Font family, size, etc. depends on "Graphics" style in the notebook stylesheet CurrentValue[{StyleDefinitions, "Graphics", "FontSize"}] (* 10 *) CurrentValue[{StyleDefinitions, "Graphics", "FontFamily"}] (* "Times" *) You can manually change it: open Format->Edit Stylesheet..., add Cell[StyleData["Graphics"],FontSize->20] and press Ctrl+Shift+E. You will see that the font in `Plot`,`LinePlot`, etc. instantly increase. *Edit:* default values for `Plot`, `ListPlot`, etc. separately can be set by SetOptions[Plot, BaseStyle -> {FontFamily -> "Helvetica", FontSize -> 16}]