15 Fonts Similar to Cooper Black

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, and then we’ll move on to discover 15 great fonts which share some of the font’s characteristics and can be found on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.

Retro Sick is a great alternative choice to the Cooper Black family font

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.

Here is an example of the Cooper Black typeface

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.

CREDITS: Tootsie Roll, Garfield, and EasyJet.

15 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 skillful 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.

Trendy Buckley (OTF, TTF, WOFF)

If you want something elegant and curvy, try Trendy Buckley. This font like Cooper Black is bold and curvy, a perfect match for logotypes, brands, and other designs that need a heavy yet legible font.

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.

Choose Your Favourite Cooper Black Alternative

In this article, we have dipped into the history and characteristics of the Cooper Black typeface and gone through a list of fonts like Cooper Black. Looking for even more font inspiration? Check out Envato Elements or GraphicRiver to download your favorite.

And if you want similar fonts to Cooper Black or other font substitutes, you can find some great sources of inspiration at Envato Tuts+.

Post date January 2, 2022

This content originally appeared on Envato Tuts+ Tutorials and was authored by MissChatz

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, and then we'll move on to discover 15 great fonts which share some of the font's characteristics and can be found on Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.

Retro Sick font alternative to Cooper Black — Retro Sick is a great alternative choice to the Cooper Black family font

A Brief Cooper Black Font History

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.

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.

Cooper Black preview sample letterforms and characteristics — Here is an example of the Cooper Black typeface

Usage of the Cooper Black Font

CREDITS: Tootsie Roll, Garfield, and EasyJet.

15 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.