Everyone, even non-designers, can agree that the smallest typographical change can make a world of difference (*cough* Warren Beatty *cough*). Elevating designs through typography is a skill every designer should have in their back pocket.
Do you want to become a typography wiz—and, ultimately, an even better designer? We want that for you too! That’s why we’ve gathered a list of the best free typography resources
—handpicked, just for you.
Free typography education
Check out these e-courses, e-books, and workshops to get started on your typographical journey.
Typedia – Like Wikipedia for fonts!
Kerntype – Test your skills by distributing space between letters, also known as “kerning”
Butterick’s Practical Typography – Created by Matthew Butterick, creator of original fonts for Apple and Microsoft
Hack Design: Dive Into Typography – Courses to guide you to design and typography literacy
Fontology – Learn typography in 4 awesome levels
Free downloadable fonts
From well-known sites to independent curated collections, downloadable fonts are right at your fingertips.
Typography inspiration
Get your creative juices flowing with these stimulating type resources.
Designspiration – Just search for some good ol’ design inspiration
Typeinspire – Typography inspiration and gallery
Type Hunting – Hunt for loads of type inspiration
We Love Typography – A collection of typography inspiration by people who love typography
Behance – Search for great design and type inspiration
Palettab – Use this Chrome extension to get new font inspiration every time you open a new tab!
Typegoodness – Tons of resources, free fonts, and inspiration
Type everything – Browse fonts and submit your own work
Friends of Type – Features original typographic design and lettering
Fridayfonts – Browse typeface experiments by design students, developed in classes and workshops offered by Pascal Glissmann
Fonts In Use – An independent archive of typography
TypeWorship – Official blog of 8 Faces Magazine, featuring inspirational typography and lettering
Incredible Types – Curated collection of incredible design and typography by designers from around the world
Font identifiers
Don’t know that font? These tools will help you figure it out!
Identifont – A massive database for searching fonts using metrics
WhatFont – Use a browser extension to hover over text and discover more info about that particular font
What the Font – This program will output results based on images of fonts you submit!
Bowfin Printworks Serif Font Identification Guide – Use this tool to identify serif fonts
The Font Matcherator – Detects fonts from an uploaded screenshot
Type Sample – Download this Google Chrome extension for identifying fonts
Visual font calculators
Use these tools to get exact font measurements.
Typecast – Style type within your browser
Typetester – Get started with a free trial to make and edit your own fonts
Modular scale – Determine bases and ratios with this scale calculator
Px to Em – Use this tool to convert pixels to ems
Size Calculator – Calculates font size and visibility
Type Scale – A great visual type scale calculator
Prototypo – Customize and create your own original typeface in just a few clicks
Font pairing resources
A font match made in Heaven—and you get to be cupid!
Font Pair – Pair google fonts together
Font Combinator – Preview fonts in browser-based way
Typewolf – Combine various fonts and check out what’s trending in typography
Typespiration – Browse tons of web font combinations
Font Flame – Choose whether you love a font or hate it! They refer to themselves as “Tinder for font pairing”
Just My Type – A collection of font pairings from Typekit and H&FJ
Canva font combinations – Select the right combinations for your design needs
Pssstttt… Check out InVision’s guide to pairing fonts
This list will never be done
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More free design resources
Shakti is the Head of Content at Blueprint Registry. Before Blueprint Registry, she led social media marketing at InVision and is a trained chef. She loves space stuff, dogs, memes, chicken nuggets, and words.
