A display typeface is designed for short, prominent text: headlines, packaging, posters, advertising, title sequences and branding. It should make an immediate visual impression without making the words difficult to read. That sounds obvious. Judging by the number of generic bold sans serifs being passed off as display fonts, apparently it isn’t.
Making a font bigger doesn’t turn it into a display typeface.
What is a display typeface?
A display typeface is designed to work at larger sizes, usually in short bursts of text. Its job is different from a body font, which needs to carry paragraphs without exhausting the reader.
Display type can use:
- Unusual proportions
- Tighter spacing
- Exaggerated terminals
- Distinctive counters
- Strong stroke contrast
- Rough, printed or hand-drawn detail
- Alternative letters and ligatures
These features give headlines a recognisable voice. They also make the font less suitable for body copy. That isn’t a fault. A font doesn’t need to do everything.
A good display face knows exactly what it’s for.
Big and bold isn’t enough
Plenty of perfectly competent sans serifs can be set at 80pt. That doesn’t make them interesting.
A proper display typeface gives a word shape before you’ve consciously read it. The silhouette, spacing and individual letters all contribute. You should be able to spot something distinctive in the headline without needing three paragraphs of marketing copy to explain it.
Weight alone won’t do the job. Neither will adding a distressed texture to an ordinary font and calling it rebellious.
Look closely at:
- The shape of repeated letters
- How narrow combinations fit together
- Whether punctuation belongs with the alphabet
- What happens to counters at smaller sizes
- Whether the character survives without effects
- How the font handles the actual words you need
Test the ugly words too. Every typeface looks convincing when the specimen only shows carefully selected combinations.
Where display type works best
Display fonts work where typography needs to establish the mood quickly.
Headlines and editorial design
A headline needs a clear visual hierarchy. The display face should lead; everything else should support it.
Start with the real headline rather than an alphabet specimen. Check long words, repeated letters, punctuation and awkward combinations. If the font only works with one attractive six-letter word, you haven’t chosen a typeface. You’ve chosen a logo treatment.
Pair expressive display type with a quieter body face. Two fonts fighting for attention rarely improves a layout.
Packaging
Packaging creates problems that don’t appear on a clean monitor.
Type may cross a fold, wrap around a bottle, sit beneath a varnish or print into absorbent stock. Fine details disappear. Tight counters close. Delicate edges become less delicate and more missing.
Print the product name at its real size. Put it on the actual shape if possible. A polished mock-up can disguise weak typography; a production proof usually can’t.
The display face should control the front of the pack. Ingredients, instructions and legal text need something calmer.
Advertising
Advertising typography has to work across multiple formats.
The same idea may appear on a billboard, Instagram post, digital banner, landing page and shop display. A font that looks excellent across a full-width poster might become a dark smudge inside a small mobile advert.
Test the smallest and worst format early. Don’t wait until the campaign has been approved and then discover the headline needs to be rebuilt for half the placements.
My guide to choosing fonts for advertising covers this in more detail.
Entertainment and title design
Film titles, television graphics and entertainment campaigns can take more risks. The type may only appear for a few seconds, but it can establish genre, period and attitude immediately.
That doesn’t remove the need for legibility. It makes timing more important.
Test the title in motion, at different speeds and against changing backgrounds. A beautiful still frame proves very little if the letters disappear during the actual sequence.
Character still needs structure
An expressive font can be rough, narrow, awkward, decorative or deliberately uneven. The underlying letter shapes still need to be recognisable.
Research into typeface legibility shows that recognition depends on features including spacing, stroke structure and letterform complexity—not a simplistic serif-versus-sans rule. Highly embellished forms become harder to decode when the basic skeleton gets lost.
That’s the line to watch. Push the styling hard, but don’t bury the letter beneath it.
When I designed Choose Love, I printed the letters with an ink brayer and kept the dirt, broken edges and natural variation. The font includes alternatives and ligatures so repeated letters don’t look mechanically duplicated.
