Serif vs Sans Serif Font (2026)

serif vs sans serif font

on the question of serif vs sans serif font, for those obsessed nerds.

• letters were born sans serif. natural.
• serif was an after-thought. a deco. fluff, by the roman brutes.

• since western printing press 1440 to 1960, all are printed in serif.
• the elite thought sans serif is crude.
• they thought serif is more readable.

• till helvetica of the swiss came about in 1960, sans got some respect.
• 1990, computer and internet came, sans beats serif.
• science cannot find any evidence that serif is more readable.
• 2016, some elite houses such as Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Mag, started to use serif again.

• conclusion: for readability of body text, go with sans.
• serif is useful if you really need to distinguish some letters such as Il0O. or, u need some pretty fluff.