Typography and fonts are what graphic design is built on. In graphic design, type acts as a transmitter of feelings and sentiment in a brand design, sign, or store name. When choosing a typeface design, you choose the tone in which you will communicate with your viewer.
At the same time, when you want to update the design quickly, you need to use the new trendy fonts and solutions in typography.
Designers opt for less sophisticated typefaces and combine them with bold color, cutouts, gradients, and even settings to create lettering that stands out.
Font design, like everything else in this world, does not stand still and develops. Techcrunch writes that Monotype recently introduced a new typeface called Ambiguity, created by its typeface director, Charles Nix. Its unusual proportions deliberately challenge typographic tradition, expanding where a narrow letter once was and vice versa.
Changing the typeface or recreating an image or headline in a trendy style can give a design a fresh look without a full-blown rework.
In the abundance of graphic solutions today, you can easily get lost or make the wrong choice. In this article, we will try to understand the trends in typography and typefaces to choose the one that works best for you.
Typography Trends in 2021
1. Distorted fonts
The desire to distort the font and make it unusual is one of the biggest trends this year. The type makers seem to want to bring some chaos to typography. The most exciting thing about this trend is that there are no rules. You can stretch, curl, contour, or shrink typography without any restrictions and experiment with typography. This typeface is suitable for those who want to associate with alternative and independent feelings.
2. Outline fonts
UI design services are closely related to the design of web pages. And the font is the main element of the central part of the web page—the main attention-grabbing point.
Outline fonts make it possible to emphasize important words.
The basic rules of such a font are usually manifested in the fact that there are no serifs on the letters. All letters are capitalized, filled and transparent notes, oversized text elements.
You should pay attention to readability. Letters can quickly get lost in background images and videos. So take care of color, contrast, and placement.
3. Retro serifs
Fashion is cyclical, and it is not surprising that it is repeated in the texts.
Over the past year, we’ve seen a return to the retro serif, typically influenced by the 1970s styles used in poster designs and television headlines. The use of retro serifs is becoming an even broader trend in 2021.
A retro serif font will be used wherever retro designs are implemented. This type of font is often chosen by those who want to associate warm feelings with the new time.
4. Glitchy text
This font became famous thanks to TikTok. It creeps a little as if it is buggy and disperses in all directions. Despite the fashionableness and trendiness of this font, not everyone can use it correctly. It isn’t elementary.
Most of these hard-to-read texts are meant to be accentuated rather than readable.
This trend is about fun; you can use it in many different ways. It also grabs attention very well.
5. Alternating baselines
The primary trend for typography in 2021 is experimentation. That is why type designers don’t hold back and create without boundaries. When you alternate uppercase and lowercase letters, create different intensities and thicknesses of the letters – all this creates a new direction for the type that will be popular this year.
Typographic designers will use capital letters, but they will alternate their baselines and create creative typographic ideas emphasizing them.
6. Subtle gradients
Font designers love gradients a lot. And now, in 2021, subtle gradients have come as an accent in typography. What’s nice about this trend is that the gradients are so quiet that you might not even notice them at first. The slight difference in color helps draw attention to the letters.
Gradients work well with thicker types and for highlighting certain words or phrases.
There is a danger of overdoing it. A good text gradient maintains consistent contrast throughout the word so that it isn’t unpleasant to read and stands out from the background.
7. Kinetic typography
Kinetic typography is the type of graphic design you’ve probably only seen in movie titles and credits. Such text dramatically enlivens the sequence of labels in the film.
Today, graphic designers are experimenting with kinetic typography to reduce bounce rates on websites and animate video content, and it’s no surprise that kinetic type will be a massive trend in typography and type design in 2021 as designers become more mature creative with it.
8. “Undersized” Hero Type
“Short” typography refreshes the basic look of a web page. If you make a big heading and print several lines of text below, it is still a heading. But it makes it possible to enter more information and make the page look more modern.
The key to making minor typography workable is to make sure you choose a well-readable font and leave plenty of room for it.
Giant, oversized typography can create clutter on mobile devices that are oriented differently from desktop screens. As a result, the font doesn’t always look good, or design choices that affect consistency across devices have to be made.
Just downsizing a little can fix this problem, keep readability, and look great if done correctly.
9. Brutal font
The use of this type of font began last year, but in 2021 it reached the peak of fashion.
Brutalism is becoming a massive trend in typographic design but takes on a softer version, a more visually balanced approach to type structure.
This design trend will be significant for brands looking to create a disruptive feel with new ideas, who want to change the perception of their sector from their competitors, and you will see this typographic trend commonly used in web and poster design.
10. Animated typography
Animation is what can make any font more modern and original.
More designs use letters that move, shift, or are affected by the hover state. These techniques can lead to a richer user experience.
Of course, here, as usual, you need to monitor the readability of the text. When animating text, it is essential to consider how and where users will read the information – on what device or media. Even if the animation doesn’t work as expected, it still has a helpful user interface that clarifies the messages.
In this regard, the best text animations often start with clear and easily distinguishable letters.
Consider speed carefully with typographic animations – if text moves too fast, users will miss the message entirely. If the reader moves too slowly, users can click before reading the entire content.
11. Solid shadows
The 2021 font trend is the use of solid shadow in typography. It gives the effect of three-dimensional designs that can give the impression that the letters are flying.
This typographic design trend is usually combined with vibrant color schemes. It is used in hand-lettering design projects to give you a sense of lightness and optimism and grab the viewer’s attention through the creative use of fonts and vibrant colors.
12. Compound text boxes
This trend shows a shift in attempts to communicate more fully with users and less expectation that one word will be enough to induce someone to design. More detailed information presented visually appealing may be a better solution, leading to more user engagement.
When it comes to overlapping multiple lines of text, the key considerations are finding a font that is legible when using more letters (or even when using all caps, which is a popular option), has adequate line spacing so that lines are easily distinguishable, and that the breaks in the copy are logical.
Due to line breaks and ease of reading, stacks of text are often located on one side of the screen, so the designer has more control. This structure can also create harmony between the reader and another visual element on the net for an asymmetrical balance that is pleasing to look at.
Conclusion
2021 is the year of experimentation in typography. Designers are already fed up with the fashion trends of yesteryear and are looking for new ways to express themselves through text visualizations.
Being bold and looking for new types of fonts is welcome and resonates well with the public. However, it’s always important to remember how legible your font remains in the end.
Forbes writes that one of the mistakes of type design is confusing typography: typography can be difficult to understand, especially if it has a few nuances and twists. Also, like bright colors, some fonts are irritating to the eyes. It may temporarily attract attention, but not for long.
To understand which style is right for you, it is essential to know which brand you are making a font, what message you want to convey, and what your message is about in general. We, in turn, are confident that the tips from this article will help you navigate the world of font trends relevant this year.
Author’s bio: Anastasiia Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a software development company that builds web & mobile app solutions from scratch. She researches the area of technology to create great content about app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting.
