We live for type. The FontFeed is an inspirational journal of typography tips, recommended fonts, and bits of design from around the web that caught our typographic eye.
Extra Bold, Ultra Black Fonts: Hit Hard with Heavy Duty Type
In an effort to get noticed, a lot of folks turn to the most obvious item in their font menu: Impact™. In concept, it plays the role well. It is heavy and condensed, yet still legible, with short descenders that enable the user to stack headlines big and tight. The problem: overuse. No matter how loud it looks, a typeface can only shout so many times before it loses its voice.
Fortunately, when a powerful vehicle is needed to carry an important message, there are plenty of capable, but less obvious typefaces for the job. Have a look at our Extra Bold newsletter and see more heavy duty headline options in the list below.
Compact Sans Serifs
Tall and narrow, with gigantic x-heights and compact descenders, these space-efficient sans serifs pack in the most words per line.
- Impact – yeah, we’ve always got the old standby
- Helvetica Compressed
- Helvetica Inserat
- Anzeigen Grotesk
- Hadrian
- Compacta
- Placard
- Plak
- Block Gothic Extra Bold
- Bee Four
- Aura
- Aurora – Tom Carnase started with this for his Macworld logo font
- Bigticy Narrow
- FF Govan
- FF Kipp
- Tasse
- Futura Display
- Atrament Bold
- PTL Adigio
- PTL Fabrik Two
- PTL Highbus
- Nimbus Sans Black Condensed
- Ariergard Heavy
- FF Fago Condensed Black
Heavy Sans Serifs
Large sans serif families often include a “Black” or “Ultra” weight at the dark end.
- FF Meta Headline Black
- FF Unit Ultra
- FF Sanuk Fat
- FF Clan Ultra
- FF Quadraat Display Black
- FF Zine Sans Display Black
- Amplitude Black and Ultra
- Titling Gothic Black
- Interstate Ultra Black
- Today Sans Serif Ultra
- Paralucent Heavy
- Neo Sans and Tech Ultra
- Agency Black
- Truth Ultra
- Griffith Gothic Ultra
- Sansa Condensed Ultra Black, Sansa Condensed Soft Ultra Black
- Kabel Black and Ultra
- Futura Extra Black, Futura ND ExtraBold, Flyer, and Plak
- Frutiger Ultra Black
- Proxima Nova Black
- FF Sari Black
- Taz III Ultra Black
- Gloriola Std Display Fat
- Black Grotesk
- Gvardia Heavy
- Humanist 521 Ultra
- Quadrat Grotesk Black
Heavy Slab Serifs
There is no serif tougher than a slab serif.
- Pharaon Ultra Bold
- Giza
- Glypha Black, Glypha Black Oblique
- Stymie Black
- Beton Extra Bold
- PTL Qugard Black
- FF Zine Display Black
- FF Zapata
- Volta Bold
- Ironmonger
- Aachen Bold
- Malaga Black
- Clarendon Extra Bold
- Egyptienne Bold
- Quimera Compacta
- Geometric Slabserif Extra Bold
Chocolate Chunk Serifs
The soft, goopy serifs that often grace candy wrappers or vintage tee shirts.
- Cooper Black
- Goudy Heavyface, LTC Goudy Heavyface
- Windsor Ultra Heavy
- ITC Clearface Black
- Paddington
- ITC Motter Corpus
- ITC Souvenir Bold
- Sauna
- Rayela Chocolate
- Bardi Ultra Bold
High Contrast Serifs
Shout with grace. These serif faces get extra dark while retaining their thin hairline strokes.
