TastyType #26 – The (Un)Usual Suspects

I’ve got a pragmatic approach to design: design should help people get sh*t done. Tried and true free typefaces such as Inter help do just that. They get out of the way and help people read and understand. But things get boring when almost all designers use the five same typefaces.

Design is also about trying new things and being different from the indistinguishable masses. To help you try something new I’ve collected 10 typefaces that are not on Google Fonts that you can use for free (yes, even commercial projects).

Free Fonts Galore

Open Sauce Sans

Alright, +1 for the name. It’s a compact typeface that’s under active development and comes in 14 weights. I’ve installed it on my computer and it looks great for both web/UI design and branding.

Chillax

This is a futuristic take on 1920’s modernism. Comes in 6 weights with 443 glyphs for the awesome price of totally free. I’m a total sucker for these types of fonts, as they make brand names and large text look awesome. I beg you tho please do not use this for small copy or UI elements…

Uncut Sans

I’m just going to paste the description from the GitHub page since it’s so much better than anything I could write: “Yet another slightly quirky sans serif, designed with absolutely no investigation or research into any other typefaces from any specific time period. It tries to capture the essence of nothing, really. There’s no deeper meaning behind the design, but hopefully it’s still interesting enough to be taken into consideration for your next project.”

Norm Sans

Norm is a lovechild between a monospaced and a geometric sans serif typeface. The result is warm, fun, futuristic, yet surprisingly human. It comes in 7 weights for a total of 14 styles.

National Park

No TastyType newsletter is complete without at least one inclusion of a rounded typeface. This one is obviously inspired by the signs and wayfinding found on many national parks. Great for both branding and body copy.

HK Grotesk Wide

Don’t worry, it also comes with lower case letters. It’s a bold and loud typeface however that best works on posters, headlines, or book/magazine covers. Comes with 7 different weights to play with.

Heming

A modern typeface that that borrows from monostyled fonts. It’s a Variable Font. Meaning that you download a single font file but with most modern design tools you can change the weight to whatever value you want.

Butler

“Where are the serif typefaces?”, you might wonder. Good point, so I’ve included this stellar specimen. It’s a high-contrast typeface that even comes with a stencil variation that I very much enjoy. Pairs really well with modern sans serif fonts.

Monocode

Don’t let the image above or the name fool you. Sure this font looks great in a code editor, but how about giving it a try for headings or shorter bits of text. I assure you this will give a distinct look to whatever design you are working on.

Onest

Designed for Moldova to make communication more open and honest. Really happy they made it available for free since it’s such a readable and friendly typeface. Perfect for both large branding application and for reading long texts.

That’s it for today, thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed this issue. Did you spot a mistake, do you have a suggestion, or want to leave any other feedback? Don’t hesitate to reply to this email or contact me on Twitter.

Now tell me, what’s your favourite free font that’s not on Google Fonts?

👋