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25 Perfect Fonts for Books

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 15:06:31 +0000

Whether you’re creating a cover for your literary debut or looking for the perfect font to typeset inside pages, these 25 fonts are perfect for book design.

From classic serifs for typesetting to quirky fonts for children’s books, historic novels or vintage covers, below you’ll find the perfect bookish typeface for your next project.

Designing a cover? Discover fantastic fonts for book covers here.

Anko Envato Elements

Anko is a mixed up, old style Roman serif font family. It’s one of the best fonts for book covers because it comes in 8 weights and features more than 450 glyphs to support extended Latin language, plus OpenType features such as ligatures and numeral variations. It’s clean and easy to read with smooth strokes, moderate stem contrast, and soft edges.

Adobe Garamond

Designed by Robert Slimbach and released in 1989, Adobe Garamond is an updated take on the typeface styles created by Claude Garamond, which date back to the sixteenth century. An utterly classic and failsafe choice for typesetting books, Garamond also features gorgeous italic glyphs which can be used to embellish chapter headings or cover titles.

Addington CF | beautiful serif font family Envato Elements

The best font for writing a novel is one that’s reliable, comes alive with character and attention to detail, is beautiful but practical at the same time. A versatile typeface with calligraphic elements, serifs, and new ideas. That’s Addington. Comes in 7 weights, roman and italic sets, and advanced OTF features.

Caslon

An Old Style serif originally created in 1722 by English typefounder William Caslon, Caslon is a beautiful and traditional typeface for typesetting. Most famously used as the type style for the Declaration of Independence, this timeless typeface is consistently used by designers looking for classic literary style.

Storystone Serif Font Envato Elements

As you know, serif font are the best fonts for book covers, and Storystone combines classic style fonts with a touch of minimalism to get you to a beautiful, elegant result. This isn’t your average Georgia font, not even close. It’s absolutely one of the most perfect fonts for books, though!

Troye Font Trio – Clean & Luxury Envato Elements

Who doesn’t love a meticulously pulled together font trio like Troye? It’s got your sans serif fonts for books, plus script and serif styles too! It’s a modern, clean, and distinctive set of the best fonts for book covers for sure! Features upper and lowercase, alternates and ligatures, and multilingual characters, too!

PS Fournier

PS Fournier is centuries in the making. Originally based on the type designs of Pierre Simon Fournier from the eighteenth century, the first version of Fournier was released in 1924 by Monotype. In 2016, Stéphane Elbaz of Typofonderie revisited Parisien Fournier’s work and released a polished, contemporary version for print and web. A transitional serif, PS Fournier balances tradition with humanist character, making it an elegant and versatile font for book design.

Bondie Slab – Condensed Slab Serif Font Envato Elements

Combine Bondie, the condensed slab serif font with something rounded and geometric like Helvetica, and you’ve got two of the best fonts for books you could imagine! Seriously, this is quite the elegant, solid books fonts around!

Baskerville PT

Originally inspired by the work of english type designer John Baskerville, Baskerville PT was created by Dmitry Kirsanov, Arina Alaferdova and published by foundry ParaType. While Baskerville PT can be used for typesetting it has been created with larger display text in mind. Cover titles, chapter headings and author names will all benefit from its darkly dramatic elegance.

Bondie Envato Elements

If you love the idea of Bondie condensed slab serif, check out Bondie’s condensed sans serif! It’s similar to FF Din, but kind of better, really. Pair it up with Georgia fonts for books and you’ll have a combination that’s hard to beat for sure.

Times New Roman

An enduring classic serif that will never go out of style, Times New Roman is literary, authoritative and ultra-legible, making it an excellent all-rounder font for book design. A transitional serif released by Monotype foundry in 1931, created by Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent, the typeface is best known for its use in newspaper design. Today, it endures as a classic and clean typesetting font for books, magazines and eBooks.

BoldenVan – Chubby Children Font Envato Elements

BoldenVan is an incredible comic book font style that would be the best fonts for book covers for kids! It’s rounded corners and chubby boldness brings instant joy, excitement, and you just can’t help but smile in anticipation for what’s next!

ITC Avant Garde Gothic

Based on the typeface created for Avant Garde magazine, ITC Avant Garde Gothic is a sultry Seventies font which would bring vintage flair to book cover designs. Team with contemporary colour schemes to dilute its retro edge or pair with sepia-tinted photography for authentic retro style.

