Picking a serif in 2025

A list, in roughly the order I reach for them, of serif typefaces I trust for client work in 2025. Not exhaustive. Not the most popular. The ones that have actually performed for me on real projects, with real budgets and real reading audiences.

Fraunces by Undercase Type. Variable. Optical sizing. Free. The only typeface on this list I would recommend to a designer who does not yet have a default serif. It does not solve every brief, but the brief it does not solve is rarer than you would expect.

Söhne Schmal, Klim’s narrow sans, paired with their Söhne Breit for display, is not a serif but is the rare sans family I will use as a primary brand face on a project that asks for warmth. Worth knowing if your shortlist of serifs is not landing.

Back to serifs. Newsreader by Production Type. Free, open source, and one of the few public-good projects whose execution actually matches the brief. Genuinely versatile in body text. Reads like a slightly informal Tiempos.

GT Sectra by Grilli Type. The best display serif I have used in the last decade. Expensive. Worth it for the specific kind of project that calls for editorial weight without going full Didone.

Editorial New by Pangram Pangram. Clean, modern, slightly trendy, but the trendiness is fading and the typeface is staying useful. Reasonably priced.

Migra, also Pangram Pangram, for projects that want a stronger contrast and more drama at display sizes. Migra italic is one of the best display italics shipping today. (See the previous post on why I care about this.)

Tiempos Headline by Klim, if the budget exists. Still the cleanest news-editorial serif I have used. Pairs with almost anything.

Recoleta by Latinotype. Has been overused in the last three years to the point of cliché in food and lifestyle branding. Still a good typeface, used carefully, away from those categories.

A few I have stopped recommending, with one-line reasons. Lora, was fine, has aged less well than people realise. Playfair Display, cliché. Caveat and the handwritten serifs, almost always wrong for the brief they are picked for.

If you are starting a project and the budget is small or zero, default to Fraunces. If the budget is larger and the project is editorial, default to GT Sectra or Tiempos. If the project is in the food, hospitality, or wellness category and you find yourself reaching for Recoleta, try Editorial New first.

This is a set of opinions, not a methodology. Yours should be different from mine.