2016 has been one of the best years for type design in decades. The lettering craze has pushed a lot of illustrators towards digitizing their work. There’s a ton of great font software available these days. And with typography now recognized as one of the most important aspects of a website, everyone wants in on the act.
In past years we’ve seen a few narrow trends dominating, but so far this year it’s very diverse. There’s fewer crazy experimental typefaces around, but also fewer staid sans-serifs; everyone’s meeting somewhere in the middle. Today I’ve compiled a list of the best free fonts that have been released, or received a major update, since the start of the year. There’s plenty to get stuck into, lots of really useful workhorses, and one or two playful inclusions. Browse through, try them out, and as always if you use them in a project, let us know!Fibon Sans
Cloud Sans
Qanelas Soft
Maquinada
Nocturno BG
Moderan
Antre
Patrona
Cataleya
Reckless
Cenotaph
Maxwell
Slabbo
Peach Tea
Balans
Kust
Tapas ES
Suelta
Tattoo
Water Plant
Kiwi
Pangram (Personal Use)
Elder
No Fancy Name
Bluegrass Outline
Mosk
Gamer
Mi Teiyng Script
Meteora
Rombomb
Hadron Sans
Savone
Yozakura
Neptune Harbour
Dirty Lines Script
Fela
Turum
Leoscar
Chocoleta
Fvriosa
Fifty Five
PhotoCab
Lemour Serif
Tavolga
Orkney
Heyro
Original
Iceland
Outsiders
New York
Brooks
Elixia
Allison
Hasta Grotesk
Trocchi Sans
Blanka
Sukar
Yunus
Gutenberg
Gotu
Geoglyph
Stereo (Personal Only)
Bajern
Blern
Apricity
Bitter HT
Adi Sans
Hovel
Ordnung
LeParisien
Norwester
Mister Rooster
Bebop Slab
Polt
36 Days of Type
Ambarella
Duwhoers
Cajito
La Tour
Coves
Okomito
Jeboy (Personal Only)
Arc
Surco (Trial Only)
Monogram Rounded
Queulat
Syabab Brush
Números
Sedici
Jellee
Alien Child
Muller Narrow
Three
Ginebra
Andis
Erial
Mercurial
Kayak
Tommy Lee
Paddi MacDonnell
Paddi MacDonnell is a designer and entrepreneur from Northern Ireland, follow her on Twitter.
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