After a recent discussion on Facebook about using Google Fonts on websites, @NancySeeger (twitter) suggested I write a blog post about the fonts I like from there, since she wasn’t finding many she liked. Challenge accepted!
For a font to be included in my list, it needed to meet certain criteria – Multiple Styles Available, Good Readability.
Serif
Arvo, 3 styles
Josefin Slab, 10 styles
Libre Baskerville, 3 styles – sometimes you need a basic serif in your arsenal
Roboto Slab, 4 styles
San-serif
Cabin, 8 styles + Cabin Condensed, 4 styles
Dosis, 7 styles
Josefin Sans, 10 styles
Raleway, 9 styles
Signika, 4 styles
Source Sans Pro, 12 sytles – a basic san serif
I decided not to cover their Display & Handwriting categories, because most had only one style, and I would use both of those types of fonts sparingly anyway. I found quite a few lovely handwriting ones that I could see using if the client/design was right – Amatic, Delius, Patrick Hand, to name just a few.
Here are a few I really like that don’t have multiple styles (2 at most), but i wanted to include them because, again, if you use them sparingly, they can make a nice addition.
San-serif
Didact Gothic
Imprima
Montserrat
Montserrat Alternates
Display & Handwriting
Bevan
Happy Monkey
Wellfleet
If you’ve found a few you like, and you want to test them out on your WordPress site, you can get the WP Google Fonts plugin. Once you upload & activate it, you should see it under the Settings menu. Make sure to test the font on multiple browsers to make sure everyone is seeing it the way you want them too! For the designers & developers, you can use Skyfonts to download desktop versions of the fonts to try out in your designs.
None of this is meant to replace Typekit and other online font options, but it’s a nice solution for those on a budget & those that want a quick way to add different fonts to their sites.
Do you have any Google Font favorites? Are you a fan of Google Fonts? Any other techniques/services you recommend – Typekit, @font-face, Cufon?
Love the article! Thanks for posting your favs, I bookmarked several. I’m fond of PT Sans and but it depends on the style of course.
Fonts are so powerful in design, it’s great to have a few more to pick from although I don’t want to be limited to Google Fonts only which is strong trend right now. Fonts are not expensive in most cases and usually under $100.