Font Trends 2023 + Top 12 Trending Fonts
Serif fonts, sans serifs fonts, script fonts, display fonts, variable fonts—the list of font choices in web design seems to expand each year as graphic designers look for the next trending idea. Some fonts are completely new and original while others are fresh takes on tried and true originals.
As a graphic designer today, understanding when and where to employ the most popular typefaces might offer a competitive edge. When creating website designs, web designers are getting more and more font conscious. Early in the design process, being able to offer your opinion on typeface choices and 2023 font trends can help you gain long-term, high-quality clients.
Before we look at 2023 font trends, let’s take a look at the classics. These ten fonts are perennial favorites and are used frequently for headings and copy:
- Helvetica
- Calibri
- Futura
- Garamond
- Times New Roman
- Arial
- Cambria
- Verdana
- Rockwell
- Franklin Gothic
While these 10 classics are still great for a lot of everyday uses, true creativity and originality defines new trends each year. Below, we look at five trends that are setting the tone for 2023.
Five Design-Forward Font Trends for 2023
The 2023 trending fonts point to a trend in eccentricity and variety and are in line with the many options in the year’s upcoming film, streaming, social media, and commercial branding. Fresh off a two-year pandemic-driven lockdown, designers are exercising more freedom to experiment with diverse types and typography—conformity is undoubtedly out of style.
Type evolves in step with popular culture’s increasing diversity, inclusivity, and eclecticism. Along with a generally stronger and more individualist approach to type across branding, print, and internet, viewers may anticipate seeing a considerably wider variety of fonts used in TV and film. The digital market has never been more crowded, so choosing type with care can really help carve out a niche and attract otherwise disinterested (or over stimulated) eyes.
Before we get to the 12 top trending fonts for 2023, lets look at five font trends that are making an impact in today’s design field.
Five Trending Font Styles for 2023
1. Branding is More Closely Linked with Typography
As brand messaging is spread across numerous formats and touchpoints by technology in 2023, branding will require more effort than ever before. So, it is not unexpected that custom type and font selections are being used as the cement to hold everything together.
Just like brand colors, picking the ideal brand typefaces for your client’s business is crucial. Fonts build harmony, establish visual hierarchy, and create cohesiveness for a brand’s overall tone.
Consumers make judgments about a company based on its website design in 75% of cases. Considering that fonts are so important to branding and website design, picking the ideal font may be extremely advantageous for every company.
2. Custom and Variable Font Design
Tailored or custom font design is viewed as a method to stand apart as brands continue to compete for awareness in increasingly crowded areas. Undoubtedly popular right now, custom fonts will continue to grow in popularity throughout 2023. Brands will continue to push for artistic expression through personalized typography and design styles as they try to forge closer ties with their customers. As a result, we will see more type trends that use letterform experimentation, delineated ink traps, inverted contrasts, and oversized flourishes.
3. Accessibility Takes Center Stage
Top trending fonts in 2023 will explore inclusivity and neurodiversity in a major way. When we exclude any group from having a full user experience on a site, we have failed our audience and the client company.
Fonts are being created to draw people in and destigmatize the differences they encounter in order to invite a new audience to a platform. Each design is carefully created to be used by everyone. Like designing colors and layout for people suffering from colorblindness, new typeface is being developed to make it easier for people with dyslexia or autism to read and stay focused. Of all the 2023 trending fonts, custom-designed fonts for accessibility are what we all need right now.
4. Classic Modernism with Swiss-style Sans Serif Fonts
Trending fonts in 2023 include Swiss-style sans serifs used in brand identities, print layouts, and digital designs that feature these timeless typefaces prominently. This sort of traditional typeface is quite popular among designers for a variety of reasons, including its simplicity.
Whether used for display headlines or body text, you really can’t go wrong with Univers, Sanshiro, Milford, Neue Haas Grotesque, or Avant Garde Gothic. These unique and thoughtfully designed typefaces create bold statements especially in hero copy.
5. High-Tech or Sci-Fi Typography
For organizations wanting to project an image as forward-thinking and tech-centric, fonts that pay homage to science fiction or technology will be the ideal fit. For corporate branding initiatives or website designs that call for a little extra edge and interest, use 2023 specialty fonts like Halo 3, Terminator Real NFI, Space Age, and Xirod.
12 Top Trending Fonts 2023
In 2023, font trends in the design world are growing exponentially. There are literally thousands of free and fee-based fonts available. And while it’s nearly impossible to choose the most used, we want to share some of our favorites that are also among the most trending fonts in 2023.
