Design Trend Report: Sans Serif Ligature Fonts
Traditionally seen mainly in serifs, ligature fonts are now breaking out of their limitations to make sans serifs more readable and give them some decorative touches.
You don’t often associate ligatures with sans serifs, but we’ve increasingly noticed that they’re showing up in all sorts of sans serif fonts, where they’re certainly making an impact. Ligatures use their joining power to combine two or more letters into a single letter, which helps readers with the flow of typography. Traditionally seen mainly in serifs, ligature fonts are now breaking out of their limitations to make sans serifs more readable and give them some decorative touches. The result is a new aesthetic that uses an established technique in a modern way. If you’re looking for a radical way to make your typefaces pop right out from your designs, then look into sans serif ligature fonts in your next design project. Here’s an in-depth walkthrough of this design trend that’s shaking up the world of typography.
What Are Ligatures?
In all your years of reading books, menus, invitations and, more recently, the copy on websites and apps, you’ve likely seen your fair share of ligatures. You’ve probably taken them for granted, but you’ll recognize them when you see them. A special character, a ligature integrates two characters into just one; sometimes, ligatures can even combine three characters into one letter. There are also different kinds of ligatures that serve different purposes:
- Standard ligatures
- Discretionary ligatures
ones are all about practicality: they address the issue of separate characters colliding into each other when put beside each other in a word. Besides being visually unattractive, these colliding characters can also impede legibility and, therefore, readability, to a degree. As a result, there’s great utility in using ligature fonts in design.
- fi
- ffi
- fl
- ff
- ffl
Note how, in each combination, the spaces between the f’s crossbar and terminal are very close to the i’s dot, as well as the l’s ascender and other f’s crossbar. Using standard ligature fonts solves this unattractive collision in a cinch by smoothly combining the parts of these formerly clashing characters. Now, your readers won’t be caught up with the unappealing collision of those characters and can instead concentrate on the meaning of the words. The other part of the equation is something we call a discretionary ligature. These types of ligatures are less about helping to solve a legibility or readability problem and more about ornamentation. In other words, they’re more about form than function. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that they’re useless; far from it. It’s more about using discretionary ligatures–as their name implies–more judiciously and sparingly. You’re free to use these discretionary ligatures as you see fit, but it’s a wise move not to overdo them. As with the aforementioned standard ligature fonts, discretionary ones work best in some specific situations:
- Th
- st
- ct
- ck
- oo
- TT
- LL
And like the standard ligatures, these discretionary ones work better with some fonts than with others.
The “Th†combination at the beginning of a word is likely the most common discretionary ligature that you’ll come across.
Palm Beach, a font by Studio Aurora, contains a number of discretionary ligatures including Th.
Ligatures in “st,†“ct†and “ck†combinations give the font uniqueness and a sense of gracefulness. That’s not to say that the ligatures we spotlighted above are an exhaustive indication of everything that’s possible with these special characters–far from it. These are just some of the more frequent combinations in use, but there are literally dozens of additional combinations that are possible.
The History of Ligature Fonts
These ligatures, whether in the traditional serif variety or in the newer sans serif, actually stem from the practice of using a stylus to write on either paper or clay. A stylus is an ancient writing tool that’s fashioned out of a small rod with a pointed tip. It was ancient businessmen who were looking for a technique to make written communication for efficient who had early success with ligatures. They discovered that joining letters together, along with using abbreviations for lay people, was faster and more convenient for transactions than relying on the traditional, longer forms for the words. Ligatures figure prominently in historical manuscripts and writing systems such as:
- Germanic Migration Period runic inscriptions
- Sumerian cuneiform (ancient Mesopotamian writing system)
- Brahmic abugidas (Southasian and Asian writing systems)
In medieval times, scribes began to realize that using these ligatures could help them save time, write faster, and become all-around more productive. You have to remember that, back then, everything was written by hand and computers were still centuries away from being invented–so it was imperative that scribes found ways to become more efficient at writing!
Abbreviations were very popular in medieval texts; it was common for manuscripts in Old Norse, Old English, and Latin to feature them in droves. Of course, in keeping with the distinction between standard ligature fonts and discretionary ones we still see today, some medieval ligatures were also purely aesthetic in purpose.
When movable-type printing was invented in 1450, the fonts featured a lot of these typographical combinations, simply because they took their inspiration from the handwriting that was already full of ligatures. Including these ligatures in movable type made the overall printing process less complicated, however: Fewer blocks of letters were needed (thanks to the combinations of characters), and more interesting character designs were possible without the collision of letters.