Frisky Puppy Envato Elements

Another amazing comic book font style is found here, in Frisky Puppy. It’s even named like it’s one of the best fonts for book covers with a children’s story! We love the 3D, bubbly effect that you just can’t get anywhere else.

Albra

A fluid, organic serif with high legibility, Albra is a retro-tinted serif font that works beautifully for both display text and typeset pages. A unique alternative to more traditional serif fonts, this is a great font choice for book designers looking for something subtly different.

Shigatsu Envato Elements

This elegant italic font belongs in a calligraphy fonts book PDF because it’s just perfect on so many levels. It’s a classic, luxury serif font with beautiful rounded features that combined with something like Helvetica (which also features a lovely rounded look) would just be absolutely amazing.

Etna Sans Serif Envato Elements

When you’re searching for the perfect fonts for books, one of the best fonts for book covers would be Etna here. It’s bold, sharp, and comes with over 400 glyphs! It was custom made with maximum precision and high aesthetics, and would absolutely highlight the best font for writing a novel, Georgia.

Linotype Centennial

Designed by Adrian Frutiger Linotype Centennial was released in 1986 and celebrates a century since the invention of linotype printing. A celebratory serif that showcases features of classic American type design, this is the cool alternative to traditional serifs like Caslon and Baskerville for typesetting book text.

Gunterhaus – Modern & Transitional Serif Envato Elements

A modern and transitional serif font like Gunterhaus would be another great font for books, because it’s easy to read, clean, and features modern and transitional serifs, italic styles, and extensive multilingual support.

Dominica – Bold Italic Retro Vintage Envato Elements

Oh, Dominica! Your thick, rounded features make you one of the best fonts for book covers we’ve ever seen! Just look at the flow of letters… it belongs in a calligraphy fonts book PDF, don’t you think? It’s a little bit retro, a little bit modern, and a whole lot of beautiful.

Skolar Latin

Looking for a typeface for a non-fiction book? Skolar Latin is direct and factual, with exaggerated, sculptural serifs that make data-focussed text feel more authoritative. Try teaming with infographics or setting image captions in this effective, simple serif.

Breadley Sans Envato Elements

Equipped with 5 levels of thickness, when you’re looking for minimalism in the best fonts for book covers, Breadley Sans is the perfect fit. It’s professional, yet modern and full of character! It’s got multilingual support, too.

Montage Serif Font Envato Elements

Can’t you just see Montage, a delicate serif font, combined with Helvetica for the best fonts for book covers award (were there such an award)? Get free updates on this one, too, and comes in OTF and TTF format.

Quatera Italic – Elegant Classy Serif Italic Envato Elements

We’re not sure why Quatera seems sort of 1970s to us, but it most certainly would be a great additon to your collection of fonts for books, don’t you agree? It’s elegant, timeless, and perfectly italic!

Silk

True to its name, Silk is a fluid, organic serif typeface with a delicate, elegant appearance. Created by Rakel Tómasdóttir, Silk is available in 14 weights, making it a versatile book font for typesetting inside pages or creating beautiful chapter titles. Romantic or historic novels will bring out the best of this elegant typeface.

Looking to Create Your Own Book Designs?

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Fantastic Fonts for Book Covers

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Typography can make or break a book cover design. The extensive variety of typography on covers is mind-boggling – from conservative serifs to charmingly handwritten typefaces. Book cover typography has never looked so good.

If you’ve got a cover to design but need some direction for the typography, let us give you some inspirational suggestions.

1. If you’re designing a cover for a Classic…

Follow the example of the iconic Penguin covers and choose the traditional sans serif typeface Gill Sans. More recent interpretations of the covers by Levente Szabo still use the same typeface, and look just as relevant today:

The revised covers, also published by Penguin, for classic titles such as Moby Dick use Wile, a lovely serif font with a clean, classic look:

These covers, designed by Jessica Hische, reinterpret a very traditional hardback format, and use vintage-style typography for an authentic, ornate look. To mimic this look, try Nexa Rust, a more modernised version of a slab style, or Asterx, for adding a gothic twist to your text:

2. If you’re designing for a Contemporary Fiction title…

For a more serious title, choose Trajan Pro or Adobe Caslon Pro to command attention:

