15 Beautiful High-Quality Free Fonts
Every now and again we take a look around, select “fresh” high-quality free fonts and present them to you in a brief overview. The choice is enormous, so the time you need to find them is usually the time you should be investing in your current projects. We search for them and we find them, so you don’t have to.
In this selection we’re glad to present you Aller Sans, Mayberry Pro SemiBold, Quicksand, Agrafa Hairline, Sketch Rockwell, Megalopolis Extra and a couple of other high-quality free fonts. Please read the license agreements carefully before using the fonts — the license can change from time to time.
- Free Fonts Of March features Myndraine, Museo Sans as well as handwritten and grungy fonts.
- 40 Excellent Free Fonts For Professional Design
- You can find over 80 more free fonts in our section Fonts.
15 Beautiful High-Quality Free Fonts
Aller Sans [ Specimen | License | Download ]
Dalton Maag design team designed a beautiful sans-serif Aller Sans, sponsored by Danish publishing company Aller (hence the name). The typeface was designed as part of the Danish School of Media and Journalisms new CI and is now available for free use and download (via).
Mayberry Pro SemiBold (registration is required)
AscenderFonts released the font Mayberry Pro Semi Bold available for free download. This font belongs to the Mayberry Pro family. This family is a humanist sans serif designed by Steve Matteson to provide optimal legibility on screen in applications ranging from User Interfaces to web pages. The registration is required to download the font.
Rally Character Set [ Specimen | Previews | Download ]
Lukyan Turetsky released a character set of rally symbols. The font contains standard signs of control in rally, infographics rally icons, blanks for the design of logos and other graphics, symbols for signs legends (transcript) and other symbols and marks. OpenType, available for free download.
Quicksand
Quicksand is a brilliant sans-serif font designed by Andrew Paglinawan and available for free download.
Agrafa Hairline (registration is required)
“Agrafa is a technical but versatile display face that works well in both large and small sizes. Most of the glyphs are made from one continuous line and shows the constraints of bending a paperclip/wire.” Designed by Mugur Mihai. [ via ]
Conglomerfont
Conglomerfont is a free font created by Jay Hilgert (BittBox) and the design community from all over the world. Jay asked people to send individual letters to his inbox, and I coagulated the submissions into a single font, hence the name, Conglomerfont.
Sketch Rockwell
A sketchy hand-drawn script font, designed by Lukas Bischoff, available for free download for PC and Mac OS X. Free for personal use only.
Megalopolis Extra [ Specimen | EULA License ]
Revamped version of the 2004 one. Now in OT with extended language support and OpenType features with alternates, ligatures, different styles of figures, etc. You can use it freely for all your personal and commercial work. [ via ]
Sansation
A modern sans-serif, designed by Bernd Montag and available for free download and usage. PC / Mac OS X.
Exljbris fonts update
Jos Buivenga has recently updated his free fonts, partly available for free download. The improved Fertigo Pro, Anivers, Museo and Museo Sans have been recently re-released and are now available for free download.
Birra Stout (registration is required)
Birra arose from years of compulsive doodling in pen and ink, and conjures the whimsy and syncopated contrast of novelty handlettering in the early 20th century. Birra Stout is a free font, made available by Darden Studio.
Miso [ Preview ]
MISO is an architectural lettering font completed in 2006 by Mårten Nettelbladt. It’s available in three weights (light, regular, bold) in TrueType format for Windows.
Advent
Andreas K. improved his typeface and made a new version availabe for free personal, non-commercial usage only.
Last Click
High Heels Typeface
This was a fun project overall because I got the chance to explore a diverse and massive collection of High-heeled shoes, which was the main inspiration for the typeface that I have created. Not available for download.
Sources and Resources
- 20 Beautiful Free Serif Fonts
- 21 Awesome Free Fonts
A beautiful selection of freely available fonts. - 30 Most Curious And Interesting Dingbats
Justin Floyd
November 24th, 2008 6:08 amExcellent series. There is some beautiful work here.
