9 Great fonts for architects

Quite often, architects need to choose the right font for the occasion. Which occasion? Well, there are many. We need a font for our websites, portfolios. We need to choose the right font for wayfinding, right font for the name of the building. And do not forget about the font for client presentations!

See? All of these are very different and call for a variety of fonts we need to have in our sleeves. Choice of a font can often make or break the project or presentation and the right choice can contribute significantly to the engagement of our partners.

Therefore I decided to create a list of my go-to fonts for various occasions. But let’s cover some basics first, so typographers and other know-it-alls can skip the next few paragraphs.

What is font and typeface?

A typeface is the most general typographical unit. One typeface might include several fonts based on the same visuals.

For example, the typeface “Futura” may include the fonts “Futura light”, “Futura italic”, “Futura bold” and “Futura extended”, however, the term “font” might be applied either to one of these on their own or to the Futura font as a whole. Nowadays, with most of the fonts used in digital environment, we most often use the term “font” and no longer differentiate between the “font” and “typeface”

Thus, by definition, font is an assortment of characters of one visual style.

Serif vs. sans-serif

Two main categories of fonts are serif and sans serif fonts. The difference between them is pretty easy to spot. Serifs are these small decorative strokes at the end of letters stem. I marked them for you on the picture below.

Thus, serif font has serifs and sans serif fonts do not – pretty straightforward, right?

I am not planning to bother you with history. The only important thing is what message these two types convey.

Serif fonts say; traditional, established and trustworthy.

Sans serif fonts say; modern, clean and relatable.

With this lecture out of the way, let’s take a look at what can we use to improve our presentations.

Presentation fonts

First four fonts, 3 sans serif and 1 serif, are meant for your presentations, booklets and boards. Fonts for main bodies of text. Those fonts are legible, accesible and they won’t offend design-savvy individuals.

Roboto is the font developed by Google. If you choose this one, you are not really doing anything exciting, but at the same time, you are safe from any missteps. So, if you are pressed for time and cannot afford to ponder what font could be the best, Roboto is a go-to safe haven.

Futura was created in the 1920s by Paul Renner. This font is really classy. Inspired by Bauhaus, it uses straight lines and curves to provide balance in the text. I love to use this specific font Futura Light Condensed because it creates awesomely dense blocks of text, which look great on presentation boards or booklets. This font is often used for visual identity in corporate buildings.

Helvetica is used by the majority of architects, even without advanced knowledge of graphic design intuitively due to its minimalism and straight lines. It was designed in the twentieth century, by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, it is strongly associated with modern graphic design, due to its set of lines and layout.

Garamond should be your choice if you are looking for a serious serif font for booklets and presentation. It was favourite font of the last architectural office I worked at and I used it for every booklet we did. This font is legible and works great when used as a block of text. Also, serifs are usually considered easier to read when text is longer, since serifs guide the eye along the lines. Therefore if your presentation contain longer texts, Garamond is font for you.

Handwritten fonts

Some quirkier eccentric architects like to pretend that we are still often found hunched over the drafting board. If you want to evoke this era, here are 3 fonts to consider.

Architect is font used by the one and only Bob Borson from Life of an Architect. This font evokes the time when architects needed to write by hand and annotate all the drawings legibly. If you would tell me this font looks great on technical drawings, plans, elevations, I would not believe you. But it does! It looks great, readable and form a nice counterpoint to the strict lines of construction plans.

Architext is a handwritten font, quite similar to Architect, yet a bit quirkier. If you feel brave, try this one.

Suntype is a font based on my own handwriting, or, to be more precise, on my handwriting when I am trying to make it legible. I created it for some of my artworks in 2018 and if you feel like playing with it, here will be the download link.

2Peas Architect is a delicate font with capital letters only. If you want to appear light and easily approachable, choose this one.

Special fonts

Last 2 fonts do not really fit into any of the big categories, yet I needed to show them nonetheless.

ISOCPEUR was introduced to me in 2018 by my dear friend and great architect from Belgium, Mona De Graeve De Schryver. And since her name sounds like royalty, she has excelent taste both in Architecture and Typography as well. Since that time, ISOCPEUR is my favourite font and I use it for 80% of my typographical needs. It works great for headlines and bodies of text alike. It is a bit eccentric to prepare the reader for your creative side, but not crazy enough to put them off.

Stencil and Gunplay are great fonts for wayfinding. They can be cut out of plates or stamped into a solid material

So these were my favourites, however there are thousands of fonts that look great and are worth using. My advice would be to spend some time and pick your favourites which you are going to use for your presentations.

-Headlines

-Bodies of text

If a font relates to project and will be physically manifested on a building or as wayfinding, take some time to pick a specific font that suits the project well.

And how about you? Which font do you use the most?