Font Pack For Designers
Donat Ruel
I was reading The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams and was very impressed how on almost every page, Ms. Williams seems to "pull out" some beautiful typeface which I've never heard of. I'm not a design professional, but this got me wondering:
While this is primarily a list of sites, know that browsing a website is not the only way to look for typefaces. Some type foundries still publish specimen catalogs, and some now have mobile apps and Adobe plugins. Many will also have e-mail newsletters to update on new things.
I encourage others to edit this post and add additional links if something has been missed. But please try and refrain from specific, opinion-based, typeface recommendations. This should be a list of where a user can find typefaces, not what specific fonts you feel are better than others.
I don't think there's any typeface "commonly used by professionals." Every designer has their own preferred typefaces. And many designers simply use what's on their system and rarely, if ever, purchase additional fonts unless they are forced to.
A good book on typography (one of my favorites and excellent if you are new to the subject is Just my Type by Simon Garfield) can give you a solid foundation on how typefaces have been developing since they were first created / used.
For good quality fonts you might want to search for Font Foundry on whatever your favorite search engine is and then look at some of the current foundries around. One nice one is Lost Type Foundry. Generally a font foundry is going to be much higher quality then a lot of the other sites that just have thousands of fonts from anyone that got their hands on the required software.
Independent digital type foundry Zeafonts focus on creating beautifully crafted multi-purpose display typefaces. Boasting a huge collection of diverse, versatile typefaces, their attention to detail never fails to impress. Their typefaces RIGEKO, Bagerich Display and Millik are available through Type Department.
Indonesia-based independent type foundry Tegamitype create retail and custom high-quality typefaces with extensive language support and various OpenType features. Their typefaces are unique and meticulously constructed, and their incredible TG Glifko, TG Praktikal, TG Haido Grotesk and TG Frekuent Mono are all available on Type Department. Tegmitype have also recently been sharing some glimpses of their upcoming WIP, TG Minagi Sans & Display, which looks super exciting.
Creator of Belle de Mai, 60KILOS is a designer you 100% need on your radar. Belle de Mai is an elegant, edgy serif display which plays with the cultural shock between high cost, inner-city zones and lower cost suburbs in big metropolitans cities such as Paris. The typeface, available on Type Department, takes its name from the hood of La Belle de Mai and merges classical elements with an unusual, vibrant edge. Be sure to keep up with 60KILOS in 2021.
Minjoo Ham, cofounder of type foundry Hypertype, is an independent type designer, typographer and graphic designer from South Korea. Having focussed on researching and designing a Latin and Hangul double-script during her TypeMedia Masters course at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, Netherlands, she is now based in Berlin and produces multi-script font families for corporate clients and various foundries.
Designer of the gorgeous Ascentis typeface, Emily Jing Sum Chan is currently studying for her degree at Parsons School of Design alongside working at &Walsh. Her current typefaces do a stunning job of bringing to together classic influences with a contemporary touch; Ascentis is inspired by Neoclassical typography with a contemporary twist, while her display typeface Orna draws from Art Nouveau merged with Blackletter Calligraphy.
Alex Slobzheninov is the creator of a collection of stunning typefaces. Relaate is an extensive font family featuring an elegant Serif, a brutal Slab and quirky tall Grotesque. A constant work in progress, Relaate now supports Cyrillic and Latin Extended, and transitions stunningly between styles. Alex has also been sharing some experiments with variable fonts and coding recently, which is also super exciting.
Alexandre Bassi is a type designer currently working in research and type design at Atelier National de Recherche Typographique in Nancy, France. Specialised in art direction, visual identities and type design, his visual work is informed by rigorous research and a deep understanding of typographic forms, meaning his output is rich and always deeply compelling.
Hi there! We ran into an issue where designers with editor access see one font weight in the inspect panel, but developers selecting the same text layer see a different font weight in the inspect panel. Any ideas regarding how or why this is happening, and which is correct?
Please reach out to the support team directly with a copy of your file and indicates which Font you encounter that issue by filling this form here: -us/requests/new Be sure to use your Figma account email, include a link to the file, and share it with suppor...@figma.com, so we can take a closer look. Thank you!
