Posters can make or break your marketing campaigns. While a well-designed poster effectively conveys your message, bad graphics fail to attract your audience’s attention.
To make your campaigns successful, you must design your posters with care. One factor in designing them correctly is the use of elements which include the font choice.
Your font should not only be visually compelling but also communicate the theme, purpose, and message of your campaign. If you use Canva, some of the best fonts you can use include Futura, Playfair Display, Lato, Nunito, Merriweather, and Aleo.
In this article, I’ll talk more about these fonts, noting their peculiarities and how best to use them when designing your poster. It also doesn’t matter if you’re not on a Canva-paid plan as all of these fonts are available for free.
So, make sure you read to the end.
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Best Canva Fonts For Poster Designs
1. Pacifico
Pacifico is one of the few fonts that comes with a relaxed and beachy vibe. However, knowing that the creator, Vernon Adams, was inspired by the old-fashioned surf culture in America from the 1950s explains this overall appearance.
It was released in 2011 and has so far become one of the most-used fonts for posters with a casual, fun, and nostalgic theme.
The letters appear hard-written but fancy with loops and swirls that make them dance on paper, creating a unique and distinct vibe. These characteristics give the font a sense of warmth and friendliness.
So, if you’re working on a poster for events like beach parties, summer camp, or kids’ hangouts, Pacifico is an excellent choice. You should use it in areas like the poster title, headline, or other prominent text elements so it easily catches the eye.
To complement the font and ensure text readability, you can use any sans-serif or serif font like Arial, Helvetica, Futura, and Proxima Nova for the body text.
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2. Merriweather
Merriweather is a simple font designed by Eben Sorkin in 2010. Since Google wanted something that looked classic but also modern, Sorkin drew inspiration from the traditional serif fonts but also went ahead to include modern design elements.
This resulted in having a font that’s super pleasant to read even in the smallest size. Since it’s a serif font, you’ll notice small lines at the end of the letters, adding to its timelessness and elegance.
In addition to that, the letters are slightly condensed with subtle geometric shapes. The font comes in different weights and styles, so you have more flexibility when creating your poster.
If you’re going for a simple design, this is the best font to use. It will work well on educational or formal posters like the ones for events, schools, or projects.
The letters are spread out and make it easy for your audience to read the content of the design on the go. To get a very nice contrast, you can complement it with any sans-serif font.
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3. Futura
Futura is a charming font that has stood the test of time. Created by a German-type designer named Paul Renner in the 1920s, this font served as a good reflection of the modernist movement in the early 20th century.
Like Helvetica, you can’t look past the flexibility and modernity it embodies. The letters appear in simple shapes and are evenly spaced out, making it look neat and pleasant to the eye.
You’ll also notice that while most letters carry the same width, some like ‘a’ are a bit different. All these characteristics make Futura sleek and unique.
No wonder people in the entertainment industry fell in love with it. For instance, Stanley Kubrick is known for using the font in the posters and titles of his films like Eyes Wide Shut and 2001: A Space Oddesy.
It’s a great font if you want your poster headline to stand out. Additionally, it’s super flexible considering that it comes in different variations. You can use the condensed or bold versions for your headlines and the regular style for the body text.
Overall, for posters in fields like technology and fashion where a stylish and futuristic appearance is desired, don’t hesitate to use this font.
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4. Source Sans Pro
Source Sans Pro font goes well with simple posters. The letters are clean with no extra design or little lines, making them more streamlined and classic.
Interestingly, the font gives your work a sense of confidence and authority especially if you use it in capital letters. The popular saying that “There’s elegance in simplicity,” has never felt truer.
The font’s clean appearance makes it look graceful and easy to read. It doesn’t matter if you use it at the bottom of your poster, it will still be legible.
The designer, Paul D. Hunt, was highly inspired by the traditional American Gothic typefaces and decided to make one as part of Adobe’s open-source typeface project. It was released in 2012 and since then a lot of designers have relied on it for their educational posters and promotional materials.
The font is also designed to be readable on-screen, so it’s a great choice for all your social media posters.
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5. Playfair Display
Playfair Display is the perfect font if you want to instantly draw your audience’s eye to your poster title or headline. Aside from the immediate attention, it makes your design look elegant and classic.
Since it’s a serif font, you’ll find small lines like graceful curves at the end of the letters. There’s also a clear visual contrast between the thick and thin strokes. All these make it visually attractive and readable too.
Created by Danish type designer Claus Eggers, this font was highly influenced by John Baskerville, a popular designer from the 18th century. A lot of people know him for designing elegant and refined serif fonts.
Posters for sophisticated events like weddings, galas, and art exhibitions will work well with the Playfair Display font. You can also use it for designs that embody historical themes or have a vintage feel.
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6. Roboto Slab
Roboto Slab doesn’t pick sides when it comes to using it either for titles or body text. The font works both ways and will make your design classic and elegant.
At first look, you’ll notice that the letters are clear, well-defined, and balanced. One could easily argue that this mechanical style makes it super easy to read.
Even with this formal appearance, there’s also the friendly side to Roboto Slab font. This interesting balance adds to its versatility and flexibility.
It means you can use it for both professional and informal posters. Whether you’re organizing a product launch or printing educational materials, this font communicates the themes well.
Another interesting fact about Roboto Slab is that the letters have a natural width. The font doesn’t force letters to fit into a strict pattern. This laid-back style makes reading feel more natural and easy.
Finally, Roboto Slab is the brainchild of Christian Robertson and was released under Google font in 2012.
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7. Lato
Lato is one of those fonts that doesn’t follow a trend or pattern. When Lukasz was designing the font, he had two goals in mind.
First, he wanted the font to be clear and easy to read when you use regular text. However, he didn’t want it to look basic. He still desired to have some unique traits that would stand out in the font when you use the condensed or bold versions.
