Nothing breathes life into your designs like the typefaces you choose, so every month, we put together this roundup of the best new fonts we’ve found online.
This month, a distinctly medieval aesthetic permeates some of the designs. You’ll find plenty of rebellion in fonts that break the rules for fun. And as always, we’ve included some excellent practical options. Enjoy!
Arnika is a relaxed typeface with much more character than typical sans-serifs. Its strokes flare to the point that it’s almost a serif, and the oversized x-height gives it an almost medieval sensibility. There are four weights crying out to be used in a branding project.
Nosi is an irreverent typeface that does an excellent job of evoking the spirit of music fanzines, French cinema, and teenage dramas. It’s a great choice for editorial display work if used sparingly.
Parabole Display is what happens when you join the wrong points on your outlines: outer curves become inner curves creating an engaging and very usable display font. Parabole Text is the simplified sans-serif. It’s an exciting pairing for editorial work.
There aren’t enough new serif fonts, perhaps because they are harder to draw than the more popular sans-serif. Rizoma is a welcome exception. Based on Roman inscription letters, it is confident, modern, and highly usable.
If you’re shopping for a festive typeface and want to avoid the usual brush scripts, look at Guacheva. The all-caps serif is elegant and feminine, with a clear sense of calligraphy.
Axios Pro is a good solid workhorse of a sans-serif. Based on early 20th-century grotesques, it will feel familiar to anyone interested in western architectural type design. It’s available in 10 weights and two variable fonts, with extensive OpenType support.
GT Pressura brings the warmth of print to the web by simulating the effect of ink spreading over paper. The subtle rounding of the sans typeface adds a unique visual interest to the mono, standard, and extended fonts.
Script fonts are almost always based on a brush or a pen, traced into vectors. So it’s refreshing to see Galdy, a refined retro script. With a distinctly americana feel, it’s perfect for branding projects.
Nitido is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed as a companion for Nitida. It is an expertly realized font family with seven weights and seven accompanying italics. As a result, it‘s ideally suited to corporate design work.
Kinckq is an intriguing experiment with variable font techniques. Inspired by a 19th-century woodcut font, Kinckq is a didone that bends through its middle, creating a 3D effect that’s made for large sizes.
Broger is another distorted typeface, this time twisting shapes and tying them together with elegant ligatures. It’s an excellent choice for branding in the health & beauty market.
Charte Mono is another attempt to solve the unsolvable — the Latin alphabet is not monosized. However, when resolved as well as Charte Mono, monospaced fonts are excellent for user interface design, charts, and signage systems.
Lini is designed to be as compressed as possible while remaining highly legible. It supports Latin and Devanagari languages and works equally well in both forms. Lini is still in beta but is already award-winning.
Rotulo is a variable font with huge contrast between its thick and thin strokes. Inspired by hand-lettering on signs, it’s a chunky option for branding or display type on websites.
OK, so we’re a month late for Halloween, but Bouuuuuh is still worth a mention. Its cartoonish shapes are perfect for poster design, T-shirts, brand design, and, yes, next year’s Halloween marketing.