15 Pro Font Families (JUST $29) – Deal Ends March 4th

Fonts are a pivotal part of every designers toolkit – they can massively impact your work, helping you stand out from the crowd.

Finding good quality fonts can be extremely time-consuming and really expensive. To save you time and money, DesignCuts have put together this diverse collection of fonts from some of the world’s top selling designers and foundries.

This is their most diverse font bundle to date and there is literally a font for every project! From strong display fonts perfect for branding or social media to sans, serifs, vintage and so much more. They’ve included the best-selling fonts from foundries such as Latinotype, Tobias Saul, Fenotype to name just a few.

It even includes Hermann, which is in my best serif fonts for logo design post. To buy just ONE weight of the Hermann font family, it is $38. With this deal you can get Hermann’s 18 weights AND 14 other pro font families for JUST $29 (usually $1750). It’s a no brainer!

Plus, enjoy the benefits of multiple weights, extensive language support, contextual alternates, and all the finer details that come with world class fonts, all at 98% off for a limited time only.

» Get Font Lover’s Bundle (98% Off)

Offer ends March 4, so don’t miss out.

 

This bundle includes:

Full extended license
Use these resources in commercial work available for sale.

Unlimited free support
If you need any help working with your new resources, the DesignCuts team are there to help.

» Get Font Lover’s Bundle (98% Off)

Offer ends March 4, so don’t miss out.

How to Be a Leader, Not a Boss: 5 Secrets

This article was contributed by Lauren Adley.

Being a boss and being a leader are two different things and they must be understood. Many people think that they are leaders just because they have been put in charge of a task or an assignment but in reality, they are just bosses.

Differences between a Boss and a Leader

One major difference between a boss and a leader is that while a boss will want his own ideas to be heard and followed at all times, a leader derives pride in seeing that his followers bring up good ideas that can bring about positive changes and growth to the team or organization that he leads.

A leader is one who develops his followers. He is not so particular about how many his followers are but how efficient they are. A boss, on the other hand uses his followers without paying attention to their growth. You can be a leader or a boss. A leader sees himself as a servant, not like the boss that sees himself as a lord. Leaders usually identify themselves with their followers and they see their position as an opportunity to serve and make others better while a boss sees himself as “Lord over all”.

Bosses could be forceful in their approach to solving problems or handling situations while a leader will make you see reasons as to why you have to perform a task in a particular way. While a boss will say “you must do this task this way”, a leader will tell his follower why he should do the task that way and most times will seek his opinion on how it can be done in a better way.

You can choose to be a boss or a leader. Many years ago, Vince Lombardi, the famous football coach said:

“Leaders are made, they are not born”.

Therefore, you can start being a leader and start being productive.

5 Secrets to Help You Stop Being a Boss and Start Being a Leader

• Start Listening

Many people just hear others speak because they want to give them a reply as soon as possible but to function excellently as a leader, one must be able to listen in order to extract information and value hidden in the words of the speaker. A leader shouldn’t interrupt when someone is speaking to him and shouldn’t even be thinking of what to say when a person is speaking to him but he must be able to open his mind and get in as much useful information as possible.

Listening is an essential leadership skill to possess. So, if you have not been listening, you have to start now. To listen is not to selectively hear what you want to hear but to appreciate the fact that information is being given out and, in that information, there is value, wisdom and many other good things.

If you have not been a good listener before, you can start learning the art with your friends. Whenever you have a conversation with friends, listen to them and after they are done you can try to summarize in your head. You get better with time.

• Strive to Inspire Your Followers

When you delegate a task, it is your responsibility as a leader to ensure that you follow through. It is not enough to explain how to go about the task but much more, as a leader you should constantly check up on the followers you have assigned tasks to. Inspire and encourage them sincerely because you want to get the best out of them. Delegate tasks and explain them but don’t stop there, go further by assisting them and making them believe that they have what it takes to deliver a great job.

• Show Empathy and Genuine Care

Leaders care about their followers. Empathy is an essential attribute of a leader. Empathy is the ability to identify the thoughts and feelings of a person and to understand the point of view of someone. Empathy is one of the striking differences between a boss and a leader. To be a good leader, you have to care about your followers.

