Font Trends 2023: Top 25 Fonts for Striking Design

The last couple of years have seen a consistent theme in font trends, namely the juxtaposition of sturdy, reliable forms seen in geometric font styles, and the growing expressiveness of character fonts.

This year, we’re anticipating a marked departure from purely functional fonts to more lively, bold font design styles. As the world recovers from the hardship of the pandemic years, it’s great to see small businesses and large brands start to experiment with more engaging font choices in their logo and brand identity designs.

Here are the top 6 font trends we’re expecting to see this year, plus 25 inspiring fonts you can use in your designs.

Let’s take a look at 2023’s defining font trends and see how they inform this year’s trends.

What fonts are trending?

There’s a clear theme in emerging font trends as we go into 2023. On the one hand, people are craving the solidity and security of highly structured font styles, like geometric sans serif fonts, and bold, sturdy display fonts.

At the other end of the spectrum, we’ve seen a development in the expressive font styles of the last couple of years, towards more experimental forms. Like warped, bizarre shapes, variable fonts, and cutout-style fonts.

Here are the fonts styles we’re anticipating in 2023:

Top 6 font trends for 2023

Let’s get into typography trends and some popular fonts to refresh your designs.

Font trend one: Big, bold, and sturdy

After the pandemic, people crave structure, security, and solidity in expressing themselves. We’re likely to see a doubling down on bold display fonts throughout 2023. These fonts have all-caps text, thick lines, and sturdy geometric shapes.

Use-wise, these fonts would be a good fit in industries like hospitality, apparel, and grass-roots businesses. There’s also great potential in wider brand identity applications like advertisements and packaging design, given their bold, impactful look.

1. Bourton

This layered, blocky font and companion script are a perfect font pairing. Designed by Kimmy Kirkwood. 

2. Brocklyn

Strong, geometrical shapes with varied crossbar heights give Brocklyn a sense of motion and character that feels almost architectural.

3. Roque

Roque is a playful, punchy solid font that uses solid shapes and lines to create a cohesive typeface. Ideal for energetic brand identities, Roque would be a great fit for tech-forward businesses looking to appeal to a relatively young audience, like students or young professionals.

4. Manchego

Manchego, by renowned font designer Emil Bertell, is the ‘love child of Cooper Black and Windsor’, two well-known serif fonts. Punchy, impactful, and beautiful in bold colors, Manchego is one of our favorite fonts for 2023.

Font trend two: Psychedelic minimalist

In total contrast to the solidity of bold display fonts, people are also yearning for freer design idioms. Expect to see a flourish of psychedelic retro fonts in 2023 as a result. This typography style is noticeable by their warped and altered aesthetic, but they don’t sacrifice baseline legibility or impact.

This typography trend suits several different applications. From theaters to restaurants, bars, and general advertising. With the latter, we can see these fonts used in print ads or billboards. Granted, they might not suit more serious companies like law firms and consultancies.

Use your best judgment on how to use their quirky, unique elements to reflect the character of your brand or design.

5. Spring

Spring is a beautiful animated typography with heavily stylized crossbars, giving it a wavy, 60’s feel. Designed by Tan Type, Spring is one example of many heavily psychedelic fonts created by this particular foundry.

6. Daisy

Another font by Tan Type, Daisy is a bold display font that looks great across heavy and thin weights alike, in all-caps, and lowercase. Ideal for packaging and logo design, social media branding, and ads.

7. Moon Dream

Moon Dream, by Eotype, was designed by Fajar Ramadan in November 2022. This wistful, flowing font is a perfect fit for logo wordmarks or supporting logo text, and would be great for restaurants, bars, or apparel companies.

8. Royce

Royce, the most tech-aligned font from this category, comes in a wide range of weights. It includes minimal stylistic alterations from a legibility point of view, making it ideal for display applications.

9. Poool

Thematically, Poool is a great font, though its applications may be limited. Having said that, the wobbly, ‘floating’ letters in this typeface fit perfectly in the right context. Summer-themed logos and any company that has to do with water would probably get a great logo out of this one.

Font trend three: Geometric sans serif fonts

As we saw last year, and in 2021’s top font trends, the sturdy reliability of geometric sans serif fonts is here to stay. These fonts are highly functional, legible fonts that provide a balance of structure and visual appeal. They speak to a cultural desire for clear communication after a period of mixed messages and uncertainty.

Serif fonts are functional. They’re also extremely flexible, and well-suited to tech-oriented companies. They’re great for legibility on devices and don’t give too much away stylistically. Sans serifs work well on logos, for fun and serious companies alike.

Check out the geometric sans serifs below!

10. Cerebri Sans

Created by Hanken Design Co, this warm, approachable sans serif is an extremely versatile, clean, and modern font with a functional look and feel.

11. Avenir

By the legendary linotype foundry, Avenir is a sleek, sophisticated modern sans serif with clean lines and multiple available weights.

12. Visby

Inspired by the stark beauty of the Arctic, Visby shares an iconic aesthetic with fonts like Helvetica Now and Futura. It’s a punchy, friendly sans-serif designed by Connary Fagen.