For a design that places the emphasis on simple, elegant typography, you can’t go wrong with ITC New Baskerville. Or try Hebrew Michol for a similar vibe:

For some titles, a simple sans serif can look really effective without being overwhelming. Try FF Nexus Sans for a clean look that will complement just about any cover design:

A romantic or nostalgic fiction cover needs a font with more emotion. If you don’t want to venture into handwritten territory, try adding in italic caps like this cover for Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman, published by Grove Press UK with illustration by Emiliano Ponzi. Adobe Caslon Italic Swash will achieve the same effect:

3. If you’re designing a cover for a Non-Fiction title…

Non-fiction titles tend to be more serious and less fantastical than their fictional counterparts. Try a digital, soviet-inspired typeface like BF Anorak to achieve a similar look to this cover, designed by Jason Ramirez:

For a traditional yet beautiful serif font, try Classical Garamond or Adobe Garamond Pro. Contrasting large-scale text against a pale background can be really high-impact, as demonstrated in this cover design by Cristopher Brian King:

Try Trade Gothic for a serious sans serif style that complements travel and political commentary books best:

For travel books or nostalgic historical titles, a font with a nod to retro design will bring your cover to life. Try K22 Didoni or Cabernet to achieve a similar look to this cover:

Looking to Create Your Own Book Designs?

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The post Fantastic Fonts for Book Covers appeared first on InDesignSkills.

The Most Stylish Children’s Book Designs

admin — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:43:55 +0000

These beautiful children’s picture books showcase publishing design at its most creative and inspiring.

We love the trend for 1960s-inspired illustrations and color palettes. Browse our selection of some of the very best design-forward books for little ones…

**1. Les JO des Animaux by Virginie Morgand**

This charming picture book by French illustrator Virginie Morgand has a distinctively vintage look, making use of mid-century color tones and Bauhaus-style shapes.

The screen-print style of the characterful illustrations lends a gorgeously hand-done style to the book. The simple, retro sans serif polishes off the design to perfection.

Design: Virginie Morgand

**2. The Fox and The Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith**

Published by Penguin Random House, this award-winning book by British illustrator Coralie Bickford-Smith is an incredibly beautiful book, with layouts and typography that match the accompanying illustrations in beauty and quality.

An intelligent and soulful take on the children’s publishing genre, this will surely become a much-loved classic for future generations.

Love Coralie’s work? Discover even more of her vintage-style hardback covers, or delve into some book design inspiration.

Design: Coralie Bickford-Smith

**3. Ábécés könyv by Anna Kövecses**

Cypriot designer Anna Kövecses designed this super-stylish picture book for a personal project. Large-scale typography set in Futura is teamed with color-block graphics which are executed with wit and mid-century charm.

Design: Anna Kövecses

4. Books by Laurent Moreau

Illustrator Laurent Moreau brings his distinctive design style to a series of beautiful children’s books. The artwork is purposefully and skillfully naive, and a consistent color theme is used throughout each book to create a uniform, elegant design.

Learn how to get started with creating your own books in Adobe InDesign.

Design: Laurent Moreau

5. Books by Peter Brown

Peter Brown is a celebrated children’s book author, and for good reason—his books are filled with rich, vivid illustrations which prove difficult to tear your eyes away from.

The muted colors and watercolor finishes used in The Wild Robot and Mr. Tiger Goes Wild prove that children’s books don’t need to be rendered in paintbox brights to attract attention.

Ready to start designing your own book covers? Get started with this paperback cover tutorial.

Design: Peter Brown

Wanting even more design inspiration? Head over to our Inspiration page to find the book cover, business card or packaging design that will inspire your next project.

The post The Most Stylish Children’s Book Designs appeared first on InDesignSkills.

12 Classic Covers Reimagined

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 14:23:49 +0000

Classic novels have timeless appeal, but sometimes publishers want to update their book covers to appeal to contemporary audiences.

These design-forward cover designs for classic stories bring out their themes and characters in completely unique ways…

**1. Anna Bond In Bloom Cover Designs**

Anna Bond, lead designer of Rifle Paper Co, has lended her beautiful illustrative style to these redesigned covers for Puffin.

Bringing a contemporary floral look to much-loved titles including Little Women and Heidi, these covers are brought to life with punchy color combinations and gold metallic foiling.

