Cooper Black is a free font that exhibits a Pop Art style and a 60s or 70s feel. This font was originally advertised as being the typeface for "far-sighted printers with near-sighted customers", and also referred to as "the Black Menace". If you are looking for fonts like Cooper Black, this article is for you.
In this article, we will look at the history, characteristics, and usage of the Cooper Black font family. Then we'll move on to discover 14 great fonts like Cooper Black and what fonts pair well with them. All the fonts we're showcasing can be found on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.
A Brief Cooper Black Font History
Cooper Black is an ultra-bold serif font designed by Oswald Bruce Cooper, an American typeface and graphic designer. He released Cooper Old Style in 1919, and was then commissioned by the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry to design a type they could sell to advertisers in newspapers and magazines. Consequently, Cooper Black was born and released in 1922.
Being a heavy-set weight of the traditional Cooper Old Style, Cooper Black was advertised with the slogan: "For far-sighted printers with near-sighted customers". It was also referred to as "the Black Menace" by critics, due to its thick black appearance.
In the early 1960s, the old-style serif font ultimately became a very popular serif typeface that publishers used, and it transitioned into the era of the Pop Art movement. Cooper Black experienced a lasting tradition due to its flexible, bubbly charm and its adaptable nature that helped it blend into the design, thus enabling it to endure through the decades into contemporary design work.
Today, Cooper Black is mainly associated with the 60s to 80s nostalgia and is used as a branding, title, and print typeface.
Cooper Black Characteristics
Cooper Black is a very bold, heavily weighted, traditional serif lettering font, with a softer, 'murky' appearance, and low contrast between thick and thin strokes. The rounded forms, inflated letterforms, and blurred serifs somehow kept the font legible and maintain a warm, friendly face. On top of that, the thick blackness draws attention to Cooper Black and makes it a perfect choice to use for contrast in designs or a Pop Art look.
Usage of the Cooper Black Font
The Cooper Black family is made up of many variants and styles, including Cooper Black Italic, Cooper Black Condensed, Cooper Hilite, etc. It has a complete set of characteristics and numerous variants that make its usage very functional and adaptable to various platforms. Hence, you can use the font in various design areas, such as magazines, newspapers, on your website, design templates, print work, graphic designs, artwork, logos, etc.
Cooper Black is available on the web, free of cost. You can install the Cooper Black font in numerous versions for extended use. Some examples of the retro 70s style can be found in popular brand logo designs, such as Tootsie Roll, Garfield, EasyJet, and more.
14 Fonts Similar to Cooper Black
Now, let's take a look at some bold-looking fonts similar to Cooper Black. We have curated a selection of Cooper Blackfont alternatives from Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.
Marleigh (OTF, TTF, WOFF)
Let's start our list of fonts similar to Cooper Black with Marleigh, a retro serif style font. This font displays a thick font shape that is so stylish and fits with the 70s feel. Marleigh works perfectly for branding projects, logos, social media posts, advertisements, product design and packaging, labels, stationery, and more.
Retro Sick ( OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2)
Looking for something slightly heavier and with a little more flair? Try Retro Sick as a Cooper font alternative. This font has a bold serif typeface that gives off a retro aesthetic with a timeless appeal.
Dubbo (OTF)
When you're looking for a retro serif that's similar to the Cooper Black family font, try Dubbo. It captures that groovy vibe of the 1970s with its thick curves and rounded serifs. Dubbo comes with five weights, and it offers plenty of stylistic alternates, ligatures, and multilingual support.
Megusto (OTF, TTF, WOFF)
Another font similar to Cooper Black is Megusto. It has a set of stylistic alternates and offers multilingual support. It works wonderfully for branding, wedding invitations, apparel design, and much more.
Regards (OTF, TTF, WOFF)
Another option for a Cooper font alternative is the Regards font. Regards embodies the playfulness of Cooper Black, and it is also wonderfully versatile—it includes 100+ alternates, as well as ligatures, accented characters, and more.
Hornbill
Like the Cooper font family, Hornbill is designed for legibility and clarity. It's not as playful or whimsical as some of the other fonts featured here, but it's great when you need something simple and readable, and it also offers 18 different styles, from thin to black, with matching italics. This is a great font to add to your library.
Ranille
Ranille has a little more elegance along with a bunch of alternates and ligatures, but sometimes it's good to have a unique look when finding alternative fonts to Cooper Black.
Ranille is a modern, classy, bold serif font that's ideal for signage, branding, logos, label design, and more. Go ahead and experiment with its 200+ stylistic alternates to make your designs stand out.
Ropers (OTF, TTF, WOFF, WOFF2)
Look at those graceful ligatures and alternates! Ropers is a unique Cooper font alternative. Its skilful design was made to match all types of designs, such as promotional themes, greetings, logos, and much more. Ropers is also available for multi-language usage.
Bugaki (OTF)
Or here's another font similar to Cooper Black. Bugaki is a heavy, high-impact font that is sure to catch your readers' attention. Try it out on your product packaging, product designs, label, photography, special events, or wedding invitations.