While the name says vintage and you can see the similarities with early 1900s vintage store signs in New York or London, Grayson Vintage Font is a modernized art deco look that is clean and easy on the eyes. Grayson is a sans serif font that provides a bold and unique look to web designs, logos, and brands.
2. Harmony
A modern serif font, Harmony by Artem Nevsky brings a true touch of elegance to web design. Not to be confused with the script font, this typeface is perfect for bold titles as well as text or copy where a serif font would work well.
Don’t let the name fool you—Spring Melody is a chic and contemporary design with graceful curves, sharp edges, and memorable kerning. This humanist font is ideal for branding, web design, marketing, and social media design, plus there are countless flexible alternatives thanks to the variety of styles included in the package.
4. Frutiger
Frutiger, a dependable classic that was first released in 1976, has recently had a significant rebirth as a trend for 2023. It is a humanist sans serif designed by the renowned Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger (1928–2015), originally for signage at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. It is meant to be easily readable at a distance and in small font sizes. Its resurgence suggests that there may be strength in the security provided by a well-known and dependable workhorse.
5. Bariol Serif
The sleek, cheerful, and eye-catching Bariol Serif typeface stands out and is incredibly readable. It has a contemporary and practical appearance, offers a wide variety of ligatures and alternate forms, and expertly manages all-caps styling. Cleverly, you can download both the standard and italic variants of this typeface for free in exchange for a tweet.
6. Isabella
A stylish, minimal sans serif typeface perfect for elegant design projects, Isabella can be edited through the OpenType programs available on platforms like Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Classy and refined, Isabella works well with most script typefaces and is perfect for web design projects, logos, and branding where a sophisticated flair would be beneficial.
7. Zorina
Following along the same path, Zorina is a fashion-forward font with same size upper and lower case letters that brings a luxurious, minimal vibe and would be particularly at home on websites that sell fashion goods, e.g., clothing, shoes, jewelry, fragrance.
8. Pandyra
Pandyra is a stylish, contemporary typeface that captures a simplistic design. The typeface includes digits, special characters, ligatures, uppercase, lowercase, and capital letters. Pandyra is prepared for usage in high-end, refined, and fashionable projects like as websites, branding, packaging, and more. Pandyra creates an ageless look that’s almost mystical.
Searching for a text font with a lot of character? Yes, this one does have some personality. This typeface is available in two optical sizes: Headline and Text, with the latter being ideal for 9 to 18 point-type. It combines sharp wedge serifs, spiky spurs, softball terminals, and a neoclassical stroke contrast. Seven different weights of Kisba Nova Text, ranging from Thin to Black, provide a wealth of options for setting body copy and subheadings.
10. Maxi
Do you want to catch your audience’s attention? Maxi is a friendly and fun typeface with angular lines and rounded curves. As a changeable font, these recognizable shapes can be amplified and emboldened any way you see fit, ranging from sleek to bold and everything in between. Interestingly, it has a skeleton that references mid-century and post-modern Swiss designs.
11. Sirenia
Sirenia has natural appearance and almost organic feel with rounded corners and smooth transitions. It is a fantastic option for lifestyle products as well as food and beverage packaging due to its calligraphic inspirations and natural, authentic feel. It is an excellent option for logo and graphic design because of its 1,270 characters, which include numerous decorative letters and swash variations for initial, medial, and final letters.
12. Exposure
The limits of font technology are pushed through Exposure into new, novel, and intriguing areas. Conventional variable fonts use axes of variation to change the weight, set width, and optical size, all of which are modifications carried over from earlier methods. Yet, Federico Parra Barrios diverges with Exposure to provide a different method of thinking. The axis of variation for exposure spans from -100 to +100 and gives the impression that the typeface’s outline can be changed by varying the amount of light to which it is exposed. It’s basically a homage to a different, long-gone method called phototypesetting.
How to Use Most Trending Fonts in 2023
Trending fonts in 2023 can play a significant role for typography in design. Different fonts convey different attitudes in the same way that different colors inspire various feelings. Serif typefaces are contemporary, elegant, and tidy. Sans-serif fonts provide a more formal, vintage feel. Designing with the perfect typeface reveals a lot about a company’s brand.
For graphic designers, typography is the art of positioning text and interfaces for web and mobile design so that all copy is clear, legible, and scalable for the target audience. The goal is to entice users by drawing them to attractive fonts that enhance the overall design and user experience.
At Lounge Lizard, our expert Brandtenders and Mixologists are highly experienced in matching the perfect font with a website design to create a full picture encounter for the user that also enhances the business’s brand.
Contact Lounge Lizard to learn more about our website design and development services.
