4 Fonts I Tried and Loved in February

Expressive scripts and an unexpected calligraphic delight

February was a total blur. We kicked off our kitchen renovation at home which has been my biggest design project yet. We enjoyed a few days of false Spring before getting blanketed in 6 inches of snow. And as I say hello to March and eagerly await for real Spring, I wanted to take a moment to record some of the new-to-me fonts from the past month. Here are 4 fonts that I tried and loved in February (2 of which are free and open source!) Enjoy! ✨

1. Frauen

I thought about saving this banger until last, but why not lead with the best find? Frauen from Sharp Type is my find of the month. It comes in a roman and script weight, and while they are stunning on their own, it’s the mixing of the two that really push it into spectacular territory for me. I spent some time playing with the combo (see below – vegetables, thats what’s on my mind) and I mean… Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. 😍

---

2. Baxter

This font came to me by way of my teammate Sydney at

Sydopia

. I spent a few years hating on script fonts, but damn, are there some good script fonts out there these days! Baxter by Brandon Nickerson has everything I like in a script — elegance, romance, with a touch of playfulness and that je ne sais quoi. I’ve been deep in a script phase this past year and I don’t think it’s going to end anytime soon.

---

3. Fraunces

Ok, so Fraunces from Undercase Type has been in my collection for quite a while, but it’s only this month where I learned of its variable font capabilities. I’m a noob when it comes to variable fonts, and my mind was blown seeing the range that Fraunces had to offer with its variable font settings. It’s like getting 100 fonts in one. Fraunces is a free, open source typeface, so go download it now and have fun!

---

4. Fondamento

Another free, open source goodie is Fondamento from Astigmatic (available on Google Fonts). I came across this typeface on Ali Labelle’s site and fell in love. I would not normally choose an ornamental, calligraphic typeface like this to set text longer than a short headline, and was delighted by Ali’s decision to do so. It was a breath of fresh air seeing this traditionally-informed typeface reinterpreted to feel fresh and contemporary. Here’s my attempt at showing how fun this typeface can be to set prose:

---

I’ll be back next month with another font round-up, so be sure to subscribe if you like this sort of thing 🙂