As basic as it seems, empathy is very important. Empathy creates a bond between a leader and his followers. It creates an atmosphere where there is no fear.

You might need to go as far as having one-on-one talks with your followers so that they are able to open up to you.  With this, you are able to see things from their own point of view and understand their feelings. It might seem strange to you when you start but once you are able to show your followers that you are ready to reason in line with their feelings, you are many steps away from being a boss.

• Learn to Treat Everyone Equally, Shun Favoritism

Stop the whole “this person always does it better” kind of talks. It doesn’t in any way, boost the morale of anybody. A leader should encourage and boost the morale of his followers, that’s the point of being a leader anyway.

When your followers see that you think one particular person is better than them, they feel you see them as a spare part and they don’t feel encouraged. Everyone is important and everyone can deliver. Your aim is not to make one person in the spotlight, that doesn’t portray anyone as a good leader. The aim of any leader should be to mentor his followers until they reach that level at which he can trust them to do the right things the right way. Instead of choosing favorites, encourage teamwork. Let your followers or team members learn to work together as one and thus the glory or the reward becomes a “we” affair.

Also, don’t try to do things on your own. Being a leader means you have more on your plate. You don’t have to do everything and this is why you have people under you. Learn to delegate tasks to the right set of people and then supervise them.

• Stop Commanding Your Followers

Giving out different doses of commands is what a boss will do. A boss will give out all sorts of commands both the possible and the impossible and when it doesn’t work out, be begins to nag. To be a leader you must step away from this kind of attitude. Instead of saying “I want this work submitted on Friday” and walking out like the king of the coast, why not ask “How fast can you submit this work?” Or better still, you could say “can I have the work submitted on Friday, so I can meet up with the target for the week?”

Don’t just dose your commands because they really do not help, they only make people work under pressure and this is not very healthy. You might have to give reasons why something has to be done.

Why Do People End Up as Bosses?

Bosses are normal people and just the same way that leaders are not born but made, bosses also are not born, but they are made that way because of some situations and circumstances they find themselves in. When you see a person you once believed in suddenly start acting like a boss just because he got a promotion or a change in level, you start asking the question “how did he/she end up this way?” These are some of the reasons:

They Have So Much Committed to Them

Yes, they could have so many responsibilities committed to them and sometimes they don’t know how to go about some of these tasks so they begin to forcefully make others do what they are unable to do. When a person gets a change in level or promotion, there are some things that he is introduced into that he has no idea of. This is not because he is not intelligent but because he is new to a whole lot of things. As pressure begins to mount, he ends up getting frustrated and the once good man becomes a boss.

They Have No Leadership Training

You can’t give what you don’t have and you definitely cannot exhibit leadership training that you have not acquired. Like I said earlier, leadership is a skill that has to be learnt. Leadership involves a lot of things like communication, human resource management, time management, good decision-making skills and a lot of others. It is not something that you just decide to step into all of a sudden. Bosses are made when people with no leadership experience start to build their own companies or have their own organization. Because they have no knowledge of what leadership is all about, they fail terribly and then…. Here is your boss!

They Don’t Get the Support They Need

Even a novice, when supported can do things the right way. Many leaders do not get the support they need and so they end up being bossy. Leadership is not an easy task and it is definitely not a “sit at the table and sip a coffee” job. As much as leaders would encourage others, they also need people to support their dreams and their ability to lead. When they don’t get that support, they start to act bossy like “you must do it even if you don’t like it, because I’m your boss”.

They Work with the Wrong Set of People

When someone with a good vision meets with people that are not enthusiastic and are ready to rebel at any time, tell me how he won’t start acting bossy? Many good leaders start to command when they sense rebellion among their team members. They don’t want anything to go wrong since they have invested a lot to reach that point. When rebellion sets in, it can make a good person start acting all bossy, angry and even become a nag master. So, I’ll give you this advice: nip rebellion in the bud as soon as you sense it or else, you might become what you wouldn’t like.

They Have No Mentor

All great leaders have mentors. Leadership is a great task and shouldn’t be done alone. When you have people that you can answer to and can correct you, you are on a path to success but when leadership is attempted alone, it doesn’t always work out well. People become bosses because they don’t have anyone to tell them they are going in the wrong direction and this is what mentoring offers.

