Ask any UI/UX designers and they will tell you that the fonts work wonders on any design. The fonts are crucial because they make or break the designs and give them characters. 

While the right choice can level up the design, the wrong ones can repel or give uneasy feelings to the viewers. You do not have to be a full-fledged designer to know that the website’s design is not quite right. It is easy to spot lousy designs. Therefore, UI/UX designers have to understand how their viewers will perceive their designs.  

Now that we know the importance of choosing the right font, let us discuss what makes a good UI/UX font. A good font should have these characteristics:

• Legibility: Refers to how well the individual letter or character distinguishes from others. It hugely impacts the user experience. 
• Readability: Refers to the arrangement of words and text blocks in a design. Similarly, it also focuses on the spacing between words and sentences. Its main objective is to ensure users can understand and interpret the content easily. 
• Usability: Refers to the practicality and effectiveness of the fonts. It depends on the legibility, readability, and suitability of font use. 

Choosing the right font does not mean that you need to have a library of premium typefaces. You can achieve the best results by using free but high-quality fonts. This article will explore some of the best free fonts for UI/UX designs. In addition to these fonts being free, they also have modern web designs. 

Here are the Best Free Fonts For UI/UX Designs. 

7. Lexend

Initially, Lexend was created for readers who were struggling to read and were dyslexic. Thomas Jockin was the designer of the first set of Lexend. Later Dr. Bonnie Shaver-Troup, creator of the Lexend project, thought it would be useful for everyone. 

Dr. Shaver-Troup collaborated with Google to formulate an advanced set of typographic variables. The idea behind the font is that like a prescription in a pair of eyeglasses, a font should change based on the reader’s unique need. There are nine styles of the font available. 

Lexend gives the reader complete control over their reading while enhancing their ability to remember and understand the content. The font helps to improve reading performance by reducing visual stress. As a result, the font has been integrated into the UI/UX design that is easy to read with a unique design. 

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6. Public Sans 

Public Sans is the next font on our list of the best free fonts for UI/UX designs. Developed by the United States Web Design System, it is a strong and neutral typeface. The font is based on Libre Franklin but has its distinct characters. It is a versatile font that is suitable for marketing and branding. 

Public Sans also takes inspiration from 20th-century neutral sans serif typefaces. It is designed as a web font for progressive enhancement and seamlessly integrates with the base system fonts from Apple and Google within its font stack. There are 20 different styles of Public Sans available.  

In comparison to Libre Franklin, Public Sans provides more regular letterforms. As a result, the Public Sans font looks cleaner with consistent letterforms. Similarly, it has various OpenType features like alternates, arrows, case-sensitive forms, rare currency symbols, and many more.

5. Satoshi 

Satoshi is a sans-serif font inspired by the Industrial Era and Modernism graphics. Indian Type Foundry is the designer behind the font. Its design combines the letterforms found in grotesk-style fonts with some characters that have geometric designs. 

One of the great features of Satoshi font is its sharp contrast which provides great readability. It has smooth, rounded shapes and distinct angular details. Therefore, it is ideal for branding, poster, and editorial design. 

There are ten different styles of Satoshi fonts available with two variable versions. Each font contains ten directional-arrow and six glyphs of circles, squares, and triangles. Satoshi fonts have a slightly lower 66% x-height. Because of the font’s versatility, it is ideal font for UI/UX designs.  

4. Work Sans

Next, we have Work Sans, a sans-serif font with a clean and modern design.  Wei Huang, a designer from Australia is the creator of the font. Huang has taken inspiration from early grotesque typefaces, sans-serif fonts designed by Stephenson Blake, Miller & Richard, and Bauerschen Giesserei. 

Work Sans is a versatile font with a minimalist and straightforward design. The regular weight and others in the middle family are designed for on-screen text application at medium sizes (14px-48px). In general, the font styles are simplified and optimized for screen resolutions. 

In comparison to other fonts, Work Sans has a slightly elevated 75% x-height. However, the readability and scalability of the font are not affected. There are over 18 styles and variables of the font available. Similarly, an optimized version of Work Sans is available for desktop applications on the Work Sans GitHub project page. 

3. Space Grotesk

Designed by Florian Karsten, we have placed Space Grotesk third on our list of the best free fonts for UI/UX designs. It is a proportional sans-serif typeface variant. It is based on Colophon Foundry’s fixed-width Space Mono family and retains the distinctive features of monospace fonts. 

Space Grotesk is popular for UI/UX designs because of its clean, modern, and geometric design. Thus, the font is great for text, branding projects, packaging design, print accessories, web and app design, etc. Its 70% x-height makes the font great for legibility and works on smaller and larger scales. It is optimized to improve readability at non-display sizes. 

There are five different styles of Space Grotesk available. Similarly, it supports Latin extended characters and several open-type features like standard ligatures, numerators, denominators, scientific inferiors, proportional figures, tabular figures, etc. The font’s readability and versatility make it suitable for design applications. 

2. DM Sans

DM Sans is our second pick for free font on our list of the best free fonts for UI/UX designs. It is a low-contrast sans sans-serif with geometric design. Colophon Foundry is the font’s designer. It is based on Poppins and inspired by modern sans-serif typefaces. Its modern and clean design gives the font a balanced and versatile appearance. 

DM Sans provides readability and is suitable for digital interfaces, branding, and graphic design projects. It has different OpenType features and supports an extended set of Latin glyphs, enabling typesetting for English and other Western European languages. 

Likewise, its other features include open counters, a large x-height, and expandable proportions. As a result of these features, DM Sans is suitable for use in small sizes and on small screens. There are eight styles of DM Sans available. 

1. Inter

Our first pick for the best free fonts for UI/UX design is Inter. The main reason for picking Inter as number one is that it is designed for user interfaces with high legibility and readability. It is also one of the most popular UI/UX design fonts. Rasmus Andersson is the designer of the font. 

Inter has a distinct design and is known as a standard font for UI/UX designs. As a result, it is one of the most used fonts. It is used on applications like NASA instrumentation, computer interfaces, advertising, airports, medical equipment, etc. 

The font has a tall x-height of 69% which helps in the readability of mixed and lower-case text. Thus, it works well on small and medium screens. Likewise, it also works well with display typeface and body text. There are nine types of font available. Its excellent legibility and readability make Inter the best free font for UI/UX designs. 

Conclusion

These were our seven best free fonts for UI/UX designs. UI/UX designers need to understand that typography is crucial in the modern digital world. The selection of a good font enhances the user experience and helps to improve your website’s performance. 

Mastering Typography takes time but using free resources, you can practice and hone your skills. However, if you do not want to use the third-party font, you can always use the system fonts for your designs. The system fonts can operate seamlessly and provide readability and legibility.