Looking for more color inspiration for your designs? Discover our pick of the most stunning color combinations here.

Design: Anna Bond, Rifle Paper Co.

2. Manuja Waldia Covers for Pelican Shakespeare

These digital-inspired covers are as modern as you can get. Flat-style line drawings rendered in bold brights highlight the strong symbolism of Shakespeare’s plays.

Replicate the look in your own designs with neon colors layered over stark black backgrounds, and keep your illustrations minimal and sparse.

Design: Manuja Waldia

3. Artist-Designed Covers for Penguin Essentials

The Penguin Essentials series commissions a wide range of very different artists to redesign covers for vintage and modern classics. The aim is to introduce contemporary audiences to classic literary treasures, which may otherwise have been overlooked.

The result is a range of completely unique interpretations of the moods and themes of the novels, some with a pop art twist.

Design: Various Artists for Penguin Essentials

Wanting more? Browse more of our book cover inspiration, or brush up on your book design skills.

The post 12 Classic Covers Reimagined appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Best Fonts for Books: The Only 5 Fonts You’ll Ever Need

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:34:57 +0000

As the saying goes—if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Books are a classic print format and, even with their transition into the eBook world, they still look their best when set in one of the following tried-and-tested typefaces.

We judged the legibility, beauty, simplicity and variety of weights available of a huge range of fonts, and whittled them down to these faithful five. They’ll never let your typesetting down, guaranteed.

1. For Literary Fiction: Baskerville

A ‘transitional’ serif typeface, which borrows from its old-style predecessors (like Caslon, see below), Baskerville brings together the best of two worlds—classic and modern.

Baskerville is unfailingly elegant and intellectual, but also highly readable when set at small size, which makes it the perfect choice for literary fiction.

Find out more about setting your book type at the right size with this helpful guide.

Download Baskerville Font

2. For Romantic Fiction: Sabon

Whether it’s a classic Austen re-print or a contemporary teen romance, you want to find a typeface with femininity and elegance in abundance. Enter Sabon, a 1960s update on Claude Garamond’s design.

This serif is simple and clear, while retaining a definite touch of grown-up romance. You can’t go wrong with setting a romantic epic in Sabon.

Download Sabon Font

Title and headings: Cansu with Envato Elements

The Cansu font family is a clean, plated typeface with a minimalistic feel to it, working wonders when properly kerned and especially in all-caps. The clean and geometric aesthetic, complements Baskerville quite well.

3. For Thrillers and Airport Page-Turners: Garamond

Used across all kinds of can’t-put-down paperbacks, from Dan Brown to Gillian Flynn, Garamond is a versatile, easy-to-digest classic typeface, which has a neutrality and versatility that makes typesetting with it a breeze. Based on the Roman typefaces of Claude Garamond, the updated version of the typeface, Adobe Garamond Pro, offers six weights.

Team with more experimental sans serif chapter headings to add a modern flavour to thrillers and action fiction.

Download Adobe Garamond Pro

4. For Academic Non-Fiction: Caslon

The sight of this typeface may, for some, bring back painful memories of sweating over text books in Double Chem, but you can’t deny that Caslon is the perfect choice for academic non-fiction. Set journals, encyclopaedias, text books and articles in Caslon and its subtle seriousness will convince any reader of its intellectual weight.

Adobe’s update (Adobe Caslon Pro) adds a touch of modernity and improved digital adaptability, without compromising on the charm of the 18th Century original.

Download Adobe Caslon Pro

Title and headings: Modelica with Envato Elements

If you want a catchy headline properly decorating the cover of your book, the Modelica is a gorgeous geometric contrast to the classic and more conservative expression of Sabon.

5. For General Interest: Utopia

For typesetting the newest Richard Dawkins or Jared Diamond, you’ll want a typeface with a broad, approachable appeal. Just as general interest books seek to present factual information or opinion in an accessible format, so your font should strike a balance—not too intellectual, but not too dumbed-down either.

Typesetting devotees will no doubt still turn to a loyal serif for the task, and Utopia strikes the balance perfectly.

Download Utopia

Title and headings: Bison with Envato Elements

Bison is a tall sans-serif typeface that many designers herald as the next Bebas Neue, and would look tremendously well paired with the classic that is Garamond.

Now you’ve got your fonts ready, you can get started with creating a book in InDesign, and work out the perfect font sizes for your design.

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