A retrospective of typefaces published on Google Fonts through the year 2024. I’m continuing this little tradition as in 2022 and in 2023.
Afacad typeface project
Two Variable Typefaces with many possibilities, by Kristian Möller, a type designer based in Stockholm (also the author of Funnel Sans and Display, see below). The ’Afacad typeface project’ commenced in 2017 as a personalised lettering endeavour for Slagskeppet, a Swedish housing tenant, who sought fresh house address numbering for their entrances. The letters and numerals were meticulously crafted to harmonize with the architectural proportions and materials employed by Architect Sture Elmén during the 1940s.
‘Afacad Flux’ adds an extra dimension with a back-slanted version, commemorating, among other things, the typesetting of river names in historical cartography. Announced February 1.
Rethink Sans
Rethink Sans was created in 2023 by Hans Thiessen for the Vancouver creative agency Rethink. It was developed specifically to help everyone design with greater confidence and craft in Google Workspace. Rethink Sans is a fork of DM Sans (Colophon Foundry), which was designed from Poppins (Jonny Pinhorn).
Ojuju / Madimi One / Tac One
Ojuju, by Chisaokwu Joboson (a Nigerian-based brand and type designer) is a reverse contrast Weight axis variable font inspired by African Masquerades. It draws inspiration from a variety of African traditional dance costumes to inform the design decisions.
Madimi One, by Taurai Valerie Mtake aka TaVaTake (a graphic and type designer from Harare, Zimbabwe), is a rounded sans with a mixed geometric and organic design. Madimi takes inspiration from the gentle curved geometry of certain Southern Afrikan graphic symbols.
Tac One by Seyi Olusanya, Eyiyemi Adegbite and David Udoh is a single-weight, bold San serif inspired by the wordmark of one of the most significant festivals in Africa’s post-colonial history, Festac ’77.
Kode Mono
Kode Mono, by Isa Ozler, is a typeface explicitly created for the developer community. This typeface is designed to enhance the user experience and reflect our principles of functionality and timelessness.
Platypi
Designed by David Sargent, Platypi is a wedge serif typeface family of five weights designed for long copy text setting. Platypi combines sharp, heavy wedge serifs usually seen in display faces with more conventional curves and proportions to achieve a practical text typeface with a unique and distinctive visual rhythm. Dave Crossland: “Wow @d-sargent this is really fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing this with the world under OFL!”
Danfo
Danfo by Afrotype (Lagos, Nigeria) is a variable font with a new “Element Shape” axis. The three main styles reflect different cut-out shapes inspired by the vinyl cut-out lettering of the public transportation buses in Lagos, Nigeria. More about the process.
Jaro
Jaro is a new global display typeface designed by Agyei Archer, and inspired by the work of Jaroslav Benda.
Reddit Sans
The new Reddit font family, designed by Stephen Hutchings, was published on Google Fonts in May 2024. With a total of 5 different styles, this typeface was crafted specifically for Reddit. Its delicate curves and sharp contours ensure optimal readability, embodying the values of accessibility,
Teachers Font
The Teachers font family, by Chank Diesel, is a clean, geometric sans serif designed for educational use. With 8 styles including Regular, SemiBold, Bold, and ExtraBold, as well as Italics for each, it offers versatility for various educational materials.
Wittgenstein
Designed by Jörg Drees, the typeface Wittgenstein was published on Google Fonts in June 2024. It is available in five weights, from Regular to Black.
Playwrite
The Playwrite school fonts produced by TypeTogether are a set of variable fonts with a weight range from Thin (100) to Regular (400) that support over 150 Latin-based languages.
Ga Maamli
Inspired by the historic handwritten posters found in the vibrant coastal communities of Accra (Ghana), Ga Maamli is a font that embodies the spirited essence of the Ga people. Designed by Afotey Clement, Ama Diaka and David Annertey Abbey-Thompson. Read more about the process and research.
Moderustic
Designed by Tural Alisoy, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Moderustic is a versatile typeface meticulously designed for user interfaces, crafted with the aim of enhancing the user experience.
Kalnia Glaze
Kalnia Glaze, designed by Frida Medrano (a Mexican type and interaction designer currently based in San Fransisco, California), is a COLRv1 font that plays with gradients and transparencies using the most out of the format. It’s a Variable font with weight (Thin to Bold) and a width (Normal to Expanded) with four custon icons that offers a diverse range of design posibilities.
Matemasie
Matemasie, by Adam Yeo (a graphic and type designer from Côte d’Ivoire) is an ultra-bold display typeface characterized by rounded edges and a distinctive feature where the shapes widen towards the top. It draws inspiration from the Adinkra symbol “Mate Masie,” meaning “what I hear, I keep.”
In October 2024, Google Fonts stops posting updates to twitter, and starts sharing them on Threads.
Suse
Suse is a sans serif variable font designed by René Bieder, embodying a unique hybrid between geometric precision and monospaced stability providing a modern and efficient aesthetic.
Sankofa Display
Sankofa Display is a captivating African typeface by Batsi Madzonga that draws inspiration from a rich tapestry of African art styles, with a particular focus on straight-line geometric designs. See presentation.
Mona Sans & Hubot Sans
Mona Sans (by Tobias Bjerrome Ahlin, for Github), is a strong and versatile typeface, designed together with Studio Degarism and inspired by industrial-era grotesques. Mona Sans works well across product, web, and print. Made to work well together with Mona Sans’s sidekick, Hubot Sans. It also has a monospace version.
Hubot Sans – Mona Sans’s robotic sidekick. Designed with more geometric accents to lend a technical and idiosyncratic feel—perfect for headers and pull-quotes.
Funnel Sans & Display
Funnel Sans and Funnel Display, by Kristian Möller, are modern sans-serif typefaces with both clarity and character, originally developed by NORD ID and Kristian Möller for Funnel.
Host Grotesk
Host Grotesk is a uniwidth sans-serif typeface based on Poppins. This typeface is meticulously crafted for optimal usage in user interfaces. Designed by Doğukan Karapınar, a co-founder of Element Type.
Geist and Geist Mono
With precision, clarity, and functionality at its core, the Geist family enhances the visual experience of developers and designers, empowering them to effectively communicate their ideas. Crafted by Vercel and Basement Studio.
You have reached the end of my overview of the best Google Fonts of 2024! You may look back at the year 2023, or wait for my post on 2025.