Knowing that you have someone that believes in you and watches over you reduces a lot of stress. Most bosses wouldn’t be bosses if only they had mentors that could help them. However, don’t just have a mentor, have a good mentor. Someone that is really reliable and has achieved the kind of results you also want to achieve in life.

Conclusion

If you want to be a leader, you must make sure you are doing just that, because no one wants to work with a boss. If you follow the five secrets listed above, you can be sure you are hundreds of steps away from being a boss. Be the leader you’ve always admired, step out of the bossy zone and let people start experiencing the good in you.

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Illustrations by StudioStok on Shutterstock. Lauren Adley is an author who works for writing services australia.

10 Best Serif Fonts for Clean & Elegant Logo Design

For many designers, when it comes to designing a clean and elegant logo for a company, using a Serif font in their designs helps to add a little bit of flair & sophistication to the brand.

A serif font is easily identified by the “little feet” that appear at the ends of the letters being used. Doing a search for Serif fonts can lead you down the proverbial rabbit hole with all of the options there are to choose from.

To offer a bit of help, we wanted to focus on ten of our favorite Serif fonts you can use when branding or designing a logo with a clean and elegant look.

Now, you may have your own favorite Serif font and it may or may not appear on our list, but we recommend taking a closer look at the options presented here, some of which are revivals of the classics, ensuring your logo has a unique character to it.

Who knows, you may find a new font that you end up using for years to come.

See here for the best SANS-serif fonts for clean & minimal logo design.

10 Best Serif Fonts for Clean & Elegant Logo Design

1. Hermann
2. Recoleta
3. Blacker
4. ITC Lubalin Graph
5. Linotype Didot
6. Begum
7. ITC Caslon No. 224
8. Sabon
9. Bookmania
10. Gabriela Stencil

Each font listed below has a brief description & font preview.

If you’re ready, let’s get started, here are the best 10 serif fonts for logo design.

1. Hermann

Designed in 2018 by Diego Aravena and Salvador Rodriguez, the Hermann font family is one of the design teams most readable fonts available so far. Looking at the works of Herman Hesse and Aldous Huxley for inspiration, the team found the concepts of duality, surrealism, and wildness frequently appeared, fueling the design process.

Designed to not only be an accurate font when it comes to legibility but can also present a feeling of being wild and bold. Available in ten different variations including italic and bold, the Hermann font is inspired by the novels of the 20th century and their worlds, taking its name from one of the most prolific authors of that era.

» Download Hermann Font

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2. Recoleta

Like a melting pot, Recoleta combines many different aspects from fonts of the past to create something new, fresh, and with a modern flavor. By taking the soft and gentle shapes found in the Cooper font and the fluid angled strokes in Windsor, designer Jorge Cisterna has blended together a beautiful and familiar font that looks amazing in a logo or on a business card, giving them a look that’s unique

Available in a variety of weights, this font gives you the options you need to choose the best typographic color for whatever project you’re working on. While body text works well with a lighter weight, if you’re writing headlines, heavier weights are ideal.

The Recoleta font can make any design stand out like in the Waves to Wilderness logo.

» Download Recoleta Font

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3. Blacker

A wedge serif type font, Blacker was designed to be a take on the “evil serif” typeface genre. The high contrast, sharp wedge serif design was created by Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini and Andrea Tartarelli who were looking to evoke the proportions of fonts used in the 1970s.

Using the Latin alphabet, Blacker features an extended character set which covers more than seventy languages, including Russian Cyrillic. Small caps, fraction, alternate forms, four sets of figures, as well as superior and inferior figures and discretionary ligatures are all features of the Blacker font family.

» Download Blacker Font

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4. ITC Lubalin Graph

While it is technically a slab-serif font, the ITC Lubalin Graph font helps convey a no-nonsense look, that while strong, can be perfect for a modern design, especially with the lighter weights.

ITC Lubalin Graph is a 1974 design which is based on an earlier sans serif font that was designed by Herb Lubalin, ITC Avant Garde. The character shapes may be identical between the two designs although Lubalin Graph adds a slab serif feature.

Designed to look good in applications from headlines to packaging, this is an extremely versatile font family.

