Fonts play a HUGE role in overall design.
Today I will highlight the fonts that are optimized for interfaces, they have the characteristic of being variable, this gives the designer the facility to play with them at ease from their thickness, number of styles, inclination, width. You can use them wherever you need to and better yet they are available for free in Google Fonts.
What does OFL - Open Font License mean?
It means you can download and install it for free, modify it if you want (as long as the modifications also follow the same rules), and use it for personal and/or commercial work. There's a license in the download so you can read all the legalese, but essentially the only restrictions are that you can't say you made it if you didn't, and you can't sell or access the fonts.
What is a variable font?
It is a type of font or typography that uses a technology that allows you to adjust the characteristics of the font in real time. Instead of having a fixed set of weights and styles (eg bold, italic, thin, etc.), variable fonts can be adjusted in a variety of dimensions, such as weight, width, height, and contrast. This allows designers more control and flexibility over how fonts look on different screen sizes and resolutions, and also allows for the creation of unique custom font styles. Variable font technology is supported by some programs and operating systems, such as Adobe Photoshop and macOS, although it is not yet universally supported.
Let's jump to the list...
01 Nunito
It is a well-balanced sans serif typeface superfamily, with 2 versions: The project started with Nunito, created by Vernon Adams as a terminal rounded sans serif for display typefaces. Jacques Le Bailly expanded it into a complete set of weights and an accompanying regular non-rounded terminal version, Nunito Sans.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of Times Google Fonts API served Nunito in the last week is over 2,200,000 websites.
02 Oswald
It is a reworking of the classic style historically represented by 'Alternate Gothic' sans serif typefaces. Oswald's characters were initially redrawn and reshaped to better fit the pixel grid of standard digital screens. Oswald is designed to be freely used on the Internet by web browsers on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices.
Since the initial release in 2011, Vernon Adams updated Oswald continuously through 2014. Vernon added bold and light weights, support for more Latin and Cyrillic languages, adjusted spacing and kerning, and made many glyph refinements across the family based on hundreds of reviews. users. ' comment. In 2016, Kalapi Gajjar updated the Latin part of the family to complete the work started by Vernon. In January 2019 he was upgraded with a variable font weight axle.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The number of times Google Fonts API served oswald in the last week is over 4,700,000 websites.
03 Roboto Slab
Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the shapes are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. While some grotesques distort their letterforms to force a rigid rhythm, Roboto doesn't compromise, allowing the letters to sit in their natural width.
This creates a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in serif and humanist typefaces. This is the Roboto Slab family, which can be used together with the normal Roboto family and the Roboto Condensed family. In November 2019, the family was updated with a variable font "Weight" axis.
These fonts are licensed under the Apache License, version 2.0. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of times Google Fonts API served roboto in the last week is over 8,200,000 websites.
04 Open sans
Open Sans is a humanistic sans serif typeface designed by Steve Matteson, Type Director of Ascender Corp. This version contains the full 897 character set, which includes the ISO standard Latin 1, Latin CE, Greek, and Cyrillic character sets. Open Sans was designed with a vertical emphasis, open shapes, and a neutral yet friendly appearance.
It was optimized for print, web, and mobile interfaces, and has excellent legibility characteristics in its letterforms. In March 2021, the family was updated to a variable font family and also includes Hebrew, and unified and simplified the license under OFL.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of times Google Fonts API served open sans in the last week is over 90,000,000 websites.
05 Montserrat
The old posters and signs of the traditional Montserrat neighborhood of Buenos Aires inspired Julieta Ulanovsky to design this typeface and rescue the beauty of the urban typeface that emerged in the first half of the 20th century As urban development changes that place, it will never return to its original form and will forever lose the designs that are so special and unique.
The letters that inspired this project have work, dedication, care, color, contrast, light and life, day and night! These are the guys that make the city look so beautiful. The Montserrat Project was born with the idea of rescuing what is in Montserrat and releasing it under a free license, the SIL Open Font License.
