Workhorse Sans Family Under $300? National, Proxima Nova, Neutraface No. 2, ???

RahimSnow's picture

Hi everybody,

I was wondering if you could help me narrow down some choices.


* Company profile: educational/publishing/media company in the religion/spirituality genre - helping people use the wisdom of the world's religions to enhance the quality of their daily lives

* Need a strong forward-looking workhorse sans family for my company, something to use alongside the logo for letterheads, business cards, internal reports, study guides, correspondence, etc. May also need it for the sans on the back cover of books.

* Since I'm going to be publishing various media (books, guides, etc), I also wanted to start building up my own typeface library, so I wanted it to have some longevity, though I am not against making future purchases of new typefaces that make me smile to set some text in them :)

* Keep costs per typeface family under $300, at least until my business gets off the ground.


* National

* Proxima Nova

* Neutraface No. 2

I'm leaning toward Proxima Nova as the overall workhorse, and National when I need something warmer and for longer text.

Already Ruled Out (mostly due to price for now; a few of them I'm just not thrilled about the look)

* Priva Pro, Prelo, Sophisto, Stalemate, Whitney, Vista Sans, Ronnia, Gotham, FF Strada, Flama, Verlag, Lisboa, FF Kievit, FF Legato, Fresco Sans, Mundo Sans, Bliss, Fedra Sans, FF Meta, FF Quadraat Sans, FF Scala Sans, Versa Sans

Any others I should consider that would fit my requirements?

Thank you in advance.


cpalmieri's picture

You may want to look at

Locator or Serevek

I've gotten a lot of use out of Locator, on a variety of client projects over the last 4 years.

Also, I'm really interested (but don't yet own) Orenga:

It would probably work better in a supporting role, but it has some humanist qualities that may work well in the spirituality area.

Stephen Coles's picture

I think your selections are sound. Consider also Agenda, Cronos, Ezzo, Leitura Sans, and in the National category: FF Bau.

RahimSnow's picture

Chris: Locator and Seravek look promising. Orenga definitely has a soft feel.

Stephen: Agenda and FF Bau (very crisp!) are nice. Ezzo and Leitura Sans like to show off their distinctions too much, don't think I can use those as workhorses.

Thank you for your suggestions, gentlemen.


Sharon Van Lieu's picture

I like your choices. I also use Locator quite a bit. And one I often recommend is Apex.

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