Looking back, it’s hard to believe that 2019 has already come and gone. Not only have we left one year behind, but we’ve also entered into a brand new decade entirely. Where has the time gone?
As the progressive rock band Rush famously sang in The Garden: “The watchmaker has time up his sleeve, The hours tick away.”
With the start of the new year thoroughly underway, it’s time to take one last look backwards as we review our Top Ten Fonts of 2019. Connary Fagen’s work took four out of ten spots in this year’s list, along with one honorable mention. Piotr Lapa took a couple of places, as well, alongside appearances from Samuel Oakes, MadeType, Radinal Riki Mutaqin, Sam Parrett, and Stefan Kjartansson.
Based on YouWorkForThem sales alone, it’s time to present the Top Ten Fonts of 2019!
1. Integral CF
For the second year in a row, Integral CF once again took the first place spot in 2019. Designed by Connary Fagen, Integral CF is an intense, all-caps sans serif with a serious “go big or go home” attitude. Connary intended to go big or go home with Integral CF’s design, creating an incredibly bold typeface that’s strong and durable, yet easily adaptable to a variety of design projects. Integral CF works beautifully in displays, signage, titling projects, book covers, album art, marketing materials, posters, logos, apparel, merchandise, product packaging, and any design project that needs to make a lasting impact.
2. Manier
Taking second place in 2019 is Manier, designed by Piotr Lapa. Manier is a contemporary wedge serif designed for display use. This type family was inspired by transitional and modern typefaces of similar style, offering extreme stroke contrast for maximum dramatic flair. Manier is particularly well-suited to displays and signage, headlines, advertising, book covers, posters, identity, and branding. As a text font, its lighter weights are best used in small blocks of text or to draw special attention toward shorter passages.
3. Quincy CF
Quincy CF captured third place in the Top Ten Fonts of 2019. Designed by Connary Fagen, Quincy CF is a warm serif designed to provide a comfortable yet elegant reading experience. This sophisticated type design does double duty, working beautifully in text-based settings or as a display font in large point. Carrying eight weights with corresponding italics for each, OpenType functionality, and extensive multilingual support — including Russian and Ukrainian Cyrillic — Quincy CF is an incredibly versatile font family.
4. Gilmer
Coming in fourth place is Gilmer, also designed by Piotr Lapa. This sans serif type family follows a geometric architecture with a minimalist style. Modeled after iconic typefaces like Avant Garde and Futura, Gilmer takes a no-nonsense approach to its characters, which feature the very little stroke contrast typical of neo-grotesk fonts from the 1900s. Available in six weights that range from Light to Heavy, Gilmer is perfect for design projects of all kinds, including headlines, editorials, advertising, print and digital publishing, websites, mobile applications, and more.
5. Vanguard CF
Moving down one spot from last year to come in fifth place in 2019, Connary Fagen makes the list again with Vanguard CF. Connary told us that Vanguard CF is “a kind of sibling typeface” to Integral CF, with Vanguard CF taking an opposite approach to its architecture through the exploration of height over width. Vanguard CF is tall and lean, making the most of limited horizontal space. This type design offers eight weights with corresponding obliques for each, making it a great choice for just about anything, including headlines, subheadings, editorials, digital and print publishing, marketing materials, advertising, posters, product packaging, logos, labels, tags, business cards, and mobile applications.
6. Oakes Grotesk
Oakes Grotesk, moves to sixth place this year, down from third in 2018. Designed by Samuel Oakes, Oakes Grotesk speaks with clarity and neutrality through its contemporary architecture, conveying a message with a business-like approach that’s perfect for the corporate world. Oakes Grotesque is well-suited for logo designs, letterheads, corporate communications, presentations, white papers, websites, mobile applications, digital and print publishing, product packaging and informative inserts, labels, business cards, tags, and advertising.
7. Greycliff CF
Greycliff CF, also designed by Connary Fagen, came in seventh place in 2019 — down a few spots from last year. Greycliff CF is a timeless geometric sans serif design that’s incredibly versatile; we’ve often referred to it as “the little black dress of sans serifs.” Offering seven weights with corresponding obliques for each, extensive multilingual support and plenty of additional OpenType features, Greycliff really is one of the most versatile sans serifs out there. It’s a great choice for signage, displays, headlines, subheadings, editorial and publishing applications (both digital and print), presentations, white papers, body copy, website designs, advertising, logos, mobile applications, identity, and branding projects.
8. MADE Soulmaze
Coming in eighth place is MADE Soulmaze from MadeType. MADE Soulmaze is a font duo that’s actually a font trio. It features two all-caps bold sans serif letter sets for eye-catching displays — one with solid characters and the other with outlined characters — with corresponding italics for both. Accompanying these heavy-handed serifs is MADE Soulmaze Brush, an all-caps/small-caps brush script written with urgency and intent. Each of the fonts in the MADE Soulmaze family work well together but are strong enough to stand on their own in displays, signage, headlines, logos, product packaging, posters, book covers, album artwork, marketing materials, apparel, merchandise, or branding and identity projects.
9. Cygnito Mono
Taking ninth place this year is Cygnito Mono, designed by Radinal Riki Mutaqin of ATK Studio. Cygnito Mono is a well-balanced monospaced octagonal design created with technology and programming in mind. Offering excellent legibility even in small point, Cygnito Mono is ideal for design projects centered around the themes of computers, science, technology, and mathematics. It naturally works well in programming applications, as well as marketing materials, tickets, tech-driven publishing, product packaging, advertising, displays, signage, websites, mobile applications, gaming, logos, identity, and branding projects.
10. Hot Mess SVG Font
Coming in tenth place this year is Hot Mess SVG Font, designed by Sam Parrett of Set Sail Studios. “Bold, brazen, and irresistibly fun,” Hot Mess is an edgy yet approachable mostly-caps type design that features a hyper-realistic watercolor paintbrush texture thanks to its OpenType SVG design. If your editing software doesn’t yet support OpenType SVG fonts, Hot Mess offers a regular TTF version that features the lettering in a solid style. This type design is perfect for bold displays and signage, posters, logos, advertising, product packaging, marketing materials, merchandise, apparel, website designs, banners, and social media imagery.
Wayfinder CF (Honorable Mention)
Our first honorable mention goes to Wayfinder CF, designed by Connary Fagen. Wayfinder CF is a condensed and dramatic serif that carries a subtle retro flair, paring elegant curves and sharp points that create a beautiful juxtaposition together. Available in seven weights that range from Thin to Heavy with corresponding italics for each, Wayfinder CF is well-suited signage, displays, headlines, subheadings, logos, publishing, titling, posters, marketing materials, website designs, banners, and social media imagery.
Cinderblock (Honorable Mention)
Our second honorable mention goes to Cinderblock. Designed by Stefan Kjartansson, this type design claims itself as “The World’s Tallest Typeface.” As its name and appearance suggest, Cinderblock was inspired by masonry. This unique type design was designed to allow users to stack letters, sentences, and paragraphs with very little white space between — creating a visual effect that really does look like a wall. Cinderblock’s eight variants grow taller by approximately 25 percent. This type design works best in signage, displays, titling, album artwork, book covers, posters, logos, headlines, and any design project that needs eye-catching sans serif.
Now that our review of the best-selling fonts of 2019 is complete, it’s time to look forward as we make our way through this new year and new decade. We’re in the “Roaring 20s” once again, and we hope you make the best of them!
“The future disappears to memory
With only a moment between
Forever dwells in that moment
Hope is what remains to be seen.”
The Garden — Rush
