Whether you create homepages that reflect your brand or compelling social media posts, you must consider typographic elements.
Placing the right font in the right part of your webpage can turn a curious scroller into a loyal user. Yes, it really does boil down to the finer details when it comes to excellent UI and UX design.
Given the fiercely competitive nature of digital product design, your attentiveness to the smaller details matters. What’s more, it matters now more than ever as both designers and brands constantly find new ways to convey uniqueness. This is where trendy fonts enter the picture.
So, with that in mind, we’re here to help you convey your uniqueness to your target audience using trendy fonts. In today’s guide, we shall address the top trending fonts. We shall also cover the most commonly used fonts, the best new fonts, and everything in between!
Trending Fonts and Styles You Should Know About
Before we get into our exploration of the most popular, iconic, and trendy fonts, it’s important to examine current trends. By monitoring current design trends, you can learn more about your target users’ mental models. You can decipher your users’ behaviors and preferences by analyzing what they deem to be popular. It’s safe to say that you should utilize design trends to inform your own design process.
Fortunately, several typography trends have started to dominate modern UI design; let’s take a look at some of them!
Distorted, Warped Lettering
2024 is the year when UI designers ditch their hyperfocus on clean lines and crisp edges in favor of creativity.
This trend of shapeshifting lettering combines the whimsical feel of rubber hose and cartoon-like fonts with retro bubble lettering. The asymmetrical curves and warped fluidity drive visual intrigue while modernizing a distorted, retro typeface.
The distortion of the lettering speaks to brands that built their personality around edgier, slick styles and contexts. Warped lettering shows you want to appear unabashedly original while appreciating vintage fonts, appealing to both young and mature users.
Elegant Sans Serif
Sans Serif fonts have always been a perfect choice for brands that want to exude casual aesthetics and straightforward functionality. However, Sans Serif fonts lack the ornamental, decorative strokes that Serif fonts have. In the past, this characteristic of sans-serif fonts posed several creative limitations.
Now, that is no longer the case. Sans Serif fonts have become more elegant and sophisticated with thin strokes and decoratively wide kerning.
This trend adheres to minimalism excellently. Efficient Sans Serif fonts convey class, confidence, and professionalism through thoughtful subtlety and sparse ornamentation.
Vintage Baselines
Fonts with vintage baselines, such as The Goldsmith font, became a top trend for its fluid baselines and ornate appeal.
Flaunting romantic, nostalgic aesthetics, vintage baselines, and lettering convey a timeless allure. Vintage baselines gained popularity in the 19th century and use dynamic curves and thick strokes to make a bold statement.
The elongated, embellished strokes make it impossible for users not to notice this font’s dramatic and sophisticated appearance.
Experimental, Abstract Fonts
2024 marks the start of a trend that prioritizes creative expression over traditional rule-following.
The influences of technology and digital art paved the way for designers to experiment with endless art styles. In particular, geometric shapes and 3-D effects changed the way a lot of UI designers approached typography. Now, irregular lines, abstract shapes, and overstated proportions have become a UI designer’s new go-to typographic trend!
Classic Gothic Lettering
Gothic fonts effectively combine romantic ornamentation with strikingly bold lettering.
Heavy black lettering, angular strokes, and clean flourishes make gothic fonts perfect for a stylish, chic brand. Gothic fonts bridge the gap between personalization and professionalism, sporting a contrast between sharp, linear features and handwritten-esque curves.
The Most Common Font Types
Trending typefaces can reveal a lot of information about a brand’s personality and its target users. What’s more, your typeface will elicit a particular emotional response from your users.
Your choice of typeface will help to make your users feel relaxed, positive, or even excited. It’s important to keep this in mind when you approach any design project.
Before you can do that, however, you first need to know what those typefaces are.
Here are the most common font types you’ll encounter and utilize.
1. Serif
Many people believe that Serif fonts originated from the first official Greek writings on stone and in the Latin alphabet. As part of Roman Antiquity, stone gravers initially painted the outlines of Roman letters on the stone’s surface. Once etched and carved, the ends and corners of the lettering would display flared strokes, creating the well-known Serif font.
Characteristics of Serif Fonts:
- Serif fonts are very thin.
- Serif fonts display heavy, vertical lines.
- Serif fonts have extra strokes on the ends of their letterforms.
- Serif letterforms have the same width throughout.
Examples of Serif Fonts:
- Times New Roman
- Garamond
- Baskerville
- Georgia
2. Sans Serif
Sans Serif originated in the late 18th century. However, it didn’t grow popular until the early 19th century. Popularized by William Caslon IV’s font, ‘Calson Egyptian,’ in 1816, Sans Serif fonts became prevalent among advertisem*nts and printed material.
Characteristics of Sans Serif Fonts:
- Sans Serif fonts don’t feature extra strokes on the end of their letterforms.
- Sans Serif fonts are nearly always ‘mono weight,’ meaning that all letterforms share the same level of thickness.
