15 Best Modern Sans Serif Fonts for Your Design in 2023

TypeType Team
7 min readApr 12, 2023

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Open 5 sites of any famous brands.

Let’s say the choice fell on Chanel, Toyota, Apple, Fender and Rolex. Do you know what they have in common?

The corporate sans-serif font that meets you on the main page. Most modern brands choose sans serifs fonts as their corporate font.

Such fonts began to gain popularity almost a century ago, but still remain at their peak.

Let’s find out what is so attractive about these fonts and have a look at a selection of the best sans serifs from the TypeType collection.

What kind of sans serif fonts there are

Many have already guessed that this article could be renamed «15 Best Grotesques». It’s a fact that most sans-serif fonts are grotesque.

Even if we talk only about grotesques, you can find a huge number of fonts that are different from each other.

Grotesques can be divided by style, by area of application, by belonging to a historical era, and by other criteria. We will consider only the most common categories.

The most common classification of grotesques includes:

  • old;
  • new (neo-grotesque);
  • humanist;
  • geometrics.

Based on scope, grotesques can be classified as follows:

  • text;
  • heading.

Among sans-serif fonts, there is only one antiqua — stressed sans, which is sometimes called contrasting sans serif.

Sans-serif fonts can be opposite in character and characteristics: classic neutral or decorative, rounded or narrowed. The selection includes different fonts so that you can choose the right one for different areas.

Where sans serif fonts are used

The scope of grotesques is limitless.

On the web, sans serif fonts are used on websites, in applications, and in corporate documents. Increasingly more often, grotesques are chosen for game interfaces, packaging and identity design. Sans serif fonts began to appear more often in the layout of books, catalogs and magazines.

15 best TypeType fonts

Universal sans serifs

This category of fonts is often referred to as «workhorses». A characteristic feature of such fonts is their concise nature, extensive character set and well-thought-out technical component. This is the font in the collection that looks attractive in almost any project.

As a rule, it is a geometric, humanist or new grotesque. You may come across the term «Swiss Style» used in reference to sans serif fonts. Most often, the criteria for «Swiss Style» include minimalistic design, good readability of typed text and versatility of use.

There are many «workhorses» in the TypeType collection, but the main trio is TT Commons™ Pro, TT Norms® Pro and TT Hoves Pro.

TT Norms® Pro is the studio’s #1 studio bestseller. It has been used in the design of more than 1000 famous world brands: Cartoon Network, Tom Tailor, CSN, and others.

The font supports over 275 languages, including Bulgarian, Greek, and Vietnamese.

TT Norms® Pro for Tom Tailor

TT Commons™ Pro is another bestseller of the studio. It features Uniqlo, Commercetools, Typo and other global brands in its portfolio. Supports 275+ languages and has an extensive character set.

TT Commons™ Pro for Uniqlo
TT Hoves for Telefonica

TT Hoves Pro is the third font included in the rating of the most popular universal sans serifs of the studio. Offers extensive support for European and Cyrillic languages, a large number of styles and an extended character set.

All universal fonts of the studio are regularly updated with new styles, OpenType features, and characters.

TT Hoves for Telefonica

Display sans serifs

These are the sans serifs that are intended for headings and display inscriptions and have a more pronounced character than other groups of sans serif fonts. They are expressive, stylish and bright, therefore they are also used in packaging design, in the development of corporate identity, and for the design of signs and exhibitions.

The most popular display or decorative sans serifs are TT Rounds Neue, TT Travels Next, and TT Frantz.

TT Rounds Neue is a rounded font with soft shapes and a friendly character. It is often chosen for eco-themed brands, children’s products and socially important projects.

TT Travels Next is a stylish display sans serif with wide proportions for modern projects.

TT Frantz is an experimental variable sans serif. You can change the middle line of the font by raising or lowering it. In the set, it looks tight and aesthetically pleasing.

Humanist sans serifs

Humanist sans serifs are fonts without serifs that have contrast. They are most frequently multi-width fonts and may contain elements referencing calligraphy.

The collection of humanist grotesques by TypeType is represented by TT Fellows and TT Wellingtons.

TT Fellows is the studio’s first uniwidth typeface, which became a bestseller right after its release. It can be categorized as a «workhorse» as well, as it is a truly versatile typeface. Uniwidth allows you to change styles directly in the layout, because the width of the characters does not change when increasing or decreasing the weight.

TT Fellows in the interface of the MMO game Crossout

Geometric sans serifs

The shape of characters of such fonts is based on simple geometric shapes. This category of fonts is popular and often used by modern brands.

The TypeType collection has many geometric grotesques with different characters. This category includes the versatile TT Commons™ Pro, TT Norms® Pro and TT Hoves Pro. There are also TT Fors, TT Chocolates, TT Travels and TT Firs Neue fonts.

TT Firs Neue is a sans serif with a wide range of applications. The font has a recognizable character, so it is used for headings. It will look beautiful in text blocks set in large size.

TT Firs Neue for the Swiss company Neo Architektur, Maren Schwitalla Kommunikationdesign project

TT Chocolates is a favorite of many designers. It is a text font with a dense set and friendly character.

Neo-grotesques

This category of fonts is represented by sans serifs with a wide range of applications. As a rule, these are low-contrast fonts with concise forms.

TT Interphases Pro is a neo-grotesque for use in interfaces. The text typed in this font remains readable and looks uniform even in a small size. It has a broad language and character set and is regularly updated.

Stressed serif

This is an antiqua without serifs. It is categorized as antiqua because of the high contrast inherent in typefaces of this category. Sometimes this font is called a contrasting sans serif.

We recommend the TT Ricordi Allegria and TT Knickerbockers stressed serifs.

TT Ricordi Allegria is a sophisticated and beautiful typeface with variable width proportions.

TT Knickerbockers is a contrast typeface that has hints of serifs. An original typeface that can be used to type headings or decorative inscriptions.

Bonus: Technological and monowidth fonts

There are sans-serif fonts that are difficult to categorize or that cover several types at once. As a bonus, we want to suggest 3 fonts that are not included in previous collections.

TT Autonomous is a technological grotesque. This is a brutal font whose proportions look monospaced. Ideal for projects related to mechanical engineering, technology or AI.

TT Autonomous for CCD visual identity, Denmark

TT Interphases Pro Mono is a subfamily of the TT Interphases Pro font, rendered in monospace proportions. This is a stylish typeface that can be used not only in programming, but also in branding, packaging design and headlines.

TT Supermolot Neue is another technological grotesque whose character you can control. The typeface includes a variety of styles that harmoniously match each other.

TT Supermolot Neue for the Rimac Automobili automobile company

We’ve shown you 15 sans-serif fonts to add to your collection in 2023.

Share the list of your favorite grotesques on social networks and don’t forget to tag TypeType studio.

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TypeType Team
TypeType Team

Written by TypeType Team

Type design studio. TypeType fonts are a killer combination of price, quality and functional features. typetype.org

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