I’ll tell you a secret. I judge fonts based on the quality of the ampersand. You can tell how detail-oriented a font designer is by the amount of effort he/she put into designing this single character. Seriously. The best ones have ampersands that can be printed out as art.
Another designer was asking for suggestions on ampersands in the Savvy Business Owners Facebook group. She used a certain typeface on a project, but the client didn’t love the ampersand of that particular font (Burgues Script). I gave suggestions on which ones to use instead, and she loved them. It inspired me to gather all of the best ampersands I’ve ever encountered and do a roundup here.
Here are my favourites (in alphabetical order). You can see I have a certain bias here. I’m not overly fond of ampersands that look like an undecipherable squiggle, or ones that have no attitude. These are so well thought out, you’ll fall in love with every curve and swish.
Can you imagine the Hera Big ampersand in gold foil? Swoon!
How about you? Which font do you think has the nicest ampersand?
Great post! I will look at ampersands in a whole new light now. I love Breathe Pro- I think because I see a heart!
I love Hera Big the most ^_^ Yes I’m sure it will definitely look fabulous as foil print!
Hi! I want to ask, how can I download tgis font? Is it must be bought?
Hi Farah! They’re all premium fonts, so you you have to purchase them.
What is the typeface is used for the ampersand in the title illustration?
Oh, that’s Bella.
Hello!
What font is the ampersand in your blog title graphic? I love this design, (i just cant see the font family it belongs to).
I also agree and do the same as you, I like to see the ampersand and symbols in font families as well as their ligatures.