I see in our backend that we have a current long standing bug for Museo Sans font that our engineering team is aware of.
As said, can you please also reach out to the support team directly with a copy of your file and indicates which Font you encounter that issue here: -us/requests/new This will help our technical specialists to investigate further your issue. Thank you!
If the type industry was simply dominated by a few massive players, we'd worry that things would get stale, and those corporations would merely focus on wringing extra profit out of existing typefaces. Thankfully, that's not the world we live in. Instead, an army of fiercely independent type foundries is constantly innovating and developing new fonts, meaning that even the largest players have to compete in kind.
Happily, this means designers have an impossible range of options, allowing them to bring their visions to life in the most original and imaginative ways. But that wouldn't be possible without the indies, so in this article, we pay tribute to some of the best standard-bearers for inventiveness and excellence in type design from around the world.
Founded in 2004 by type designer Tim Ahrens and typographer Shoko Mugikura, Just Another Foundry is a German type design studio based in the Bavarian town of Garching. Their notable work to date has included JAF Herb, a new take on the German blackletter tradition, and the sans-serif superfamily JAF Bernini Sans, a 2012 TDC2 winner. They're also known for their work on custom and customised type design projects for Crown Equipment Corporation, OECD and Seiko Watch Corporation.
JAF Cupidus is notable for its extremely high x-height. It's an evolution of the foundry's earlier rounded sans, JAF Domus, in which they made the counter spaces as even as possible to give the typeface a sense of calm and space. In Cupidus, they've extended this concept to vertical directions, which reduces the hierarchy between upper and lowercase letters. While originally designed as a display face, Cupidus also can work well in text sizes.
Village is a type co-op: a union of type foundries, scattered around the world, who've decided to go it alone, together. Its members include Blackletra, Constellation, Feliciano Type Foundry, Incubator, Klim, LuxTypo, MCKL, Schwartzco, Sharp Type, Type Supply and Urtd. Registered in New York, www.vllg.com is the information channel and boutique storefront for this group of equals.
Ofelia is a versatile family of geometric sans fonts available in two optical sizes, Text and Display, and boasting just the right amount of personality. The Text family contains five weights ranging from Light through Bold. The overall geometric character speaks in a contemporary neutral voice while earmark glyphs ('a', 'f', ',') provide a gestural touch. The fonts are equipped with small caps, old style and tabular figures, as well as alternate versions of 'a' and 'l'.
Founded in 2017, Order is a New York-based design office by Hamish Smyth and Jesse Reed (read our interview with Jesse to learn more). Last December, it launched its own eponymous type foundry, which serves as a distributor for new type designers. It is focused on presenting experimental, practical, research-based families such as Pastiche Grotesque and Plebeian, created by Benjamin Tuttle.
Etude is a stencil typeface inspired by the study of type design and experimental music techniques. The name comes from the French verb 'tudier' (to study). The design evokes a broad nib pen, the history of handwritten music notation, and the influence of Jean-Pierre Rousselet's constructed stencil forms. You can learn more about the font in this news article.
Dalton Maag is an independent type design studio based in London and comprises a global team of 40 type designers, font developers, creative directors, software engineers and support staff. They're best known for their headline-grabbing type creations for Rio 2016, Google, Amazon, Intel, and Nokia. But they also partner with smaller clients on a range of services, including logo refinements and font modifications, as well as small, medium, and large bespoke custom fonts.
Jazzier is a contemporary take on the decorative metal display type of the late 19th century. These traditional features have been exaggerated and embellished, and the inclusion of multiple alternate glyphs provides creative breadth. The result is a typographic tone that feels highly familiar but elegantly irreverent. With over 850 glyphs, Jazzier is a good choice for book design, contemporary art exhibitions, music artwork and merchandise, and a wide range of packaging applications.
Based in New York and London, Commercial Type is a digital type foundry producing original typefaces for commission and retail. It's a joint venture between Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz, who've collaborated since 2004 on various typeface projects, most notably the award-winning Guardian Egyptian. They've also been honoured by D&AD and the Design Museum's 'Designer of the Year' prize.
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