Best Open Source Fonts That Give You Goosebumps
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I can sit for hours just looking for open source fonts that make me feel ‘click’ and tick when I see them. You could say 50% of my design process is spent researching the best typefaces. We all know that choosing the right font is crucial, as it plays a significant role in determining the final outcome of our projects.
Perhaps you’re curious about where your favorite designers source those stunning typefaces or tired of endlessly affordable font alternatives that won’t break the bank. I’ve been there myself, and I’ve done in-depth research of open source fonts, and the results have been so satisfying that my computer feels like exploding! I ended up downloading a lot of typefaces, without knowing I downloaded almost everything I saw 🙂
I’m really grateful to the organizations and individuals who generously provide open source fonts, making them accessible to the worldwide design community. For me, open source fonts are love letters to the design community from type designers. They really help me on my creative process, so I’ll help them by telling folks about my favorite typeface designers so that their work can be reached by more people!
Below is the top 10 list of my favorite open source fonts. If you’re interested in reading more, I have a freebie with lists of open source fonts that you can have for free!
Glyph World
Glyph World is an open source typefaces project by Leah Maldonaldo. Leah is a Portland-based designer as an expressionist type designer of 9 typefaces designed by her based on the emotional connection to our environment that these typefaces are named after: Forest, Meadow, Flower, Mountain, Airland, Animal Soul, Glacier, Desert and Wasteland.
Glyph World is on top of my list because I have been following Leah for a long time and I am a big fan of her works! She also held several workshops for creative typography. Quoted from It’s Nice That, Leah said “[Glyphworld] is free to download because I want more people to participate in something unique and changing in the type world.”
U+270D
U+270D is the typographic foundry of EESAB-Rennes. It publishes the characters designed collectively by the Master students of the typographic creation workshop led by Benjamin Gomez. This is one of the best foundry with open source font projects I’ve found! They have the vibes that I want for each of my designs.
The fonts are distributed free of charge under an open license. The goals are to stimulate worldwide development of collaborative font projects, to support the font creation efforts of academic and linguistic communities, and to provide a free and open framework in which fonts may be shared and improved in partnership with others.
Fungal
Fungal is a libre font collaborated between Raphaël Bastide and Jérémy Landes forked from DejaVu Sans. Since november 2022, Fungal is distributed by Velvetyne Type Foundry. The hyphæ of the mycelium growing from each glyphs can be controlled in their length (the Grow axis) and in their thickness (the Thickness axis) allowing to fine tune the density of the rhizome growing on the page and the legibility of the text in the same move.
I found out about this typeface while browsing the web of Fungal which is a Wikipedia fanzine designed and art directed by Raphaël Bastide . This piqued my interest to explore further, and then I confirmed that fungal is one of my favorite libre fonts. I also collect their fanzine! You can get for yourself here:
ANRT
ANRT is Atelier National de Recherche Typographique as a part of post-master’s program at Université de Lorraine doing research in type design and typography. The program is open to art school graduates in Visual Communications and Graphic Designs who have completed a master’s degree or equivalent, and to professional – no age limit applies. Research carried out at the ANRT frequently explores the relationship of typography to language, and to the learning of writing in all its forms.
What I like about ANRT fonts is that they look suitable for editorial projects. The typefaces they produce feel familiar to me but in a different form. Their aesthetic take me back to a time before the internet existed. I feel comfortable while experimenting with ANRT. I suggest you collect one or all of ANRT’s typefaces. I have all of them! These are open source fonts but I recommend re-reading the license to be extra careful!
Founderie Download
You might regret missing out on this font. I am totally obsessed ever since I installed this typeface on my computer! They looks gorgeous and unique with 6 different typefaces. My favorite is Garamondt, please take a look and let me know your favorite collections in the comments section. All of their fonts are released under the WTFPL license : It means that you can literally do anything you want to with them. Just be sure not to resell them for commercial purpose.
Isobare
Isobare is a typeface whose origins lie in the patterns of atmospheric pressure and the way they are represented on maps. A way of seeing the sky, the world; nomenclatures become precise, graphic gestures that translate our environments. This typeface is designed by Clémence Fontaine who is a nomadic, multidisciplinary designer. I cannot say how much love I put into this font! It feels nostalgic and soft.
Typerabelle
Typerabelle is local lettering! These shapes come from mirabelle plums, the gold of orchards. Lorraine is the basic pattern. How cool! Designed by Clémence Fontaine I’ve never told anyone that her work is amazing and everyone should get to know her. I don’t know her personally but I love her work. Keep it up!
Typotheque Bye Bye Binary
The Bye Bye Binary font library presents inclusive, non-binary, post-binary fonts under construction. These fonts use the Queer Unicode Initiative ( QUNI ) to encode their inclusive glyphs and make their use compatible. This space is an open window of the collective Bye Bye Binary ( genderfluid.space ).
I have used their fonts many times in my projects. I recommend try it out then installed to your computer/as needed, you can try it on their website especially the glyphs! I love everything they make and really appreciate how passionate designers are, they do it in great detail. I really get goosebumps and kind of speechless everytime I am using it! You can come back and agree with me if you have tried it <3
Nathan Laurent
Nathan Laurent designed typefaces since 2018. He has created this web space to share and distribute his typefaces. He is studied graphic design at ENSAD in Nancy, France and Typography at ERG (Ecole de Recherche Graphique) in Brussels, Belgium. You can tell how passionate he is when it comes to Type & Editorial!
Rory King
RORY KING is a multidisciplinary designer, creative director, and educator based in New York City. He works with big clients such as Vox Media and Sony Music Entertainment and currently teaching at Pratt Institute. He’s very passionate in his typeface experimentation on his site and his work really owned that NYC vibes (cold and stylish)!
And there you have it! I hope you’ve enjoyed exploring these list of open source fonts as much as I have. Just remember to take a moment to read through the documentation and licenses – it’s always good to stay informed. If you’ve found this as exciting as I have, I encourage you to share this post with your friends, family, and fellow design community. Happy creating!
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