A quick search is all you need to access quality fonts. But, choosing the right font for a project is not as easy as it sounds.

Writers from The Creative blog say, “Your choice of typeface and how you make it work with your layout, grid, colour scheme, design theme and so on will make the difference between a good, bad and great design.”

Given that fonts have to be accessible in all browsers, many designers opt for Google Fonts, mainly for that accessibility. Other sites like Typekit and My Fonts are also very popular. More traditional designers go to foundries or even create their own typeface.

It’s very easy to get lost in a sea of beautiful fonts. But, do we need more than two fonts? I’m a firm believer that keeping things simple makes for a better design. A minimalist design brings some flexibility compared to heavy bulky type-faces. That said, the mix and match trend is super popular these days. The choices are vast, and typography design keeps evolving. For this reason, we’re always looking for the latest trends. This coming year brings more traditional styles and few curiosities. Let’s dive in.

Trendy Fonts for 2018

One of the challenges that creatives face is making designs that run consistently across multiple platforms. To sort out this problem Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Apple joined forces and created the Open Type Project. The project allows designers to modify fonts from a single file.

“With variable fonts, your devise can display text in myriads of weights, widths, or other stylistic variations from a single font file with less space and bandwidth”

As user interface becomes more and more important, designers must find ways to create visually pleasing designs that will adapt to multiple devises. Not so long ago, fonts weren’t as accessible, and creatives had to rely on the same typeface for several projects. But, these days there is no shortage of available fonts. Still, quite a few fonts seem to be the kings of print and digital design. Let’s have a look at the most popular fonts for the coming year.

Museo Sans

Created in 2008 by Jos Buivenga. Museo Sans is a simple sans serif, low contrast font, perfect for web and graphic design. Delicious was another font project that quickly grew into Jos’ trademark, giving him the inspiration to develop more font types. Two Museo Sans styles are available for free on Jos’ website. Also available on My Fonts, Typekit and other sites (paid).

Monserrat

Created by Julieta Ulanovsky the graphic designer behind the Zkysky design studio. She created Monserrat in reference to the Monserrat neighborhood in Buenos Aires. This font is coming up on trend on a few sites. It has 18 styles from thin and extra thin to extra Bold. Monserrat is distributed free under the Open Font Licence on Google Fonts and Fonts Squirrel.

Ubuntu

Made by international foundry Dalton Maag. Ubuntu is part of the Ubuntu free software project from Canonical LTD and is being distributed under an Open License. This encourages designers to modify, alter and experiment with the font. Ubuntu, is a sans serif very handy for web design. It’s available on Google fonts, Fonts Squirrel and the Ubuntu website.

Futura

This sans-serif typeface was created by Paul Renner in 1927, and even though it has gone through several modifications, it’s still super popular. Futura has been used on ad campaigns, logo design, video, print, web, and video games. There are actually 22 styles and Futura PT is managed by Moscow ParaType Foundry. Most styles are available paid on Typekit and My Fonts, while a few free styles are offered on 1001 Fonts.

Josefin Slab

Created by Santiago Orozco, he says “Josefin Slab blends the typewriter style with a dash of Gothic and Scandinavian style.” Overall, it’s a light type-font, and even the bold style is quite thin. Josefin Slab is a low contrast font, simple and stylish. It’s available for free under the Open Font License on Google Fonts.

Proxima Nova

Mark Simonson is the designer behind Proxima Nova. Of the design he says, “I wanted to bridge the gap between Futura and AkzidenzGrotesk. The result is a hybrid that combines modern proportions with geometric appearance.”

He released a similar version in 1994 “Proxima Sans” and in 2015 Proxima Nova came to life. In terms of weight there are three types: normal, condensed and extra condensed. Yet, this font family is quite large with 48 styles in total. Proxima Nova is available on Typekit, My Fonts, FontSpring and several other sites (paid).

Blog Script

Carolina Marando and Alejandro Paul created Blog Script in 2015. The idea was to bring back the handwriting style for nostalgic designers. We’ve seen this kind of font on many websites. And guessing by its “best-selling” credentials it’ll continue to expand in the coming year. Blog Scrip is informal, relaxed and fun. It’s available on My Fonts (paid).