Andy
November 24th, 2008 6:12 amJuicy Love em. Thanks
Courtny
November 24th, 2008 6:15 amAwesome!
Curt Simon Harlinghausen
November 24th, 2008 6:24 amJust genius. I love fonts and typography.
It is just a lonely child in that business.
CreamScoop.com
November 24th, 2008 6:24 amReally good selection, thanks for sharing!
Colin
November 24th, 2008 6:26 amLove MISO!!! Hopefully, I can find an excuse to use it in my work in near future.
zero0x
November 24th, 2008 6:44 amWONDERFUL
thanks :)
Jason
November 24th, 2008 6:44 amWow, thanks !
Nick Pagano
November 24th, 2008 6:45 amAwesome list! There were a couple I have never seen before, so I for sure gotta get download’in :)
And, Thanks for mentioning one of my posts under “Sources and Resources.” :)
Andris
November 24th, 2008 6:59 amSome of them are very nice. thanx for the list.
BORABORA
November 24th, 2008 7:48 amAmazing… I would like to see more typographic posts!
Great work!
Regards
Sara
November 24th, 2008 8:04 amI’m glad to see some typography on here! Nice post.
Siah
November 24th, 2008 8:19 amam i the only one that’s not able to see the images? they’re not showing up..
steve
November 24th, 2008 8:35 amcool! you can never have too many fonts, thanks!
Cristian
November 24th, 2008 8:41 amAmazing, thank you for the great work,
Benjamin
November 24th, 2008 9:48 amQuicksand looks great. Thanks Smashing!
Thomas
November 24th, 2008 10:32 am@Siah
Same problem for me, I can’t see the images, nor in the article “50 Beautiful Winter Wonderland Photos”
Adam
November 24th, 2008 11:04 amSomehow I feel like I’ve seen many of these before on this site…
Adam
November 24th, 2008 11:05 amStill no images?
Siah
November 24th, 2008 11:42 am@ Thomas
yep no images in the previous post either.
Are we blacklisted??? ;-/
lol
Siah
November 24th, 2008 11:45 amI just checked again, and none of the images in any previous posts are showing up.. the site graphics (ads, logo, etc) are fine though..
::sigh:: no Smashing for my manic Monday
Siah
November 24th, 2008 12:09 pmit works now…
Gopal Raju
November 24th, 2008 12:24 pmAwesome! They are really useful.
Gopal,
http://www.productivedreams.com
Jarryd
November 24th, 2008 4:38 pmAwesome compilation of fonts there, I’m really like the Advent one.
gr8pixel
November 24th, 2008 5:55 pmgreat collection! thanks SM
Rakesh.S
November 24th, 2008 7:39 pmGood listing
Freelance
November 24th, 2008 8:24 pmThanks a lot for good stuff
gaurav
November 24th, 2008 8:30 pmheels are nice .. high heels ;)
sohil
November 24th, 2008 9:10 pmNice collection.
any one have sketch flavor fonts collection ?
agustin
November 24th, 2008 11:05 pmNoob question: how do I get those ligatures and alternates on Megalopolis Extra?
JC
June 20th, 2010 8:41 amRead my comment below on LIGATURES
_Sven
November 25th, 2008 4:14 amA nice series. Thanks for the Aller Sans, Mayberry and the beautiful Sensation!
stu collett
November 25th, 2008 6:58 amGreat list guys,
Love the QuickSand, it reminds me a bit of DIM.
Haitham
November 25th, 2008 7:57 amhow is the last one free????? free to look at?!
Nita
November 25th, 2008 9:16 pmAwesome list! Thanks a lot :-)
Klaus
November 26th, 2008 3:27 amRegarding the “Aller” font, can someone summarize the license? To me, I do not understand it at all. Will it be non-free after 2010? May I use it after 2010, e.g. in PDFs published in the Internet?
Jhay
November 26th, 2008 6:11 amGreat great!! Thanks
Vygantas
December 5th, 2008 7:46 amAWESOME
Elena
December 6th, 2008 9:09 amlovely!