- Monotype Bodoni Ultra Bold
- Poster Bodoni, Italic
- URW Bodoni Black
- URW Didoni
- Carousel
- Annlie
- Walburn Ultra
- Worldwide Ultra
- ITC Fenice Ultra
- ITC Fat Face
- Thorowgood
- Century 725 Black
- Freight Big Black, Freight Display Black
- Glamour Bold
- Caslon Graphique
- ITC Caslon No. 224 Std Black
- Times Black
- Britannic Ultra
- Romana Ultra
- Farnham Display Black
- URW Antiqua Ultra Bold
- Weiss Antiqua Ultra Bold
- Carmina Black
- Nicholas Bold
- ITC Zapf International Heavy
- ITC Zapf Renaissance Bold
- ITC Tiffany Heavy
- Californian Display Black
- Lapidary 333 Black
- Skyline
- LTC Hess Monoblack Regular
- Nimbus Roman Extra Bold
Didone
Others
Fat and Round
Hot dog type like VAG Rounded taken to a very plump extreme.
Playful and Comical
Bulbous and animated typefaces derived from comics, packaging, and show card lettering.
- Asphalt
- MVB Grenadine
- MVB Bovine
- El Grande
- Arbuckle
- Messe Grotesk
- Kobalt
- Poster Black
- Showcard Gothic
- Thrills
- BellyLaugh
- ClobberinTime
- Foom
- Framistat
- Orgovan
- P22 Vienna Black
- ITC Beesknees
Blackletters
Here are heavy metal’s heaviest.
Wood Types
Back when type was set by hand, the biggest, boldest letters were made of wood to save costs. Headline typefaces from this era have a particularly warm, organic quality or charming idiosyncrasies.
- Maple Black
- Rhode
- Bureau Grot Black and Ultra Black
- Bloc and Informal Black
- PL Barnum Block
- FTN Farao
- Behemoth
- Bariton
- Gothic 821
Other Novelties
Techno types, stencils, retro faces, and other extra bold novelties in the Display type category.
- FF Trademarker
- Alphaville Ultra
- FF QType Square Black
- Shimano Black
- Bubba Enbloque
- Koloss
- FF Matinee Gothic
- FF Sale Bold Italic
- Brothers Bold
- ITC Black Tulip
- Freeman
- Fat Albert
- Dextor
- Bremen Black
- Blakely
- FF Zan
- Casey Ultra
- P22 Constructivist
- Destroyer
- Stormtrooper Regular
- Blippo Black
- Futura Black
- FF WaterTower
- Chernobyl
- Caslon Fina Sencil
- Caslon Stencil
- Beton Stencil
- Paralucent Stencil
- Borgstrand Stencil
- Stencil and Stencil Moonlight
- Blippo Stencil
- Cooper Stencil
- Clarendon No 1 Stencil Extra Bold
- FF Penguin
- Alphabet Soup
- Judgement
- Munich
- Griffin
- Neuland
- Mobley
- LTC Glamour Grotesque
- Binner
- AchtungBaby
Techno, Futuristic
Retro, Signpainter’s Lettering
Stencils
Others
The Blackest
“How much more black could these be? And the answer is none, none more black.”
- FF Extra
- Bigticy
- BlackWhite Headline
- Copal Solid
- Asphalt
- Armada Black
- Eagle Black
- Mostra Black
- Filt
- Gusto
- Black Boton Bold
- FF Soul Ultra
- FF Berlinsans Bold
- FF Flava
- FF Beekman Square Bold
- Corpulent
- Unovis
Update May 2, 2008 — Several new fonts added.
By Stephen Coles | link | | 
July 25th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
This is an incredibly useful list for a designer. Thanks!
August 13th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Where have you been all my life! I never took typography 101 but love to learn about it, hard to find good resources, this list is the best!
October 21st, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I have been using this list since you published it and its about time I thanked you for it.
Thanks!
November 1st, 2007 at 9:51 am
I landed on your page looking for the name of the typeface used in the “John Edwards 08″ campaign…
“”On Design Observer, Bierut sets the record straight, saying it’s Futura, which is what he said in the first place.”
It’s NOT futura - or Bierut must have been talking about another version - but what typeface is it ?
Notice the quasi-identic arms of the ‘E’, and the same width of the strokes, all parallel.
( I subscribed to these comments’s feed, so feel free to answer here ! )
November 8th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Hi Tris. The John Edwards campaign uses Gotham, a type family we don’t carry, but you can get very close with Mark Simonson’s Proxima Nova Black.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Thank you, Stephen !!