Extra Light, Ultra Thin Fonts: Hairline Type Lends Elegance to the Page

  • Handpicked Typefaces
Handpicked Typefaces
| Stephen Coles | August 27, 2007

FF Meta Light with PMN Caecilia in Real Simple magazine.

Just as there is often a need for extra heavy type, the delicate stuff on the light end of the spectrum has its place as well. Here, we gather the typefaces in FontShop’s catalog with the thinnest of weights. See the Fine Lines newsletter for a closer look at some of our favorites.

FF Meta Hairline

Extra Light Sans Serifs

Sans serif families sometimes include a “Hairline” or “Thin” font meant for large sizes. The following are those sans typefaces with a weight thinner than “Light”.

Bodoni Egyptian Thin

Extra Light Slab Serifs

Ultra thin headline and novelty typefaces.

FF QType Extra Light
Missionary

Extra Light Display Faces

Ultra thin headline and novelty typefaces.

Novia

Extra Light Scripts

Ultra thin script typefaces.

UPDATE

Novia

Extra Light Serifs

There aren’t many book serifs that are as ultra light overall as those in the slab and sans categories. Display versions of text serifs are generally high contrast, so there is usually a mid-to-heavy part of the stroke. Nevertheless, it can be useful to have a list of serif fonts that are very light in color.

Update May 2, 2008 — Several new fonts added.

ShareThis

1 Comment:

Hey, nice list, but you’re missing Stag Thin by Christian Schwartz. It’s a really interesting slab. Plus Stag Sans Thin is a really nice sans. Cheers.

Posted by Simon Robertson on Sep. 13, 2008

Post a comment:

The FontFeed

The FontFeed is a daily dispatch of recommended fonts, typography techniques, and inspirational examples of digital type at work in the real world. Eat up.

Archives

The FontFeed RSS

Close