Rhodesia (TTF)
Rhodesia has similar traits to Cooper Black. They're both rounded serif typefaces inspired by retro design and come with unique multilingual letters. Use Rhodesia for logos, badges, insignia, packaging, and more.
Augillion (TTF, OTF)
Like most Cooper Black alternates, Augillion is a playful bold serif typeface with unique ligatures and alternates. It is modern and includes multi-language support. Give it a try and find out for yourself!
Cherish & Love (OTF)
Fonts close to Cooper Black are often bold, retro in style, and fun, and Cherish & Love is a great example of that. Try it on logos, branding projects, homeware designs, product packaging, and much more.
Elinga (TTF, OTF)
If you're looking for a good retro font to blend into your design, then you can't go wrong with this classic bold typeface. Elinga is a great example of similar fonts to Cooper Black. It's a serif typeface that's perfect for an elegant or luxurious logo, book or movie title design, fashion brand, magazine, clothes, lettering, and so much more.
Rottran (TTF, OTF)
For fonts like Cooper Black, I recommend Rottran. A modern and unique serif font, Rottran is well-suited for branding, logotypes, labels, packaging, titles, headlines, and wedding designs.
How to Pair Fonts
Inspired to use one of these fabulous fonts similar to Cooper Black? Wondering what font goes with Cooper Black font look-alikes? This section on how to pair fonts offers some suggestions.
- Remember fonts have personalities. Some are playful, while others are serious, stylish, causal, outrageous, etc. Your choice of fonts should complement each other and your project's style and purpose.
- When pairing fonts, avoid combinations that are too similar—instead, aim for contrast in weight, size, style, colour, etc. Think chunky and thin, decorative and simple, or heavy and light.
- If the font of your choice offers a large font family with a range of weights and styles, it's a great idea to use these fonts because they are made to work together. Just make sure you adhere to the second suggestion and aim for contrast.
- Serif and sans serif fonts usually work well together—again, just make sure you remember to keep contrasting features in mind when selecting your pairings.
Now let's take a look at some fonts that pair well together.
Best Font Pairings for Fonts like Cooper Black
If you're looking for the best font pairings for Cooper Black font look-alikes, check out these fonts that pair well together from Envato Elements.
Megusto (OTF, TTF, WOFF)
MriyaGrotesk (TTF, OTF, WOFF)
Looking for good font pairings? How about Megusto and MriyaGrotesk? Where one is decorative and offers loads of alternates, the other is clean and minimal.
Regards (OTF, TTF, WOFF)
Caelan Sans (TTF, OTF, WOFF)
This is another example of fonts that pair well together. Where Regards offers the tootsie roll font look of Cooper Black, Caelan is a simple and clean sans serif. It comes in three weights, so experiment to figure out which works best with Regards Font.
Ranille Serif (OTF)
Verona (OTF)
How fabulous is Verona? This slender and classic sans serif is an excellent match for the more decorative Rankle Serif.
The best font pairings allow two fonts to co-exist without competing for attention, and that's just what Ropers and Polly do. Ropers is a wonderful serif with that tootsie roll font look, making it great for dominant text, while Polly is simple and legible, which is perfect for fonts performing supporting roles.
Bugaki (OTF)
Avantgarde Sans (OTF)
Avantgarde is a bold and clean sans serif that, though a powerful font in its own right, is ready to play the supporting role to the more dominant Bugaki. This means that they're two fonts that pair well together.
Marleigh Retro (OTF, TTF, WOFF)
Access (TTF, OTF, WOFF)
When you're looking for good font pairings, choose Marleigh Retro and Access. Access offers five different weights, so experiment with each to find the one that works best for your project.
If you're wondering what font goes with Cooper Black look-alikes, check out Crossfire Sans. It's a modern and minimal sans serif font that you can use for body text and is a great complement to the more stylish and bold Augillion, which is ideally suited for display or header text.
Cherish & Love (OTF)
Bolt Sans (TTF, OTF, WOFF)
Without a doubt, Cherish & Love is both cool and eye-catching. This is a font that is made for headlines. Likewise, the more subdued and legible Bolt Sans is an excellent choice for body text.
Rottran (TTF, OTF)
Marquis Sans (OTF)
Rottran is another of those fonts like Cooper Black that is bold and eye-catching, making it an excellent display font for headers, etc. Marquis Sans, on the other hand, is a great choice when you need a secondary font that's bold enough to hold its own, but not so bold that it overshadows Rottran.
Dubbo Vintage (OTF)
Mathelo Sans (TTF, OTF, WOFF)
By now, you know that good font pairings need contrasts, and that's exactly why these two fonts are so good together. Mathelo Sans is another wonderful sans serif that's great for your body text. It offers three different weights to choose from, while Dubbo Vintage is a great tootsie roll font that's perfect when you're looking to make a bold statement.
Choose Your Favourite Cooper Black Alternative
In this article, we have dipped into the history and characteristics of the Cooper Black typeface, gone through a list of fonts like Cooper Black, and shared how to pair fonts successfully. Looking for even more font inspiration? Check out Envato Elements or GraphicRiver to download your favourites.
And if you want similar fonts to Cooper Black or other font substitutes, you can find some great sources of inspiration at Envato Tuts+.
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