- Early computer software was too basic to allow for these special characters
- Digital typefaces at the time had no use for these characters
Ready for another twist in this saga of typography? In the last two decades–since the start of the 21st century–ligatures have become more prevalent once again. This also helps to explain with these special characters have started to show up even in serifs, when they used to be almost exclusive to sans serifs for centuries. Simply put, an increasing number of typesetting systems today accommodate ligatures. In addition, newer typefaces are being created that feature a lot of ligatures. Some prominent examples include:
- Hoefler Text
- Eaves
- FF Scalia
Yet another reason for the resurgence of these special characters is the support in modern computing for all sorts of alphabets and languages besides English; many of these alphabets and languages use ligatures more extensively than English. Practical results of this development are:
- OpenType (digital typesetting technique for scalable computer fonts)
- More ligature support embedded into the text displays of operating systems like macOS, Microsoft Office, and Windows
Have a look at the typefaces available on your desktop and tablet, and you’ll quickly spot these ligatures within font families in all sorts of places.
A Showcase of Stunning Sans Serif Ligature Fonts
Here’s a closer look at the sans serif fonts that have embraced the newfound popularity of this design trend by incorporating ligatures into their aesthetic.
Sunflora — Unique Ligature Font
This minimalist and elegant sans serif typeface does a couple of interesting things with ligatures, one that’s based on a more traditional use of the special character and another that’s more of a decorative approach.
- Greeting cards
- Invitations
- Websites
- Templates
- Stationery design
- Brochures
- Menus
michael beautiful ligature font
With this “michael†font, we have an example of a more modern and contemporary sans serif typeface that features elegant ligatures. It features a plethora of ligatures, and the digital foundry even invites customers to suggest to them new ligature fonts to add to their already extensive collection.
- Logos
- Branding projects
- Social media covers or posts
- Labels
- Product packaging
- Stationery
- Invites
- Watermarks
- Product designs
- Wedding invitations
- Photography
Due to its well-balanced design, the font also comes with a significant amount of legibility.
Fragile — A Delicate Typeface
A font that boasts its share of mainly discretionary ligatures, Fragile is aptly named, which is what makes it such a delicate contribution to typography. Legible but ethereal, bold but light, Fragile exhibits eye-catching design contrast with its alternatingly thin and thick stems and crossbars.
Palm Beach Ligature Summer Font Duo
This typeface contains more than 200 glyphs, some of which are exquisite special characters. You get more than 50 ligatures that’ll add better readability and flair to your next typography project.
- Signboards
- Quotes (for social media and beyond)
- Book titles
- Stationery design
- Posters
- Menus
- Greeting cards
- Invitations
- Packaging design
Essentially, if it’s a title-design project you’re working on, this typeface won’t let you down.
Classy Marisa — Elegant Typeface
The Classy Marisa Elegant Typeface asset takes understated font design to another level. Its sans serif ligatures make for the most seamless character combinations that help you join letters together for a smoother reading experience.
- Branding
- Clothing design
- Magazine headers
- Logos
- Product packaging
- Text overlays
Charoe Typeface & Extras
Charoe Typeface & Extras is a font asset that has great depth, making it a great choice for the typographer who wants a lot of options in their next design project. With six, unique weights, this font is well-suited to a wide range of design projects. In addition, its unicase design attribute means that you’re able to experiment with both lowercase and uppercase initials.
Chin Up Buttercup! Font Duo & Extras
This font duo features two, distinct fonts: the Cutecaps sans serif font and the Whimsical script. Both fonts feature ligatures, with the former featuring smaller ligatures like “oo†and the latter featuring a generous collection of standard ligatures. Together, these two fonts give designers a host of design possibilities when ideating and executing on a project.
- DIY projects
- Greeting cards
- Wall art
- Posters
- Websites
- Photography
- Image overlays
- Tags
- Scrapbooking
- Window art
- Signage
- Quotes
- Labels
Gilmer — Geometric Sans Serif
Gilmer is a sans serif ligature font that provokes thought in a stimulating way. That’s because a lot of consideration has been invested in its design. It’s a font that’s been inspired by typography heavyweights such as Avant Garde and Futura, making it eminently readable. Then, when you add its standard ligatures to the equation, this font becomes aesthetic and functional at the same time.
- Large x-height values
- Sharp edges
- Geometric shapes
- Very tiny stroke contrasts
Feel free to use this typeface in a host of projects like:
- Magazines
- Websites
- Blogs
- Posters
- Branding
All told, this makes for a take on sans serif ligature fonts that’s modern, attractive and helps you communicate your design messaging in a crystal-clear manner.
Combining Characters for Readability and Design Smoothness
This new design trend is so much more than a passing craze. Drawing on a millennia-old tradition of using special characters to seamlessly join individual letters, ligatures are almost as old as the concept of writing itself. The mere fact that these ligatures were in use almost from the very beginning of many writing systems just tells us how useful and helpful they were to even our early ancestors. That also helps to explain why ligatures have been a writing mainstay for the longest time, although they have ebbed and flowed in popularity over the last several centuries. However, the 21st century has seen a massive resurgence of these special characters, where sans serif ligature fonts are now a hot trend. You can thank computers and their various operating systems for supporting these special characters. If you’re looking for a design element to add both function and aesthetic flourishes to your typography, consider adding some sans serif ligatures to your creative projects.
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Marc is a copywriter and marketer who runs The Glorious Company, a marketing agency. An expert in business and marketing, he helps businesses and companies of all sizes get the most bang for their ad bucks.
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