13. Migo

Migo is a stylized geometric sans serif typeface that provides a nice balance between friendly approachability and smart sophistication. Available in multiple weights, this font is a great pick for tech companies, consultancies, and marketing or SaaS brands looking to create a logo in 2023.

Font trend four: Flexible Fonts

Although accessibility is an important part of typography design in today’s landscape, one font trend we’re seeing more of is the emergence of flexible, illustrative fonts. Their animated nature shows a desire for more experimentation as we begin to embrace cultural uncertainty.

These fonts include typographic elements like stretched lettering or unique spacing, which can make these fonts great for packaging, logos, and display ads. Here are a few of our favorite flexible fonts for 2023.

14. Space Odyssey

Space Odyssey was designed by Andhika Pradana and Wahyu Eka Prasetya for IKIIKOWRK. It’s a futuristic-looking font with variable letter widths, for an open, stretched-out look.

The font itself is simple, but through the creative use of space and stretching, it becomes unique and attention-grabbing.

15. Nine to Five

Nine to Five, by Inumoca type, comes with three styles and a huge ligature set. Perfect for brands looking for a unique visual identity. The ‘handcrafted’ version would be ideal for a restaurant, artisanal goods, or pottery branding.

16. Boxen

Another great font for hospitality, apparel, and alternative branding styles. Boxen is bold, serious font with a range of different edge styles and spacing. It’s not afraid to take up space!

17. Golden Nature

Golden Nature would be a perfect fit for health and wellness, beauty brands, editorial-style magazines, and food and drinks companies. It’s smart, sophisticated, and refined, with a rustic feel brought out by modified letter terminals and serifs. It works well at a vertical angle and remains legible even in a cyclical format.

Font trend five: Cutting shapes

These fonts are inspired by paper cutting and speak to the growing curiosity and experimentalism in existing forms. In a nutshell, they’re about reading between the (thick) lines and using your imagination just a tad more than you normally would.

Using big spaces, closed apertures, and bold colors, this font style is seeing a surge in popularity for logo designs and general graphic design.

18. Big Chub

Big Chub, designed by Deli Fresh Type, is an old-school, super-heavy font inspired by retro Italian advertisements. With extra small counters and crossbars against a backdrop of super thick letters, Big Chub is a fun yet sturdy font style. It’s ideal for food and drinks, street food, or restaurants.

19. Morro

Morro is a super unique font composed solely of flat cutout shapes. It’s not the most legible font in the world, but would be perfect for a bold color logo with relatively few letters, where it would make an impact.

20. Perfora

The aptly named Perfora (as in perforations) is a beautiful cutout font that looks incredible on brand packaging and display ads. Designed by Austin-based creative studio In-House International.

21. Pata Slab

If you want to push things a little further, here’s another stunning cutout-style font from In-House, Pata Slab. Gorgeous in full color, Pata Slab sacrifices legibility for design impact. Sure, you wouldn’t use it for long pieces of text, but for ads, logos, and brand identity applications this could be a game changer.

Font trend six: Mid-century modern

The mid-century modern style is a unique design aesthetic that appears in everything from interior design to font design. These fonts are inspired by the mid-century modern aesthetic. Defined by clean, straight lines, natural tones, and delineated structures.

Lately, recycling past forms is a common theme during periods of new ideas and the backdrop of uncertainty left behind by COVID-19. The mid-century modern style is a tasteful middle-ground between highly organized, structured geometry and the introduction of more engaging design decisions.

22. Gotham

Gotham, an elegant and clean font designed by Tobias Frere-Jones and Jonathan Hoefler. This sophisticated font comes in many weight sizes and would be ideal for a logo, headlines, and even long-form text. Obama’s first campaign used this font!

23. Aloha Magazine

Aloha Magazine is a classy mid-century style font with a touch of island life. Use-wise, this font style would be suited for beauty and lifestyle brands – among other industries. Designed by Nirmana Visual in November 2022,

24. Palm Ridge

Palm Ridge is a mid-century-inspired serif style font with southwestern sensibilities. It comes in three finishes: Regular, Rounded, and Rough. For designers, Palm Ridge would be ideal for brand identities, editorial layouts, advertising, and typographic artwork.

25. Midcentury

The aptly named Midcentury font is a playful, Madison Avenue-style font that looks great in all caps or lowercase. With over 50 logo badges, The Good Store’s 1950s-inspired font would be an excellent choice for logo and brand designers alike.

Font trends are the pulse of design

Keep in mind, having the right font is a critical part of how you communicate your brand’s character. So, if you’re choosing a font for your logo this year, make sure you ask yourself a few simple questions beforehand:

Lastly, explore other brands in your field and take inspiration from similarly-aligned companies that you admire. Ultimately, you don’t have to follow the font trends to fit in, but it helps to benchmark your font style against other companies to make sure you’re hitting the right tone.

Play around with font recommendations and layouts in Looka’s logo maker, and have fun picking your new logo font for 2023!