Modern Yearbook Design: Five Fonts to Avoid, and What to Replace Them With

When your goal is to introduce a more modern look and feel into this year’s publication, the fonts you choose can make a huge difference. As your yearbook design evolves, there are some font choices you’ll want to shy away from. While classic options are well-suited to our everyday documents, making use of some more contemporary offerings can take the overall look and feel of your book to a whole new level. Below, I’ll show you some of the fonts you should avoid and suggest some awesome replacements that you’ll adore! Best of all, all of these suggested fonts have already been gathered for your publication in Treering’s program!

Comic Sans

Over the years, I’ve grown to cherish comic sans as a fun, kid-friendly way to communicate with students. But because it’s been in use for so long, it’s become a little outdated. While still applicable for the classroom, Amarelinha can be the perfect replacement for a yearbook font. It evokes a similar feeling, with a slightly modern edge. Also, it’s a lovely fit for the headlines in your yearbook design!

Zapfino

One of the first fancy fonts to hit the market, Zapfino has always been one of my go-to choices. The only drawback is that it’s a very tall font, and it doesn’t maximize the space within the pages of your book very well. Instead, try Tangerine for an elegant, condensed font option. You’ll love the curvature of the letters, and that it’s really easy to read. This is a fabulous headline font to pair with a modern sans-serif option, like Open Sans or Myriad.

Times New Roman

A solid selection for readability in letters and documents, Times New Roman can be a little boring for a fabulous publication like your yearbook. Instead, try Arvo. This unique font adds a contemporary vibe to your yearbook design, without losing the readability you love with Times. I love how the bold typeface really grabs your attention!

times1

Arial

Another classic that I still use regularly in my emails and presentations, Arial is a great sans-serif font for daily use. To add a more modern twist to your yearbook design, try replacing it with Caviar Dreams. The spacing between the letters, also known as kerning, is just slightly bigger, while the letters are just a bit more interesting; this is the perfect choice for captions and copy. The thin lines offer a contemporary vibe, but it’s still an easy-to-read option that’s awesome for your main copy.

arial1

Papyrus

One of the only fonts on this list you may not be quite as familiar with, Papyrus is a fun font that evokes a statuesque, old-world feel. It’s been extensively used and re-used over the years, and now has a sort of bland and expected look and feel. For something that still offers a non-traditional texture for your yearbook design, try Impossibilium. It’s a little more bold, plus it doesn’t eat up as much real estate on the page.

papyrus

Modern Fonts for the Best Yearbook Design

Traditional font choices are perfect for the documents you create every day, but they don’t offer as much flair for your yearbook design. Replacing the tried and true versions of the visual text you love incorporates something unique and different into the pages of your publication; this infuses contemporary style into your content and allows the emotion behind your hard work to shine through. Plus, it’s fun to add something a little unexpected to your book because it allows you to build a more creative end product. So get down to the details and start testing out some of these fantastic options — I know you’re going to love them!

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