Peter
December 6th, 2008 2:31 pmSmashing Magazine has become my favorite design blog. Thanks for the wonderful resources!
bbkej
December 9th, 2008 10:10 amso beautiful…
Marcus
December 12th, 2008 6:44 amthis is great “preciate” these keep em coming mwan
peter
December 15th, 2008 12:04 pmI am confused also – is the aller free to use? The license it implies it is only for the Danish School of Media and Journalisms. Plus I’m with Klaus – is there a limit on when it can be used? Can anyone clarify?
Tainan Lopes
December 24th, 2008 1:03 pmPerfect!
Thanks Smashing Magazine and Merry Xtimas
Felipe Dário
December 25th, 2008 11:24 amI love the Museo family, and Quicksand is lovely!
I would like to show off my new experimental handmade font, Stenciluxe, available for freee download. I used Herb Lubalin’s ITC Avant Garde as basis for the work, done through stencil. Images and more info (in Portuguese) are available on http://fonteartesanal.blogspot.com/2008/11/um-estncil-um-molde-usado-para-desenhar.html and http://fonteartesanal.blogspot.com/2008/10/vazando-os-moldes-tipogrficos.html
Happy New Year, Smashing Team!
Nathan Beck
December 30th, 2008 3:36 amyou’ve just saved my latest project, thank you!
Luv
January 14th, 2009 6:39 pmRats
montana
January 17th, 2009 9:05 amhello,
so i am new to this web site and new to downloading fonts and such. could some one help me to understand where thie font is put on my computer so i can then use it? i have vista.
i want to make it simple so it can be opened from one place. the zip folder has a few things in it and, ok this is where i am so confused can any one help??????
Connie
January 20th, 2009 6:09 pmGreat~!Thanks for sharing.
Love it~Especially Quicksand..
Thanks..smashing magazine~
hansa
January 24th, 2009 7:53 pmare there any beautiful monospaced fonts?
cmdigital
January 25th, 2009 10:18 amI was going to download the high heels font for my daughter.. but it doesn’t work??? It just goes to a jpg image.
Mui
January 27th, 2009 1:50 amnice font!!!!
Gabriel Campaner
January 27th, 2009 1:34 pmOw, super thanks
eldropper
January 27th, 2009 3:18 pmThank you so much. They are all beautiful indeed.
matt hardwick
January 27th, 2009 6:44 pmanother quicksand link, as the current link seems to be to a suspended account.
Zul Azman
January 27th, 2009 10:13 pmNIce list! Thanks!
ali gee
January 28th, 2009 7:32 amgreat stuff many thanks
tristan bethe
February 2nd, 2009 8:52 amGreat fonts, thanks for the list!
DKumar M.
February 3rd, 2009 4:31 amNice fonts !!
cherry
February 14th, 2009 3:03 amthaxxxxxxxxxx so cool
patter
February 23rd, 2009 12:50 amสวยดีค่ะ
ขอบคุณที่สุด
Thank You
ockley
March 10th, 2009 1:57 am@42 and other. There is a discussion at typophile with Bruno Maag about the AULA license for Aller. Maybe that can help on the confusion.
Rob Chant
March 11th, 2009 5:19 pmIt seems to be the fashion here just to write something along the likes of, “great, thaxxxxx so much!”, but I’m afraid I beg to differ.
Some of these fonts look quite useful. Some are neat and clean. I’m really missing the ‘beautiful’ part though.
Rodolpho
March 12th, 2009 3:13 amFive stars! Thanks
Timothy
March 12th, 2009 5:54 amDecent list. Some are great. Some not so much. Useful resources non the less. Thanks
momo
April 9th, 2009 1:44 amThanks
johnnyz525
April 15th, 2009 8:27 pmreally helped me update my fonts….a few keepers….thanks
Vernon Decossas
April 28th, 2009 4:37 amNice collection, thanks you
joshua
April 28th, 2009 6:25 pmVery helpful, thanks for your effort ;)
Matt French
May 11th, 2009 2:26 pmThanks for the fonts, but I find I pass on at least half of them when I have to sign up to yet another website to add free fonts to a shopping cart just to download them.
mike
May 12th, 2009 2:01 amSorry, but Conglomerfont is just ugly.