- Sans Serif fonts are simple and stylish, usually without decorative flourishes.
- Sans Serif fonts make use of clean lines.
Examples of Sans Serif Fonts:
- Futura
- Arial
- Calibri
- Roboto
3. Script
A significant number of modern formal scripts take inspiration from the letterforms of 17th- and 18th-century writing masters. Writing masters like George Bickham used their quills to create the thin and thick strokes that we use today!
Characteristics of Script Fonts:
- Script fonts have cursive letterforms.
- Script fonts are fluid.
- Script fonts have different stroke widths.
- Script fonts take inspiration from handwritten text and calligraphy.
Examples of Script Fonts:
- Allura
- Alex Brush
- Sofia
- Sacramento
4. Decorative
Diverse, decorative fonts grew in popularity during the 19th century, and by the early 20th century, they had become commonplace. Primarily used for posters and advertisem*nts, decorative fonts aim to enhance the visual intrigue of any product or establishment.
Characteristics of Decorative Fonts:
- Decorative fonts can effectively evoke a particular emotional response or mood.
- Decorative fonts are not suitable for long copies.
- Decorative fonts are the most diverse fonts currently available.
- Decorative fonts are great for a brand that wishes to convey a casual personality.
Examples of Decorative Fonts:
- Swashington
- Cambridge
- Quicksand
- Unkempt
The Most Used Fonts in the World of Product Design
Now that you know the most common font types, it’s time to evaluate just how common they actually are. In other words, it’s time to look at the most used fonts in the digital landscape.
Examining the most used fonts, like how we examined trending fonts, will reveal valuable insights concerning your users’ preferences. Users have employed the following fonts for years, and it’s vital to consider why their appeal hasn’t wavered over time.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most used fonts!
1. Helvetica
Helvetica is an immensely popular Sans Serif font by Swiss typeface designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman.
Helvetica has tight kerning, easy readability, uniform strokes, and clean lines.
2. Times New Roman
Times New Roman is one of the most popular Serif fonts in the world! Created by Stanley Morison, The Times commissioned Times New Roman in 1931.
Designed with professionalism in mind, Times New Roman flaunts a sharp and condensed appearance. With short descenders, Times New Roman is perfect for long copies.
3. Garamond
Named after Parisian engraver Claude Garamond, the Garamond font represents a collection of old-style Serif typefaces.
The Garamond font speaks to timeless, traditional aesthetics while displaying thinner and delicate letterforms.
Iconic Fonts To Inspire You
Although we’ve already discussed some of the most popular fonts, there are several iconic fonts to choose from!
To help you think outside the box, we’ve provided some iconic fonts to help you design visually compelling products.
- Comic Sans MS: a font that draws inspiration from comic book letterforms.
- Baskerville: a font that increased the contrast between thick and thin strokes.
- Rockwell: a blocky, sharp font that utilizes angular contours and near-perfect circles.
- Didot: a font that exhibits hairline strokes, vertical stress, and teardrop terminals.
The Best New Fonts
We’ve explored the classics, and now it’s time to look at the best new fonts to grace the world of digital design!
We have assembled a list of the best new fonts that you should examine. Look at the following fonts and ask yourself the following questions:
- What popular fonts have this new font taken inspiration from?
- How do these fonts combine readability with aesthetics?
- What product or service would these fonts suit the best?
- How will this font help me portray my brand?
Now, let’s take a look at some new fonts!
Free Trendy Fonts You Should Experiment With
Now that you know the ins and outs of the top typographic trends, you’re almost ready to start using them!
Below, we’ve listed some of the best, free trendy fonts that you should consider implementing into your designs!
Trendy Fonts: Adding Unique Flair to a User Interface
Hopefully, what you’ve taken away from this guide is that fonts are incredibly handy to a UI designer.
With intriguing kernings, baselines, and strokes, you can create your brand’s identity and influence the emotional state of your users. With this in mind, it’s crucial that you conduct both UX research and market research.
Take the time to familiarize yourself with your brand, your brand’s place in the market, and your target users. By doing so, you can garner valuable insights that will help you make vital design decisions that concern typography. Ultimately, with careful planning and research, your product will feature typography that enhances the user’s experience.
Speaking of enhancing the user’s experience, you’ll need some inspiration to get you on your way to creating user-centric products. Meet Page Flows.
Page Flows is our users’ go-to source for inspiration with regard to innovative design solutions.
Our ethos is simple—we want to show proficient designers like yourself how to optimize their user flows. From user onboarding to inviting friends, our user flow inspiration mirrors our dedication to the user’s journey. We even collect emails when we record user flows, so you know precisely how you should interact with your users!
With over 4,800 recordings of tried and tested products, you’ll never experience a shortage of excellent design-oriented inspiration. From trendy fonts to easily navigable user interfaces, we have everything you need to expand your user base!
Get started today to peruse our revered library of user flow recordings!
