The 10 Best Google Fonts in 2019 - According To The Wisdom of The Crowds
The 10 Best Google Fonts in 2019 - According To The Wisdom of The Crowds
The 10 Best Google Fonts in 2019 - According To The Wisdom of The Crowds
So how do you come up with a list of the best Google Fonts when so much of this is subjective? We
don’t want this entire list to be subjective, so we’re going to go to the data to build a list of the best
Google Fonts.
Basically, we’ll use the Google Fonts analytics to trust the wisdom of the crowds. With over 23 trillion
total font views, Google has just a little bit of data to pull from.
Why Does ‘Web Safe’ Matter? Each device comes with its own pre-installed font selection. The selection
is based largely on its operating system. The problem is that every system differs a bit. Windows-based
devices might have one group. MacOS ones pull from another. Google’s own Android system uses its
own as well. Now pull up a website. Even this one would work. The font you see may not be the one
original one intended.
Meaning: Let’s say the designer picked some obscure, paid font family for this site’s design. If you don’t
have that font already installed and it’s not pulling from a web-friendly place, the font you see would
default back to some basic variation like Times New Roman.
You, as the visitor, wouldn’t necessarily know that this is what has happened, though. For you, it might
just look plain ugly.
The ‘Web safe’ ones, appear across all operating systems. They’re the small collection of fonts that
overlap from Windows to Mac to Google (even Unix or Linux ones too).
They give designers (and website owners) the ability to specify which fonts to fall back to if needed. That
way, you can control what shows up (no matter what) across all devices. And you can pick something
that’s still kinda close to the original font (so that what your users wouldn’t see something random or
out of place).
It’s a plan B, the ‘just-in-case’ version. An emergency system to save the world from bad font selections.
1. Arial : Arial is like the de facto standard for most. It’s one of the most widely used sans-serif fonts
(which means no little curls at the end of each letter). It’s often substituted on Windows devices for
other interesting (read: more beautiful) font choices.
2. Roboto : Roboto is a sans-serif typeface that was developed by Google to be their system font for
Android.
3. Times New Roman : Times New Roman is to serif what Arial is to sans serif. It’s among the most
popular on Windows devices and is a new variation on the old Times font.
4. Times : The Times font probably looks familiar. It’s the old newspaper print that you’re used to
seeing in a small size in narrow columns. It’s about as traditional as it gets.
5. Courier New : Courier New, similar to Times New Roman before it, is a variation of another old
classic. It’s also considered a monospaced font (as opposed to the serif vs. sans serif we just saw).
6. Courier : Courier is the old monospace stand-by available on almost all devices and operating
systems.
7. Verdana : Verdana is a true web font because (1) the simple sans serif lines and (2) it’s super large
size. The letters are almost elongated, which makes it easy to read online.
8. Georgia : Georgia is similar to Verdana in size and stature (with bigger-than-usual letters compared
with fonts of the same size). So while it’s great for certain circumstances, make sure to avoid pairing
this serif font with others (like Times New Roman) which might look minuscule in comparison.
9. Palatino : Palatino dates back to the Renaissance. Seriously! It’s another large font that makes it
perfect for the web, traditionally used for headings and print-style ads.
10. Garamond : Garamond is another old-school font that dates back to styles used in 16th century
Paris. This new and improved version was introduced and bundled on most Windows devices (and
has been adopted by others since).
11. Bookman : Bookman (or Bookman Old Style) is another perfect headline option that maintains
legibility (or readability) even when used in a small size.
12. Comic Sans MS : Comic Sans MS is a playful, whimsical alternative to other sans serif options. It’s
also kinda fugly. Don’t use it!
13. Candara : Candara is a sans-serif typeface commissioned by Microsoft. It is part of the ClearType
Font Collection which was released with Windows Vista.
14. Arial Black : Arial Black is the bigger, bolder, badder version of your basic Arial. Funny enough, it
also shares proportions with Helvetica. Why is that important? So that they could originally use it to
replace Helvetica and print things without paying for the license.
15. Impact : Impact is another bold headline choice that looks great in a few short words, and
absolutely terrible in a sentence or longer.