Droid Sans

A sans serif typography created by Steve Matterson. Droid Sans was produced with the mobile screen user in mind. It’s simple and clear, which is perfect for digital devices. Droid sans is under the Apache License, available free on Google Fonts.

Lato

Developed by Polish designer Lukasz Dziedzic. After working for many years in the Polish press, he came up with the idea of a simple type-font that can serve both the print and digital press. In 2010 the Lato project (Lato means ‘summer’ in Polish) was conceived. Lato is light and clear, and quite popular in web design. Lato is distributed under the Google Open Licence, free on Google Fonts and Lukasz’ website. We’ll see more websites with Lato the coming year.

Sailec

Is amongst the 50 bestsellers on My Fonts and Fonts.com(paid). It was designed by Nico Inosanto in 2014 with the idea of creating a low contrast typeface suited for international pages. Sailec is slowly gaining recognition in the digital world.

Several font styles are here to stay, and for a good reason. Yet, designers have to sell before anything else, and a pretty design alone is not enough to convey a message. People are exposed to an endless flow of information, so creatives must find ways to stand out in the crowd.

Fortunately, in the type-face sector, there are several options to make both digital and print design more eye-catching. Handwriting or 3D styles not only look good, but also tell viewers something unique about the brand. We have included a style section below.

Styles and Combinations

Handwriting

The Handwriting style is very popular these days and next year will see more of that. It all started when few bloggers used the handwriting typeface over their photographs, and it has now expanded to small business and even major corporations. The idea behind the design is to give a friendly out-look. The handwriting style sometimes is referred as ‘cursive’ which in essence is the same kind of writing just that the cursive style has all the letters connected. Handwriting is the general term for casual type-fonts. It tells us to not take things too seriously, and for some reason it works.

Designed by Jroh Creative Agency Selima is free for personal and commercial use. It’s a fun font with light brushes, and is available for free on befonts.

Designed by Missy Meyer Cavorting is free for personal and commercial use. Cavorting was made in one day and is available on behance. (The commercial license has some limitations).

A Sensible Armadillo Font was created by Britney Murphy, it’s a handwritten font casual and low-contrast, available on 1001 Fonts free for personal use.

Mix and Match

The idea behind mix and match is to combine two different typefaces, they’ve to maintain certain harmony so no style overshadows the other. If you’re not into typography design, it can take a number of hit and miss trials before you find a good combination. Likely, there are many styles that can work well for both print and web design, and they’re quite easy to implement. Here, few tips:

• Mix a sans serif with a serif font
• Avoid using various type-faces at once
• Use contrasting styles
• Keep the same font family but change the weights
• Experiment, break some rules

Light Typeface

A light typeface is simple and clear. It’s easy to read, and goes well with other elements like menus, colour layers and boxes. Every bold letter needs a light relative. Light type-faces are the little darling of print and digital design and this trend will continue the next year.

DIYFonts

This is nothing new. At some point, designers feel the need to experiment with their own type-fonts. These days it’s a lot easier to create striking type-fonts on your own. Quite often, creatives make fonts for a special project and they carry on fixing and adding new things. Then, they share their creations with a bigger crowd.

Tools/sites to make your own fonts:

• calligraphr.com
• ifontmaker
• fontstruct.com
• prototypo.io

3D Fonts

With the explosion of video games and micro- sites 3D fonts are making waves in the web design world. They are irreverent and audacious, and have gained popularity in recent years. It’s not only about making things different, it’s also about creating an immersive user experience.

Polya is a free font created by Adrien Coquet and available on Hipsthetic.

Typewriter

Like the light-fonts the typewriter style is simple and clear, and it also brings a vintage look to the design. Print design, food and fashion blogs love this font. There are many typewriter styles that you can get for free on Font Squirrel, or Google Fonts, with rich styles on Typekit or My Fonts. Another cool thing about the typewriter style is that it works well on any support. Next year will see plenty of typewriter fonts.

This typewriter font is made by Simon Stratford available for free on his website.

Conclusion

Fonts are an important element of design and we have to make sure the style fits with the brand’s message. Many tools have made it easier for designers and the general public to try and experiment. The options are pretty big and tools keep evolving. New apps and websites help beginners and experienced designers to produce quality typeface. Still, the idea remains the same; create visually pleasing designs that convey a message. They not only enhance communication, they also make communication attractive.