screens. Teamed with Montserrat Light and Cooper Hewitt, this is a highly functional and easy to read interface font combination.

Here are examples of templates using the Oswald font:Purple and Neon Green College Poster(opens in a new tab or window) and Brown History Education Presentation(opens in a new tab or window)

15. Copper Hewitt Thin

Reports require less complicated type combinations, therefore this trio are a great choice. Don’t be afraid to use a thin typeface as a heading. This is one of the best ways to take advantage of a very fine type weight as it shows off the structure and letterform.

16. Bodoni

Bodoni is known as a classic magazine heading typeface. Massimo Vignelli(opens in a new tab or window) stated that ‘Bodoni is one of the most elegant typefaces ever designed’. The application of Bodoni paired with the contrasting of Montserrat is sophisticated and contemporary.

Here are examples of templates using the Bodoni font:Green Garden Photo Plants Photo Presentation(opens in a new tab or window) and Yellow Photo Elegant Fashion Show Flyer(opens in a new tab or window)

17. Merriweather

Merriweather was created specifically for web design and not favored as a print typeface. The combination of bold and regular style variants makes for easy reading and classic aesthetic.

18. League Gothic

League Gothic has a distinctive condensed style that has similarities to Archivo Narrow yet offsets well against the round form of Kollektif, acting as a nice barrier between heading and body copy.

Here are examples of templates using the League Gothic font:Pink and Blue General Report(opens in a new tab or window) and White Text On Photo Guide to Hiking Pinterest Graphic(opens in a new tab or window)

19. Montserrat

Contemporary and cool, this is an excellent example of using a fine weight typeface for a heading and heavier versions for subheading and body copy. Montserrat has a clean, structured and easy to read form. The application of Montserrat Light for a heading softens the overall effect.

Here are examples of templates using the Montserrat font:Pink Spring Flower Instagram Post(opens in a new tab or window) and Sogbu Restaurant Logo(opens in a new tab or window)

20. Anton

A sans serif combination—Anton is a reworking of a traditional advertising typeface so designed to capture the attention of an audience with its strong, geometric form. To create more impact, it has been teamed with Open Sans Light for it’s contrasting visual qualities.