And what was the point of showing us the last one, with the high heels, then telling us that it isn’t available for download?
erich Viedge
May 13th, 2009 1:45 amThis is genius — really it is! And your story of how you struggled with some of the shapes really inspired me. Thanks so much!
mahi
May 14th, 2009 11:17 pmthanx for this post
Chasmine
October 1st, 2011 6:57 pmWhat liberating knwodlege. Give me liberty or give me death.
Daniel
May 19th, 2009 12:52 amThese are awesome! Thank you for the fonts!
Module23
May 24th, 2009 2:21 pmThanks for a great list of free fonts, very useful.
Cheers
www.aureliendury.com
July 6th, 2009 1:52 amIf some people wonder how to use ligatures and contextual alternates, have a look at this page :
how to use ligatures and contextual alternates in Illustrator
JC
June 20th, 2010 8:42 amAlso read my comment below on LIGATURES
stk
July 27th, 2009 9:09 amBy his own admission, “Quicksand” is Andrew’s first ever attempt at creating a font.
Beautiful – yes
High-Quality – hardly
Am I wrong to expect better from you guys @ Smashing Magazine?
Erik van Beek
October 21st, 2009 3:03 pmCan anyone help me?
I’m looking for the graffiti font used on Ken Block’s rallycar (for mac).
alxtebar
February 22nd, 2010 5:39 pmmil gracias! son buenas…
Sherry Lowry
April 4th, 2010 7:48 amWhat a lovely generosity in spirit to release versions of such really terrific fonts to the public. Much appreciated!
Can’t wait to begin to use some of them in free presentations – especially those with designers and illustrators in the freelancer audiences.
Theraisa K
April 29th, 2010 7:12 amThe one near the end with the footwear (ladies shoes) is really neat!
StealthyLoner69
May 6th, 2010 9:50 amVery nice collection … especially Aller Sans is beautiful.
Daya
May 13th, 2010 1:10 amAller light is good
Ivan Almeida
June 3rd, 2010 11:26 amPersonal i love the MISO Font.
Check my free font IDEOMA SPRAY here :
http://www.dafont.com/ideoma-spray.font
JC
June 20th, 2010 8:32 amLIGATURES
Ligatures are automatically supported in all Adobe CS programs and MS Office 2010 as well as Firefox 3+. The font should define the ligatures in the PUA (Private Use Area) and add look-up table with rows like:
f + f -> ff
ff + l -> ffl.
The item on the right hand side of the equation is the name of the location of the glyph in PUA. I do that because it is convenient to name them with what they represent.
You add the look-up tables to fonts using Microsoft’s VOLT program, also fee to download.
I am talking about default ligatures of the font. Then there were all these special ligatures that you manually add inside Desktop Publishing programs. They could be closely followed by the use of ZWJ and ZWNJ characters in regular programs if you use a keyboard that has a key to get them (Alt+? etc.). (Search w3.org for ZWJ and ZWNJ).
ZWJ says allow ligatures (Don’t use for default ligatures. This is not useful for English). ZWNJ says “do not make ligature with the two letters on either side of me”.
You should make a keyboard that adds these keys. A keyboard could be created easily by editing the existing US-English keyboard definition using Microsoft’s Keyboard Layout Creator free to download. Write to me if you want one already made, if you can see my email address(?)
chris
August 13th, 2010 9:58 amthank’s so mush… I love to swim in fonts ~~~~~*~~~~~
Dane Pallotta
October 5th, 2010 9:16 pmamazing news admin
herry candi
August 2nd, 2011 4:45 amthank you, and the bundle is perfect too, I just broght yesterday