Designers always keep an eye on the latest trends in their field. Along with website design, you need to pay attention to typography trends as well. In this article, we will take a closer look at the modern typography trends, show examples, and share some beautiful free fonts to use in your projects.
Know about the trends, but use them smartly. Remember about your purpose and harmonious combination of all elements.
Typography Trends
1. Clean Sans-Serif Fonts
Simple sans-serif fonts will continue to be popular in minimalist designs this year. Sans-serif fonts are types without serifs, a small tail on the corner of every letter. Thanks to their simplicity and clean style they are easy to work with.
Sans-serif fonts are widely used for construction websites, business, corporate, finance, marketing, and other industries that require a professional, serious look. Sans-serif fonts can be paired with script, serif, and slab-serif fonts to create high contrast.
2. Big Bold Fonts
Big, bold fonts is a trend this year. That type of fonts allows you to drive attention at once and make an impact. Leave a lot of negative space along with big, high-contrast font to stand out from the crowd.
Usually, bold fonts create a dramatic effect. Thanks to its clean and sharp style, you can use them for headlines and signs.
3. Overlays and Cut-Outs
As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Use image and text to create an impact. There are two main ways to use photo and text: when text is over the image, or the opposite side when the image is over the text.
When you place a text over an image, you need to put your type on a photo. You can get the opposite effect by using clipping masks in Photoshop and cut out your text on the image. Take a look at the example below.
You can go even further and make the text and other design elements overlap, just like on this example:
A person on the photo merges with the typography that makes viewers pay extra attention to the text.
4. Retro Fonts
People love to reminisce about old times. Let them do it with nostalgic, vintage fonts. This year a lot of fonts that mimic old retro style will appear. Find fonts that were used on old packages before the internet, and replicate their look.
Get inspired by retro labels and signs. Use retro fonts with swashes and tails to get this fantastic nostalgic feeling on your designs.
Vintage fonts will be a perfect match for product packaging. They may cause sentimental feelings – people remember those old packages of milk, chocolate, and Pepsi from their childhood.
5. Outline Fonts
Outline fonts will help you to make your design airier. Combine them with regular weight fonts to create a nice contrast. Also, it is an excellent match for the types from their font family.
Outline fonts can be used for website headers, banners, and other creative purposes. An outline font with all-caps will be a perfect solution for a title.
6. Hand-Drawn Fonts
Hand-drawn fonts that mimic handwriting will never get outdated. They are created with attention to details and using elegant letterforms. In 2019 hand-drawn fonts comes in various shapes and styles.
They could be monoline or playful, classic or modern, serious or quirky. Pair them with simple sans-serif fonts for the best results.
7. Geometric Fonts
Geometric fonts are famous for the last few years. These type of fonts are using perfectly strict lines and rounded shapes. They go entirely without serifs. Geometric types can give a futuristic vibe to any projects.
Thanks to their simplicity, geometric fonts can be used for titles, main text, and any designs. These fonts will be gorgeous on logos and branding identity.
Free Trendy Fonts
We have collected ten free fonts that will be trendy this year. Below you’ll see hand-drawn, outline, bold, and vintage fonts.
Seascape: Seascape is a beautiful, elegant handwritten font that will help you to add a personal touch to any designs project. You can use it for branding identity, website header, business cards, signatures, and more.
Kano: Kano is a wonderful, sans-serif font with soft lines. It was created by Frederick Lee, a designer from New York, USA. Thanks to sharp edges and uncomplicated style you can use it for any design.
Briberra: Briberra is a bold, script typeface with interesting swashes that looks custom and unique. Use it for posters, quotes, branding identity, and any other personal and commercial projects.
Bebas Neue: Bebas is a new Helvetica. It is a simple, bold, and clean font that will be suitable for any design project. Thanks to its simplicity and creative personality, you can use it for headlines that drive attention.
Potra: Potra is a futuristic outline font created by Alejo Bergmann. It goes with all-caps so that you can use it for headlines, branding, and more. The font also has numbers and symbols.
Cover: Coves is a primary, minimalist typeface with rounded shapes. The font has two weights. Use it for any projects, especially in the cases when you need to use a small yet readable text.
Gutenberg: Gutenberg is a retro-inspired font with sketchy, grunge style. You can use it in a creative style or clean; it depends on your goals.
Shorelines: Shorelines is an elegant, script, monoline font with handwriting style. It will be an ideal choice for signature, business card, personal website, or blog. You need to purchase a commercial license for it.
Lato: Lato is amazing, sans-serif font that you can use for many purposes: it can be used for both headline and text.
Quicksand: Quicksand is a simple, sans-serif font with rounded terminals. It is using geometric forms as its foundation. The font is created for display purposes.
Over to You: Trends are only trends: they appear and go, and sometimes come back. Trends could be commercial and mainstream. Try to remember your design context and goals before choosing perfect types for your future designs.