Fonts, fonts everywhere but not a font to choose…
Have you ever faced the frustration of choosing a good font for your presentation or other design? You pick one font after next from the drop-down list and with each there is a mild to extreme “Nay!”. There might be over 100 fonts available in your default Fonts menu but not one seems the perfect fit for the content. In the end, you go for the safe Arial, Helvetica or Times New Roman. Many designers go through this font trial and only a few get the result they hoped for.
Why so much fuss over the typeface? Because you know very well a font can bring your design to life. A beautiful, impressive font can make even an otherwise blank and colorless canvas look powerful and worth reading.
You might have heard of free custom fonts flooding the internet. Beautiful calligraphic, artistic fonts are just a click away. But the problem with them is they are not suitable for serious, business presentations. You need a no-nonsense font like Helvetica but with more personality. Good news! There are business fonts designed just for your needs and we have extracted the best for you. See our favorite free business fonts collection and add the ones you like to your Font library.
P.S. If you are using custom fonts in your presentation or other design, do save them as an image. It might not be available on the viewers’ system and open up in a totally different, awkward font. But you probably knew this already!
15 Unique, Custom Business Fonts to Download Today:
#1. The Bold Font
Category: Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal & Commercial Use
Author- Pindarots
Want to make a bold statement with your headings? Then, The Bold Font is the one for you. With its thick lines and geometric shapes, it is loud yet legible, powerful yet stylish. Check the way alphabet “B” has been designed- the upper half is smaller as compared to lower. This uneven formation breaks the rigidity and yet maintains its corporate look. The font, available in uppercase only, is great for the headings in your Title Slides and Section Header slides in a presentation. It can also be utilized in marketing collaterals like posters and brochures.
Here’s a presentation cover slide that makes a powerful statement with The Bold Font:
#2. Bebas Neue
Category- Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal & Commercial Use
Author- Ryoichi
Bebas Neue is a font every designer loves. An elegant, clean and crisp font that combines grace with legibility. This condensed font adds sophistication to your design. Designed to say a lot in little space, the font is great for any business presentation or paper. You can use this font eyes closed for any corporate presentation and it will look the perfect fit. It is available in uppercase only. Do notice the flourish in the end of the alphabet “R” which adds style to the sober font.
Here’s the font in action in presentation Title slide:
#3. Viafont
Category- Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal & Commercial Use
Author- JLH Fonts
This geometric, sans serif font has an “A” worth dying for! The thick, bold font can hardly go unnoticed but the alphabet “A” steals the show. The steep slope of the leg of “R” and uneven thickness of the lines give it a seductive look. Available in uppercase only which makes it ideal for headings. If you want to use Viafont to make a statement, use it for highlighting one or two words at the most. If you it for too many words, the design would become too heavy.
For example, I used it to make the word “Brand” actually look branded but used Bebas Neue for the sub-heading. Font combination further enhances the look of the design. A general rule while combining fonts is not to use more than 2 or 3 fonts (ideal being 2).
#4. Kirvy
Category- Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal & Commercial Use
Author- Youssef Habchi
Now, here is a font which offers more flexibility. Kirvy is a simple, non-serif font family comprising 4 weights- thin, light, regular and bold. The thinness of this font and contemporary style makes it look chic. I especially love the font in lowercase. In uppercase, the font looks elegant and sophisticated. It is not screaming for attention which makes it ideal for any business that wants to show it is confident and high-end.
Available in both lowercase and uppercase, the font can be used for both headings and body text.
#5. Optimus Princeps
Category- Serif
License- Free for Personal & Commercial Use
Author- Manfred Klein
Optimus Princeps means “the best ruler”. No wonder, the designer used these words for this royal font. It looks majestic, in every flourish, every curve and straight edge. The ragged boundaries of the alphabet “O” and the flourish of the leg of “R” makes the font appear designed using a quill while the sharp edges and straight lines make it appear designed using a scale. Serif fonts carry an old, academic look to them and Optimus Princeps looks “Lord of the Serif fonts”.
It looks timeless and so apt for any business presentation that involves research, books, studies and journals:
#6. Afton James
Category- Serif
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Cumberland Fontworks
Everybody loves a thriller. I find Afton James font a thrilling font. The eroded edges give it a mysterious, old look, something that I would probably see on a thriller novel cover. Does it have any corporate importance? Why not? If you are talking about a legendary business character or some event which will join the pages of history, James Afton will be a good fit. Being available in uppercase only, you can use it for display headings.
