Free Fonts for Designers / Part I
Sometimes using the perfect font can really make or break your design project and my ever-expanding collection of fonts take up more space on my computer than my music! I know, it’s a pretty sick addiction. There are several resources online where you can find great free fonts! Yes, free. I will create a three part series sharing my personal go-to websites and favorite fonts.
The League of Moveable Type
Let’s start the list off with The League of Moveable Type – a fantastic website that has a great collection of free fonts including League Gothic, one of my all-time favorites! The League of Movable Type offers open-source free fonts, including serif, sans-serif and all of their fonts are available for use with @font-face.
01. League Gothic
League Gothic is a revival of an old classic, and one of our favorite typefaces, Alternate Gothic #1. It was originally designed by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company in 1903. The company went bankrupt in 1993, and since the original typeface was created before 1923, the typeface is in the public domain.
02. Ostrich Sans
Ostrich Sans is a gorgeous modern sans-serif with a very long neck. With a whole slew of styles & weights: Dashed (thin), Rounded (medium), Ultra light, Normal, Bold (race track style double lines), and Black.
03. Linden Hill
Linden Hill is a digital version of Frederic Goudy’s Deepdene. The package includes roman and italic.
04. Raleway
Raleway is an elegant sans-serif typeface, designed in a single thin weight. It is a display face that features both old style and lining numerals.
Free means Free
So if you’re concerned about what you can do with a free font under the OFL license here is what they say on their site: With any OFL licensed fonts (all of ours are OFL), you can use the font however you like – in a logo, embedded on a site, in an app, whatever you need. You don’t need to put in any sort of attribution (especially on a logo), though if you can, it’s always nice. As long as you’re not selling the font itself or claiming you originally made it, it’s allowed!
Thanks to font foundries such as The League of Moveable Type we common (design) folk continue to have amazing fonts available to us at no cost! Cheers to that! For all you typography lovers, keep up-to-date with the font world by checking out their blog.
Happy font hunting! 🙂