2023 Best Design Fonts
Overview
2023 Top Design Fonts
Cool! So what are the fonts?
Things to remember when choosing a font
2023 Top Design Fonts
The average person might not consciously realise it, but the font on a webpage can be the visually striking hook that draws them in - or the garish, illegible scrawl that turns them off.
For web designers, fonts are something of an obsession, with most designers arguing that they are the essential building blocks for communicating what’s on the page.
And it’s true. Your font is part of the story you want to tell and the image you want to present. The right font can denote seriousness or it can denote playfulness; it can be an original one that draws in the reader, or it can be an established one that ensures readers of reliability; it can even have a relationship with the cultural, artistic or historical aspect of your web page.
So which font should you choose? Here’s seven of the best fonts that we think good web designers will be using in 2023:
Cool! So what are the fonts?
Here are a few of the top fonts for web design:
- Barlow.
A low contrast design font, Barlow prioritises straightforwardness while also being eyecatching. It makes sense, then, that the font was was inspired partly by highway signs, state license plates and other signage in the state of California.
You’ll no doubt have seen Barlow on webpages all over the internet. This font has stood the test of time and become a go-to for those who value reliability and efficiency.
As we head into 2023, that sense of reliability and efficiency on the page will remain as important as ever, so Barlow will continue to be popular. - Playfair Display
Playfair Display is an important font to always have in your virtual toolbox. If trusty sans serif fonts like Roboto, Circular and Lato can be accused of being monotonous, serif fonts like Playfair Display act as the perfect complement.
Playfair Display is elegant and playful on the page, while maintaining an understatedness and directness that many serif fonts simply don’t achieve. If you’ve been using Times New Roman but are looking for a new favourite, add this font to your kit. - Lobster
It goes without saying that script fonts can either go very right or very, very wrong. You’re always trying to tow the line between regal and ostentatious, all while making sure your text remains readable (and yes, many designers forget about that part!)
There’s a clarity to the Lobster font that makes it really enjoyable and versatile to use. It comes across as a font that would work as well for a grabby pull-quote in a magazine or web article, as it would for an eye-catching headline or title. - Clavo
A slab serif font designed by Michał Jarociński in 2013, Clavo has the benefit of being designed with different languages, different accents, and even different alphabets in mind.
Versatile and easy on the eye, these bold letters also carry a certain energy in them, compelling you to read on. - Cogsworth
It was a simple case of love at first sight for this wonderfully elegant new font, which is primed and ready to appear everywhere in 2023.
There’s a gentle touch to the lettering of Cogsworth which makes it feel very adaptable - meaning it works as well on a quote graphic as it does on a recipe page. - Dosis
Some fonts scream clarity, sharpness and purpose. Dosis is undoubtedly one of these.
A monoline rounded sans serif font, Dosis looks exactly like the type of font that might reassure you if it was giving you detailed instructions on a website. But the font also works well on large graphics, in text-heavy articles, and in producing concise bullet points.
Things to remember when choosing a font
If you’ve come this far in your search for the right fonts, you’ll no doubt already have a fair idea of what you want your website to look like. The best advice is to ask yourself important questions as you go along.
You want to be asking yourself obvious questions like: What font is going to attract people to my website? Does it stand out? And - the most important, but overlooking, question of all - Is my font 100% readable?
But also remember to ask yourself less obvious questions: Can I tell a story with my font? Can it be part of the ‘sell’ for my brand image or my overall theme? And, How many fonts should I be using in order to get my message across? (The answer to that last question is that you should almost never be using more than three fonts, as it clutters the design on the page and things can start to look very messy!)