Typography
Typography can create layers of meaning. When you choose type styling that matches the message and tone you wish to convey, you can also subtly communicate personality and emotion. Our brand typefaces can add prestige, spirit, or familiarity when used thoughtfully and help refine the voice of KU that you represent.
Typefaces for the whole KU community
The primary typefaces listed below are available to KU communicators, staff, and faculty through our license with Adobe Creative Cloud. These fonts closely match our premium typeface selections but are easier to access and use if you aren’t a professional designer.
Primary brand fonts
With typography, our goal is to visually share information about KU’s dedication, creativity, and might. First, log in to your Adobe Creative Cloud account to access all of the fonts you’ll need. Then use the flexible duo of typefaces below for headline and subhead construction.
Roc Grotesk
Roc Grotesk is a bold and precise sans serif with a range of five widths, which reflects the breadth of KU’s research. Use the wide width to give your statements a resolute punch.
Moret
Moret introduces an ethereal spirit of magic, inspiration, and imagination in the air.
For designs that require additional flexibility, use Freight/Freight Text and Halyard/Halyard Text as supporting typefaces and body copy.
Freight Pro
Freight Display Pro is good for headlines, subheads, and display type. Freight Text Pro is good for body copy. KU uses Freight Pro as the serif typeface online and in email, but it can also be used for body copy in print.
Halyard
Halyard is good for headlines, subheads, display type, body copy, and captions. KU uses Halyard as the sans serif typeface online and in email, but it can also be used in print.
Typefaces for professional designers
The premium typefaces listed below are intended for advertising, out-of-home signage, and publications with a large audience. Licenses must be purchased for Gotham, GT Flexa, and United Sans.
Premium brand fonts
The primary brand fonts outlined above work very well for digital and print projects. Teams with professional designers and large projects could benefit from purchasing licenses for the premium brand fonts below, but the majority of KU Communicators will not find this necessary.
After licensing GT Flexa and United Sans, use the flexible trio of typefaces below for headline and subhead construction.
United Sans
United Sans is serious, bold, and precise, which reflects KU’s research prowess.
GT Flexa
GT Flexa Extended gives your statements a resolute punch.
Moret
Moret introduces an ethereal spirit of magic, inspiration, and imagination in the air.
In our type lockups for headlines and subheads, prioritize these fonts in the following order:
United Sans Semi Condensed > Moret > GT Flexa Extended or Expanded.
For designs that require additional flexibility, use Gotham Narrow and Freight/Freight Text as supporting typefaces and body copy.
Gotham Narrow
Gotham Narrow is very readable and legible. We recommend using it for body copy, but it also works at smaller sizes.
Freight Pro
Freight Display Pro is good for headlines, subheads, and display type. Freight Text Pro is good for body copy. KU uses Freight Pro as the serif typeface online and in email, but it can also be used for body copy in print.
Font stacks
Whether you’re using the primary brand typefaces, premium brand typefaces, or basic system typefaces, these font stacks can help you determine the correct order for fonts that appear in your designs and layouts.
For applications that don’t have access to brand platform typefaces, we use the system fonts shown in the Freshman stack. These system fonts are particularly helpful as part of HTML emails and PowerPoint decks with many contributors.
For most print and web applications, it’s appropriate to use the primary typefaces we already have licenses for through Adobe Creative Cloud. We call this the Baby Jay stack.
Professional designers have the option to use to the full range of premium brand platform typefaces, which we call the Big Jay stack. This requires licensing Gotham, GT Flexa, and United Sans.
Downloading fonts
The licenses to Freight, Freight Text, Halyard, Moret, and Roc Grotesk are available to KU faculty and staff through our Adobe Creative Cloud accounts.
Licenses for use of Gotham are available for purchase through Hoefler&Co.
Licenses for use of GT Flexa are available for purchase through Grilli Type.
Licenses for use of United Sans are available for purchase through House Fonts.
Arial and Palatino should already be installed on your computer and ready to use. If you’re having trouble locating or using these fonts, contact KU IT.
About effective typography
Consider these guidelines when designing with type:
- Pair different typefaces to create emphasis, texture, and a visual hierarchy. Good typography helps the reader navigate the text.
- Use fonts, weights, color, and point size to tell a story.
- Use plenty of surrounding white space.
- Limit the number of styles and sizes to create consistency and support the visual hierarchy.
- For greatest legibility, use 9- to 12-point fonts for print body copy and 12 to 16 pixels for web body copy.
- Use 14 to 16 pixels for long-form digital copy.
Avoid designs that impede readability, such as:
- Using all capitals in blocks of type of three lines or more
- Condensing or expanding typefaces
- Adding excess spacing between characters
- Overusing emphases (if too many things are emphasized, nothing stands out)
- Using type with drop shadows
- Using outline type