The Best Free Creative Fonts

by Galen Crout September 13, 2021

Making sure your brand stands out from the crowd can be challenging, but one of the quickest ways to make an impression on potential customers is through branding and design. Your logo and website are likely to be the first things any customer sees of your brand, so it’s worth putting in the time and effort to ensure the branding people see at first gives a positive initial impression.

One way entrepreneurs can make sure of this is through their choice of typefaces or fonts. Whether they’re designing a logo or picking out the fonts to use on their product’s or shop's website, the choice of typeface matters. Good typefaces can provide a wide range of benefits, from conveying the brand's personality effectively to giving people the information they need by being clear and readable.

FAQ: What are the basics of creative fonts?

What is a creative font?

Though designers can use almost any font in a creative way, some fonts deliberately feature unconventional styles and textures in their lettering. These distinctive fonts can be used to instantly add a unique style and character to your brand.

Why should I use a creative typeface?

Using creative fonts may sometimes feel like breaking a lot of the established design rules. However, it’s needed from time to time to stand out. Using a creative typeface tends to generate high contrast between the fonts used in your content, making it more eye-catching and memorable. It can help to create a strong sense of brand identity and allow you to emphasize key pieces of text on your site.

What are the risks in using a creative typeface?

As creative fonts tend to differ wildly from more commonly seen typefaces, there are risks that come with using them. One risk to consider is readability. You might consider a creative font for its dynamic look, but you should also think about whether other people could read the text when rendered in that font, especially those with impaired vision.

Another risk is how your chosen creative font might clash with the other typefaces you’ve used for your content. Make sure you stick to one creative or unusual typeface at most, preferably for headers and titles, allowing it to stand out while you use a more basic typeface for your other text.

How should I use creative fonts?

Here are some examples of Shopify stores that have used creative fonts well:

You’ll notice that aside from the brand logo and the banners, these stores have used creative fonts for the names of their showcase products, making them feel special and premium. Using a creative font for a header or logo may be the obvious choice, but you can use these eye-catching fonts for any part of your website that you want to draw particular attention to.

The five best free creative fonts this year

Here are five free creative fonts to get business owners and designers started on their business’s branding.

Salma

Designers and business owners looking for a futuristic and minimalistic sans-serif typeface can start with Salma, a contemporary typeface designed by Alifinart Studio. Salma’s bold, rounded, and curved design, taken from modern geometry, allows it to stand out in a versatile way as both a logo font and website body text font. You can download this font for free here.

Mango

Designers wishing to evoke a futuristic feel can go for Mango, designed by Daniele Franchi and named after his workplace Mango Media. The whimsical Mango creative typeface uses a design based on circles, with all rounded letters and dots adorning some of its letters to complete the look. Its stylism makes it a good choice for brand logos, especially for high-tech products and services. Download Mango here.

North Avelion

North Avellion is a script and serif combo, allowing designers to choose either face for their needs

For brands that need a touch of elegance but can’t decide between a reliable serif font and a sophisticated script font, one good free creative font choice to make is North Avellion. Letterhead Studio’s creation is perfect for brands with a touch of class, with the script half ideal for titles and logos and the serif half versatile enough for any need. Download the North Avellion bundle for free here.

Rumble Brave

Rumble Brave is a vintage typeface for that hand-painted sign feel

Continuing with the sophisticated-feel typefaces, Rumble Brave is another creative font that’s sure to make brand logos and website banners stand out, especially if the brand is looking to evoke a vintage Victorian or steampunk feel. This is also a good choice for marketing and promotional materials, such as posters and social media graphics. Download Rumble Brave for free here.

Discover

The Discover typeface could be a strong choice for brands wishing to convey the spirit of the outdoors, nature, and adventure. This creative font uses paintbrush strokes to evoke a DIY sign feel and is ideal for websites, banners, and labels. Download Discover for free here.

Create a website easily

All of these design choices go a long way in creating and molding the perfect brand identity. After figuring out said identity, business owners should then go on and establish their presence online. Creating an online store and business site is simple and easy on Shopify. For a monthly fee, you can start, market, and manage their business on a platform that helps you do everything you need to build your brand online.