The Ten Most Overused Fonts in Graphic Design

You’ve seen them over again. They haunt you when you sleep and when you design. No matter how many times you tell designers not to use these fonts, they still use them anyway. You cringe when someone asks you what you think of their logo design that includes one of these fonts. Here we bring you the ten most overused fonts in design. These fonts tend to be overused and should be avoided like the plague. They are listed in no particular order.

Overused font #1: Times New Roman

Microsoft used Times New Roman as the default for Word, the most popular word processing software, until 2007. Newspapers like to use Times New Roman. It’s commonplace on many websites. The funny thing about Times New Roman is that as much as it’s overused it probably will continue to stay in style for quite some time.

Overused font #2: Arial/Helvetica

Arial on a PC (Helvetica on a Mac) is typically the first choice for designers that are tired of Times New Roman.  The only problem is that after using Arial on everything from publications to websites, it becomes the next victim of overuse. If you’re looking for a new font to use instead of Arial, try using Myriad Pro (a regularly used font by Apple).

Overused font #3: Impact

You’ll find Impact on billboards, posters and logos. It’s bold, but too narrow to be practical.  Despite its drawbacks, it comes preloaded on millions of Windows machines and therefore has quickly become overused. Search for better bold fonts on www.dafont.com or your favorite font website.

Overused font #4: Papyrus

This font looks different than the standard typefaces that most people are used to seeing.  To an amateur designer, this is font has a natural magnetic pull to it. In church environments and Christian circles this font really gets overused. Although it may seem decorative and stylish, avoid the desire to use this terrible font.

Overused font #5: Comic Sans

Think party invitations. Think fun. Think goofy. Comic Sans is commonplace in these areas—worn-out.  This is another font that comes standard on PCs with Windows and unfortunately you find it everywhere.

Overused font #6: Copperplate

Copperplate is often not seen as one of the overused fonts. And it’s true, it doesn’t approach the amount of usage that Times New Roman and Arial do, but it still creeps its way into a lot of designs and logos.  It’s the first choice for people that want an all caps font and because of that, it’s overused. There are many flavors of Copperplate and Copperplate Gothic, avoid them all.

Overused font #7: Bank Gothic

Bank Gothic runs a close second to Copperplate for the most overused all-capital-letter font.  In fact the two fonts are fairly similar which is why they are over saturated in designs.

Overused font #8: Garamond

Most will agree that Garamond is a better choice than Arial and Times New Roman. And it’s slightly less used than those two fonts. Garamond finds its home on a lot of websites and designs.

Overused font #9: Brush Script

Sports, particularly baseball, like to use Brush Script.  It tends to be the first choice for script fonts and therefore has been considered exhausted for some time.

Overused font #10: Courier

Courier is another font that will probably always exist and be in use, but still makes the top ten overused list.  Courier is unique to our top ten list because it’s the only font that has fixed width letters. The letter i takes up as much horizontal space as the letters “c” and “o”. This was one of the early fonts used in DOS and other command based operating systems.

Additional Overused Fonts: Bauhaus, Bazooka

Next time you see someone use one of these overused fonts, just send them the URL of this web page and then they’ll know not to use that font again. If you have other fonts that you think should make the list of most overused fonts, then post a comment below.

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