» Download ITC Lubalin Font

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5. Linotype Didot

Designed by Adrian Frutiger, the Linotype Didot font pays respect and tribute to one of the most important print shop and font foundries in France during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Didot family were active designers as well as printers, typeface designers, inventors, intellectuals as well as publishers during this era.

Frutiger’s Linotype Didot design is a sensitive interpretation of the French Modern Face Didot font and gives any text you use it for, a classic and elegant feel and at the same time paying respect to the original Didot family.

» Download Didot Font

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6. Begum

A Latin display serif typeface with contrast, the Begum font family has an ultra-contemporary appearance and shares DNA with other Anglo-Dutch font types such as Caslon, Fleischmann or Times, with a slightly exotic feel.

Designed by Manushi Parikh, the Begum font truly shines when used with texts of a shorter length, article introductions that are multiple lines and even on packaging.

» Download Begum

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7. ITC Caslon No. 224

Designed in 1983 for the International Typeface Corporation by Ed Benguiat, ITC Caslon 224 was designed to be a modern-day interpretation of the Caslon typeface.

With eight font weights ranging from Standard to Standard Black Italic, ITC Caslon 224 has a large x-height, a very high contrast between think and thick strokes and also provides transitions between the different weights smoothly.

» Download ITC Caslon Font

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8. Sabon

In the 1960s, a new typeface was requested by the German Master Printers’ Association to be designed and produced identically on both Linotype and Monotype machines in order for both the text and technical composition would match. Jan Tschichold was commissioned to use Claude Garamond’s classical and serene Roman font and design a new version.

Sabon succeeds although its bold and italic styles are limited by Linotype casting machine requirements. This forces the character widths to match between different styles and also gives the italic typeface its characteristic narrow f.

» Download Sabon Font

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9. Bookmania

With 10 styles, 658 swashes and a multitude of expert features, Bookmania is a font that any logo design can benefit from.

Designed by Mark Simonson in 2011, the Bookmania font type has all of the features that you may expect to appear when using a modern digital font family. As a revival of Bookman Oldstyle, designed in 1901 and the Bookmans font family from the 1960s, the Bookmania font family has the features that you need to make your logo design excel.

» Download Bookmania Font

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10. Gabriela Stencil

Designed by Antonio Mejia in 2016, Gabriela Stencil has a unique character while being part of a classic font family. Well-suited for headlines & fancy logos, the font emphasizes the modern and elegant personality that the font features and has been inspired by the style found with the Didone typefaces from the 19th-century.

Also ideal for branding, short text and publishing projects, Gabriela Stencil is a highly readable font with the x-height sized at 50% of the cap height, along with short ascenders and descenders. Available in six styles, the font family contains a 433-character set which supports over 200 different languages.

» Download Gabriela Stencil Font

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Best Serif Fonts for Clean & Minimalist Logo Design

Using a clean and elegant Serif font in your logo design not only makes it sophisticated, but it can also add a bit of exciting flair to your design.

There are so many different, well-designed Serif fonts that are available for any graphic designer to use. We hope that our list of the ‘best professional serif fonts for logo design’ can provide you with some options you might not have considered before and inspires you.

More Top Fonts

• Top 10 Clean & Minimal Fonts for Logo Design
• 30 Fonts That All Designers Must Know & Should Own
• 15 Stunning Font Combinations
• The Top 100 Best Fonts Of All Time
• 27 Classic & Elegant Fonts

Do you have a favorite clean and elegant font that you use in your logo designs?

Let us know in the comments below.

Infographic: What your Logo’s Font Says About Your Brand

Thanks to Brand Marketing Blog for the below infographic.

How to get HIGH PAYING Design Clients

Want to know how to get high paying design clients?

This video explains how I went from $300 design projects to 5 figure projects.

I concisely discuss 5 tried and true strategies to get high paying design clients including:

• Your Portfolio & USP
• Building Relationships
• Marketing Strategies
• Pricing Creativity (Proposals & Closing Deals)
• Upsells

Inside, I recommended putting this book on your radar: Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns. It’s expensive ($200+) and only available on his website. Alternatively, you could read a short summary or a listen to a podcast to learn more about “value based pricing”.

Let me know if you have any other tips for how to get bigger design clients.

» Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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