It’s such a hard one to pull off but he eventually did it. He used traditional proportions in the uppercase letters to differentiate them and make them look elegant.
Again, since Lato is a sans-serif font, you won’t see any small lines or curves at the end of the letters. It’s simple, clean, and modern – the best choice for educational, business, and health posters.
Even with its professional look, the font also has a friendly and approachable vibe. You can sense that from its rounded letterforms. A lot of lifestyle and travel brands also use it in designing their posters.
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8. Nunito
If the theme of your poster centers on community and inclusivity, then this is the right font to use. One feature that stands out with Nunito font is its rounded edges and uniform stroke width.
While the edges give it a soft and friendly vibe, the strokes create a consistent and harmonious look. Additionally, the font is highly readable no matter the text size.
You can use it for titles and body text, especially if you’re working on a poster with a playful appeal.
For instance, if you’re creating posters for community events like fundraisers, volunteer drives, and other neighborhood gatherings, Nunito’s friendly appearance already communicates a sense of community spirit.
It also works best for wellness and lifestyle posters to convey a sense of calm and relaxation to your target audience. Additionally, its contemporary look is great for posters promoting artistic events like exhibitions and workshops.
The font was created by Vernon Adams and released in 2011.
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9. Raleway
This font is usually used when you want to give your poster a modern and stylish touch. You’ll notice this from its clean lines and sharp edges.
A lot of posters promoting artistic and cultural events use this font to achieve a contemporary and sophisticated aesthetic for the event. The same goes for fashion-related posters like the ones announcing fashion shows and boutique openings.
The Raleway font comes in different variations. Some letters have thicker lines than others, making them more stylish and flexible.
Most of all, your target audience won’t strain their eyes when reading the content of your posters. The letters are super legible and polished.
This explains why corporations use it in creating posters for business conferences and seminars where clean and modern typography is preferred. It is safe to say that the Raleway font is used across industries.
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10. Oswald
Oswald is the kind of font that says, “Hey, look here!” This is evident from its thick and prominent letterforms. It’s not surprising that it comes only in one weight, which is bold.
If you want to make a statement with your poster titles or headlines, this is an excellent choice. The font also has straight lines and sharp angles which makes it appear modern and geometric.
Aside from that, the spacing between the letterforms is quite consistent, giving it a balanced and uniform appearance. It’s quite fascinating that the height of its lowercase letters is relatively tall compared to other fonts.
This feature makes it stand out more and adds to its commanding presence. The Oswald font works on all kinds of event posters, including festivals, conferences, or carnivals.
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11. Bebas Neue
Bebas Neue is another font known for grabbing attention like the speed of light. It was designed by Ryoichi Tsunekawa and is best-suited for poster titles and headlines.
One of the features that add to its commanding presence is the bold and uppercase letterforms. There are no other variations.
Additionally, the letters have straight lines and sharp corners, giving it a subtle minimalist appearance. You also can’t look past the font’s uniform letter width and how they are relatively tall and narrow.
All these contribute to its bold and impactful presence. It’s the best font choice for posters with urban or edgy themes like music concerts, street festivals, and fashion events.
Because of its cohesive look, it works well for event branding. Whether it’s a product launch or an exhibition, Bebas Neue can be used to create unified branding across different poster designs.
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12. Cabin
The Cabin font is suitable for any kind of poster design especially ones with a casual and approachable tone. Its rounded edges and gentle curves give it a friendly and warm appearance.
Interestingly, the font was highly inspired by classic typefaces like those by Edward Johnston and Eric Gill. However, there’s a perfect blend of traditional design elements and modernism, which makes it unique.
You’ll also notice that the font has clean lines and balanced proportions. The letter strokes are mostly consistent in thickness but have slight thinning at the top and button curves.
This balance makes it neat and legible to the eyes. Aside from that, the letterforms are well-spaced, so your audience can easily read your poster’s content.
Finally, the Cabin font comes in two variations – regular and true italic. However, there are also different weights to explore from regular to bold, and widths from normal to condensed.
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13. Aleo
Aleo was first created to complement the Lato font designed by Lukasz Dziedzic. As a slab serif font, it comes with bold lines at the end of the letters.
However, despite these traditional serif characteristics, it also embodies contemporary design elements, making it classical and elegant. Its semi-rounded details contribute to its sleek appearance.
Even with this distinct style, the Aleo font remains easy to read in intricate poster designs. You should use it if you’re working on sophisticated events like galas, fundraisers, and fashion shows.
Its elegance also makes it a suitable choice for weddings and special occasions like engagements and anniversary dinners. Finally, the font has three distinct weights which include light, regular, and bold. All of them have corresponding true italics.
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14. Monoton
If you want your poster to stand out in a crowded area, the Monoton font is an excellent choice. It’s a multi-line font specially designed to be visually appealing and distinct.
Aside from that, its retro style and condensed letterforms contribute to giving it a vintage and nostalgic vibe. The font takes you back in time and evokes a sense of nostalgia.
Ultimately, if you want to capture a vintage aesthetic or evoke a past era, you should use this font for your poster layouts. Its unconventional style is enough to stop people in their tracks to take a second look.
You should use it when designing posters for vintage-themed events like retro parties, classic car shows, music gigs, film screenings of classic movies, and nostalgic tribute events. However, note that the font’s best legibility size is above 30 points.
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Conclusion
Besides these, there are a lot of unique fonts on Canva that can be used for your poster designs. I made sure to pick the ones that are available on the free plan, so you don’t have to pay a penny to access them.
Remember to consider the overall feel and theme of your poster when choosing fonts. I suggest experimenting with different combinations until you find the one that best suits your design.
One final tip is to always pick a font that is legible enough. If others can’t make out the text, your efforts are in vain.
