Dear Amigos,
As the sun sets down on the stretched fonts from Brat Summer, we settle on the calm, chilly vibes of Fall 2024. Between picking Halloween costumes and scanning your city for thrifted sweaters, you can find some time to curate a third magical thing: typography. If that sounds like you, we have picked 5 lovely fonts to add to your collection and get those autumn vibes going inside the walls of your favorite design software.
1. Sinistre
Gaelic stone carvings, Celtic letters and Elzevir types feed the inspiration behind Sinistre, a typeface created by designer Jules Durand. A mix of uncial writing, Roman proportions and gothic writing like Fraktur results in soft letterforms that contrast with edged terminations. This sophisticated family distributed by Collletttivo has 3 styles, and it’s licensed under the SIL Open Font License. You can download Sinistre here.
2. Kaeru Kaeru
Isabel Motz created Kaeru Kaeru for Type – Inspiration Elsewhere, a seminar at the HFG Karlsruhe led by Jeremy Landes that dared designers to explore nature and illustrations as the inspiration behind a new typeface. Isabel combined the colorful and organic patterns of the poison dart frog and the shapes from Japanese woodcuts to create this display 1-style typeface distributed by Velvetyne and licensed under the SIL Open Font License. You can download Kaeru Kaeru here.
3. Isenheim
A book found on the Isenheim Altar Piece by Matthias Grünewald inspired a revival type exercise created by Benoît Ferran that ended up deviating from the source to create a stand-alone serif family that includes elements of the medieval altar piece itself. Including plenty of alternates and ligatures, Isenheim is distributed by Tunera Typefoundry and licensed under the SIL Open Font License. You can download it here.
4. Bonbance
Bonbance, a serif font from the Jacoby & Fils printing house designed by Louna Bourdon, exudes an air of sophistication. Its letterforms, reminiscent of the turn of the 20th century, harmonize softness and precision. Bonbance is an ideal choice for projects that demand both readability and a touch of vintage charm. This font is distributed by X Cicéro and licensed under the SIL Open Font License. Download it here.
5. Sprat
The Sprat is a variable typeface inspired by Eric Gill’s alphabet. It features long, sharp serifs, high contrast, and round curves. A family with various widths and weights designed by Ethan Nakache is suitable for titling, posters, and logos. Sprat offers 3 styles and 6 weights with 230 glyphs covering extended Latin. Make sure to get it here.
6. Tangerine
Tangerine, a calligraphic typeface, captures the elegance of 16th and 17th-century chancery scripts. Licensed under the SIL Open Font License and distributed by Google Fonts, its distinctive tall ascenders add a touch of grace and sophistication to any design. It gets its name after a woman that encouraged designer Toshi Omagari to create this family, which is his first typographic work. You can get Tangerine through this link.
7. Limkin
TMT Limkin, from Too Much Type, offers Sans and Serif options. With Limkin Sans, Limkin Flare, and Limkin Serif, you’ll find the perfect font for any project. Designed to work together seamlessly, TMT Limkin is licensed under the SIL Open Font License. Download it here.
We hope that you gathered some inspiration for your next project. Remember to give some love and credit to these creators and type foundries that work so hard to deliver extraordinary open-source fonts, no matter the season. Goodbye, Amigos! Have a great fall.
Since you are really into typography, you might be interested in these other articles and resources:
Best 7 High-Quality Free Fonts for Designers in 2024
Best 7 Y2K fonts filled with digital nostalgia – Free Download
