Best Humanist Fonts in Canva

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Great graphic design is powered by great font selection. But picking great fonts is a challenge for most people. Luckily, Canva has made adding great fonts to your designs much easier. In this tutorial, our team of design experts will cover the best humanist fonts in Canva.

What are Humanist Fonts?

Humanist fonts are a subcategory of serif and sans serif typefaces that are influenced by the proportion and style of classical Roman Capital letters. Here are some characteristics that define humanist fonts:

1. Proportions: Humanist fonts are characterized by proportions similar to traditional Roman letterforms. This is seen in the presence of a clear distinction between thick and thin strokes, and the wider, more rectangular shapes.
2. Serifs: In serif humanist fonts, the serifs are typically small and semi-structural, creating a strong vertical stress. They are inspired by the brush strokes used in hand-written manuscripts.
3. Open Apertures: Humanist fonts often feature open apertures, or the spaces within the letterforms, such as the small enclosed spaces in ‘e’ or ‘a’, giving them a more open and welcoming feel.
4. Variation in Stroke Weight: These fonts often exhibit strong variations in stroke weight, mirroring the variability that would result from the use of a quill or brush.
5. Double-Storey ‘a’ and ‘g’: Much like the grotesque fonts, humanist fonts usually have a two-storey design for lower-case ‘a’ and ‘g’, echoing the handwriting practices of the scribes.
6. Oblique Stress: In the curved strokes of round letters like ‘o’, the thinnest points are often oblique (diagonal), similar to the angle a pen would take in hand-written script.
7. Ascenders and Descenders: The ascenders (parts of a lowercase letter that rise above the main body, such as ‘b’ or ‘d’) and descenders (parts that fall below, like ‘p’ or ‘g’) in humanist fonts tend to be quite long.
8. Italics: The italic versions of humanist fonts are often more calligraphic and lively, reflecting the fluidity of hand-writing.

Best Canva Humanist Fonts

1. Garamond

Garamond is a classic humanist font known for its graceful and legible design. It has a timeless quality and several variations, such as Adobe Garamond and EB Garamond.

2. Centaur

Centaur is a classic humanist serif font known for its grace and legibility. It was designed by Bruce Rogers.

3. Optima

Optima is a humanist sans-serif font with an elegant and slightly calligraphic touch. It was designed by Hermann Zapf.

4. Merriweather

Merriweather is a contemporary humanist serif font designed for web readability, combining traditional design with modern needs.

5. Sabon

6. Avenir

Avenir is a humanist sans-serif font created by Adrian Frutiger, characterized by its clean and geometric design.

7. Libre Baskerville

Baskerville is a transitional serif font with humanist elements, known for its refined and elegant appearance.

8. Aleygreya Sans Bold

Alegreya Sans Bold is a bold humanist serif font designed for both body text and display use, known for its versatility and classical beauty.

9. Aleo

Aleo is a humanist serif font family inspired by classical literature and designed for modern legibility.

10. Droid Serif

Droid Serif is a humanist serif font designed for on-screen readability and web content.

Conclusion

I hope you found this guide covering the best humanist fonts in Canva, useful! Be sure to check out our blog for more article covering the essential tips, tricks, and advice for Canva! Also, if you haven’t already tried CanvaPro, you can try it for free for 30 days!