Here is the font evoking a little fear:
#7. Above
Category- Fancy
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Herofonts
Want to lend a creative, stylish effect to your content? Above Font is a classy decorative font that has a certain “free” personality to it. It is light and the flourishing strokes on the edges give it a unique look and feel. However, the drawback of creative fonts is that if used abundantly, they backfire as they are not easy to read and may look cluttered. Used sparsely, it creates a powerful effect. If there is a word or two- say name of a new product, new event or the most important word in a quote, highlight the same with this font like we did in the slide below:
#8. Tellural
Category- Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Nymphont
If you want a font that is a little less rigid and serious, go for the casual Tellural font. This sans-serif font is available in both uppercase and lowercase. The uppercase though appears quite ordinary. It is the font in lowercase that makes it a bit unique. It appears as if a painter was asked to paint the store board name in a simple, regular font. Use this font if you want to make your design more personal and home-made. Here’s the font in action:
#9. April Fools’ Day
Category- Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Junkohanhero
This font for me is like the eroded version of Bebas Neue. Why this font was given the name April Fools’ Day, I have no freaking idea. This sans-serif font appears to do anything but fooling around. The threads and dots that appear to be coming out of edges of alphabets makes it look ethereal. Personally, I am a fan of this font and often use it for any random business presentation to give a creative touch to the heading like I did for this slide:
#10. Ghostlight
Category- Slab Serif
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Jérémie Dupuis
Ghostlight is a beautiful, powerful font. This is the note from the author- “Ghostlight is a slab serif family designed with important inspiration from the classic typefaces Clarendon and Egizio. It has 5 weights and a beautiful italic, which makes it a great choice for both display and text contexts.” There is also a theatrical personality to the font. Considering that ghostlight is a light in the centre of the stage that keeps the ghosts away from haunting the building! The font is perfect for any business topic that has been important since decades and will be in future to come too.
#11. Moon
Category- Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Jack Harvatt
You can’t help but love the Moon font. The name itself has such romanticism to it. But it is not a romantic font. It is a sober, rounded font that looks professional yet not rigidly boring. Every font has a personality- Moon by virtue of its roundness does not appear to be imposing authority which makes it endearing. I personally love to use this font in any presentation where I prefer elegance and minimalism over screaming attention. Available in uppercase only, it is great for display purposes.
#12. Capture It
Category- Fancy
License- Free for Personal & Commercial Use
Author- Magique Fonts
I have used this powerful, mysterious eroded font in many of my designs and every time I am asked by readers the name of the font used. It’s Capture It. A thriller novel cover or even a horror movie poster would evoke the right feels with this font. But that does not mean it is reserved for that purpose only. If you are talking about business targets, risk and challenges, or any concept which would look better with a rough touch, go for this font.
#13. Sugar & Vinegar
Category- Fancy
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Levi Szekeres
Sugar, yes please! Not all business presentations are as serious as a quarterly sales review. You can be from the travel industry, music industry, food industry and your presentations have to be business oriented but still have the flavor of your industry. Arial and Times New Roman would be a disaster in cover slide design. Sugar & Vinegar brings the personal handmade touch to the design.
The note from the author says it all, “Sugar & Vinegar is an old-fashioned font, with a "handmade" warm touch, avoiding geometric shapes and sharp corners, created with a fluid, personal and expressive line, not relying on grids or very strict guidelines. To conclude, my intention was to create a happy font with a hint to classics and styles that illustrates La Belle Époque.” Every alphabet is worth ogling at!
#14. Gist Upright Extrabold
Category- Slab Serif
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Ryan Martinson
If you want a retro font with a contemporary touch to add style to your presentation, go for the Gist Upright font. The line layers in the inline area makes the font stand out. Sharp edges in the uppercase setting further add personality to the font. Use it in designing your business posters and infographics to make a stylish statement.
#15. Enso
Category- Sans Serif
License- Free for Personal Use Only
Author- Tomtor
What I love about the Enso font is the incomplete formation in all alphabets that has a circular element. This gives it a unique and contemporary look that is sure to grab reader’s attention. The brain instantly notices the missing space in the “o” and this deliberate design makes the alphabet resemble a pie chart (doughnut to be more accurate).
These were just 15 simple and elegant fonts that you can use in business PowerPoint presentations, marketing collaterals and other designs. We will share more creative fonts in the coming posts for designing quotes, social media promotion posts, and informal entertaining design materials.
Of course, if you use any of these custom fonts in your design, you’ll have to do the extra hard work of saving each heading as an image. A simple, quick way to do this is to press Ctrl+X (Cut), then Ctrl+V (Paste), and in Picture Options, choose the Picture Option (see the screenshot). This takes just a minute:
Which font did you like the most? Is there any custom business font that you love to use but is not in this list? Share with us your font love in the comments below.
Thank you very much for this extremely useful blog and fonts that would very useful.