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Data Visualisation Guide

Serif vs Sans serif

3 minutes read

Typography

Fonts come in two kinds: serif fonts and sans serif fonts. Serif fonts have a small stroke attached to the end of larger strokes of letters. Check the characters in the following popular serif fonts taken from Google Fonts.

6 serif fonts from Google Fonts

Popular serif fonts on Google Fonts

Sans serif fonts on the other hand lack these strokes at the end of larger strokes. Compare the serif fonts above to the sans serif ones below.

6 non-serif fonts from Google Fonts

Popular sans serif fonts on Google Fonts

Traditionally, serif fonts were used for body text, as serif fonts were considered to be more legible. But research has struggled to confirm this, and if serif fonts would have a legibility advantage over sans serif fonts, it will be small one. There is probably more variation in legibility among serif and sans serifs than there is between them.

Fonts can be mixed, and as a rule combining a serif font for headings and a sans serif font for body text, or vice versa, usually works quite well.

A browser window of the Wikipedia page about sans-serif fonts. It uses a serif font

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif

A browser window displaying the article Choosing Fonts for Your Data Visualization on nightingaledvs.com. It uses both sans-serif as serif fonts

Source: nightingaledvs.com/choosing-fonts-for-your-data-visualization

A browser window displaying the article Les convois de la liberté interdits à Paris on lefigaro.fr. The website uses both sans-serif as serif fonts

Source: www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/les-convois-de-la-liberte-interdits-a-paris-20220210

A browser window showing the article Ottawa ruft nach Truckerprotesten Notstand aus on spiegel.de. It uses both sans-serif and serif fonts

Source: www.spiegel.de/ausland/kanada-ottawa-ruft-nach-trucker-protesten-notstand-aus-a-4e1cdee9-371d-49c5-86fa-1c184b9a8739

Related pages

Fonts for numbers

Font connotations

Fonts

Fonts and typefaces

Condensed fonts

Small fonts

Typography