The mess is genuine. The alphabet beneath it still has to work.
Test the font where people will see it
A display font should be judged in use, not floating in the middle of a specimen page.
Build a simple test sheet containing:
- The real brand or product name
- The longest likely headline
- Repeated letters
- Numbers and punctuation
- Light text on a dark background
- Dark text on a light background
- The smallest planned size
- A narrow mobile layout
- A realistic print example
View it briefly, then look away. What did you notice first? Could you read it? Did it create the intended feeling?
If the font needs shadows, outlines and three layers of Photoshop treatment before it becomes interesting, choose another font.
Retail, modified or bespoke?
Not every project needs a custom typeface. Despite what an ambitious brand presentation may suggest, commissioning an entire family for one poster is excessive.
The right option depends on how widely the font will be used and how much control the brand genuinely needs.
| Option | Best suited to | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Retail font | Campaigns, packaging, posters and contained identities | Other people can license the same design |
| Modified font | Brands needing recognisable letters, alternates or a tailored wordmark | Changes require permission and a suitable licence |
| Bespoke display typeface | Repeated use across major campaigns and brand channels | Requires more time, testing and budget |
| Full custom family | Large organisations using type across teams, languages and platforms | Needs proper management after launch |
A retail font often provides the quickest and most sensible answer. You can test it immediately, license it and start designing.
A modified font works when the overall style fits but a few important characters don’t. Custom alternates, terminals, numerals or ligatures can give the brand something more recognisable without drawing an entire family.
A bespoke display face makes sense when typography carries a large part of the identity and will appear repeatedly across packaging, advertising, digital work or entertainment.
When custom display type is worth paying for
“Make it unique” isn’t a brief. It’s what people say when they haven’t decided what the design needs to communicate.
Custom work becomes worthwhile when there’s a clear problem to solve:
- A retail font feels too closely associated with a competitor
- Important brand letters need their own recognisable treatment
- The type must work across several difficult formats
- The project requires particular languages or characters
- Existing licences don’t cover the intended use
- The brand needs exclusive control over the design
- A campaign style will continue for several years
Custom type should solve a practical or commercial problem. Novelty alone won’t justify the cost.
If the project only needs a distinctive headline for a short campaign, start with a strong retail font. Spend the remaining budget on good art direction. Radical idea, admittedly.
How to brief a display typeface
Begin with the conditions, not a list of adjectives.
“Bold, exciting and distinctive” tells a type designer almost nothing. Most briefs contain those words. Few clients request something timid and instantly forgettable.
A useful brief should explain:
- Where the type will appear
- Who needs to read it
- How quickly it must be understood
- The smallest and largest intended sizes
- Which words or names matter most
- Required languages and characters
- Whether it will appear in motion
- The necessary font formats
- Who needs permission to use it
- Whether exclusivity matters
Include bad examples as well as good ones. Knowing what the brand wants to avoid can save several rounds of polite disappointment.
Read my guide to commissioning a custom typeface before preparing the full brief.
Choosing the right display font
Don’t begin with “Which font do I like?”
Ask:
- What should the headline feel like?
- What needs to be noticed first?
- Where will people see it?
- How small will it become?
- Does it suit the subject?
- Can we license it for every planned use?
- Will we still want to use it next year?
Then test the shortlisted fonts with real content.
The right display typeface won’t rescue weak copy or confused art direction. It will give a strong idea a clearer and more recognisable voice.
That’s enough. It doesn’t need to perform miracles as well.
I create characterful retail fonts and custom typefaces for branding, packaging, advertising and entertainment. If an existing font nearly works, I can modify it. If the project needs something genuinely its own, I can draw it from scratch.
Written by Simon Stratford, type designer and graphic designer. These are my opinions, reached after too little sleep and too much coffee. You can also follow my antics on @itsmesimonok, or leave a comment below. Despite all the opinions, I’m actually quite nice.