Typography is a key component in building an effective identity program. The fonts recommended for University communications materials have been selected for their readability, compatibility, and accessibility. You may use the variations that are packaged with each font family.
These fonts are available for free for all Penn State students, faculty, and staff through the Adobe Creative Cloud. Instead of downloading a font to your desktop, you can “activate” it in Adobe Creative Cloud. Once it’s been activated, it will be available to use in all of the Adobe apps installed on your computer. If you’re using Canva to create promotional materials, the print and web fonts listed below are automatically available for your use on our shared college Canva account.
For consistency across our college, all Liberal Arts units should use the following fonts for promotional materials.
Print: The Proxima Nova (Proxima Nova and Proxima Nova Condensed) and Serifa typefaces are recommended as they are well designed to render with significant accuracy at high resolution.
Digital (Social Media, Videos, Digital Signs, Email, etc.): You have plenty of flexibility to use the Proxima Nova, Serifa, and Roboto typefaces for this non-web category.
Websites: The Roboto typeface (Roboto, Roboto Slab, and Roboto Condensed) is recommended and has advantages as a web typeface available from Adobe Fonts and Google Fonts.
PowerPoint: Franklin Gothic and Rockwell are recommended since these fonts are included within all Microsoft Office products.
The chart below shows examples of each of these fonts and how they should be used.
Script fonts should be avoided and used only for formal communications, including special event invitations.
View more information about University-approved fonts in the Penn State Brand Book.