This is the normal family, and it has two sister families so far, Alternates and Underlined. Many of the letterforms are special to the Alternates family, while 'Subrayada' means 'Underlined' in Spanish and celebrates a special style of underlining that is integrated into the letterforms found in the Montserrat neighborhood.
Updated November 2017: Jacques Le Bailly redrew the family in Baron von Fonthausen over the summer, and adjusted the entire set of weights to make Regular lighter and better for use with longer text. In autumn, Julieta Ulanovsky, Sol Matas and Juan Pablo del Peral led the development of the Cyrillic support, with the advice of Carolina Giovagnoli, Maria Doreuli and Alexei Vanyashin.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of times Google Fonts API served montserrar in the last week is over 17,000,000 websites.
06 Raleway
Raleway is an elegant sans-serif typeface family. Initially designed by Matt McInerney as a single slim weight, it was expanded to a family of 9 weights by Pablo Impallari and Rodrigo Fuenzalida in 2012 and iKerned by Igino Marini. A comprehensive, cursive revision was added in 2016.
It's a display face and the download features old-style and overlay numerals, standard and discretionary ligatures, a fairly comprehensive set of diacritics, as well as a stylistic alternative inspired by more geometric sans-serif typefaces than its default character of neogrotesque inspiration. place.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of times Google Fonts API served raleway in the last week is over 6,900,000 websites.
07 Caveat
It is a handwritten typeface family designed by Pablo Impallari. It is designed for both short annotations and body text use. For a different look, there's also a sister family, Caveat Brush. The fonts have OpenType features that allow letters to have slight variations depending on their appearance within a word, for a natural writing feel.
The Caveat project was commissioned by Google from Impallari Type, a type design foundry in Rosario, Argentina. Updated June 2019 to v1.500: Added Extended Cyrillic, by Cyreal, a type design foundry in Moscow, Russia.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of times Google Fonts API served caveat in the last week is over 220,000 websites.
08 Dancing Script
Dancing Script is an upbeat, informal script where the letters bounce around and change size slightly. The limits are large and go below the baseline. References popular script typefaces of the 1950s. It is related to Murray Hill (Emil Klumpp. 1956) in its weight distribution, and Mistral (Roger Excoffon. 1953) in its lively bouncing effect.
Updated May 18, 2011 with bold and in November 2019, updated with a variable font "Weight" axis.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of Times Google Fonts API served Dancing Script in the last week is over 750,000 websites.
09 Playfair Display
Playfair is a transitional design. In the European Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century, broad-nib pens were replaced by pointed steel pens as the popular writing tool of the day. Along with advances in printing technology, ink, and papermaking, it became a matter of printing high-contrast letterforms and delicate fine lines that were increasingly separated from written letterforms.
This design lends itself to this period and while not a revival of any particular design, it takes influence from John Baskerville's designs and 'Scotch Roman' designs. Being a screen layout (large size) in the transitional genre, functionally and stylistically it can match Georgia for body text.
This is the parent family, with a small-cap sister family Playfair Display SC. Downloaded font files from the core family include a full set of small caps, common ligatures, and discretionary ligatures. Updated November 2017 with many small improvements and additional language support. The family converted to a variable font in August 2019.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of times Google Fonts API served Playfair Display in the last week is over 3,100,000 websites.
10 Lora
Lora is a well-balanced contemporary serif with roots in calligraphy. It is a text typeface with a moderate contrast well suited for the body of the text. A paragraph set in Lora will make a memorable appearance due to its brushed curves set against the driving serifs. Lora's overall typographic voice perfectly conveys the mood of a modern story or art essay.
Technically, Lora is optimized for screen appearance and works equally well in print. In March 2019, the family was upgraded to a variable font family.
These fonts are licensed under the Open Font License. You can use them in your products and projects: print or digital, commercial or otherwise. The Number of times Google Fonts API served lora in the last week is over 2,900,000 websites.
"Work with different fonts, different weights, and choose fonts that have a large font family."