Creative Boom *edited article.
Whether you work as a type designer, graphic designer or any other form of creative, you probably find typography central to your work, at least occasionally. So it's worth keeping an eye on the latest trends.
Of course, predictions are notoriously difficult, and no one can know the future with certainty, but some thoughts from Creative Boom are the trends may head towards:
Quirky and characterful sans
If there's one overarching typographical story of the last ten years, it's the shift from serifs to sans-serifs. As Mark Richardson, designer , explains: "In a digital world viewed on the small screen, sans are widely preferred for wordmarks. In the absence of an additional logo, though, there's a risk of becoming too similar. So, we have seen more quirky sans typefaces being released.
"In 2024, I think this will continue," he adds. "And previously reluctant clients will be more open to this direction when presented with the risk of not being seen in a sea of sans."
In his view, that's no bad thing. "For those that can not stomach awkward decenders or inconsistent letter widths, a sans with character may be the solution," says Mark. And offers an example of how that can look in practice.
Semi-serifs
The obvious alternative to an overabundance of sans-serifs is, of course, to opt for serifs instead. But there's also a third option that's been emerging recently.
"Sitting comfortably between a serif and sans-serif is an elegant and understated reinterpretation of a classic typeface," explains Rosie Garschina,, “creative director. Semi-serifs are a unique breed in the type world that captures the spirit of a traditional serif and combines it with the modern simplicity of a geometric sans-serif.
"This style can often create the right amount of personality for a brand and offer the best of both worlds,"
*Just for refernce serif fonts have those decorative lines or tapers (also commonly referred to as “tails” or “feet”) while sans serif fonts don't.
Funky and chunky
Carolien Grebe, a client manager,, identifies our third trend as: 'Funky and chunky'. By that, she means: "Rounded corners, rounded everything. Text that isn't just text can take over the canvas; it's part of the actual graphics. A mix of pragmatic and not. Fun, fluid, organic. A combination between thin and thick lines; energetic, with different paces."
Large type families
Our next trend is more overarching and goes beyond individual typeface styles. "As brands continue to merge and consolidate, larger type families create opportunities for consistency and recall," says Rosie. "Type families with diverse weights and styles help unify complicated and layered brand architecture systems under a single shared typeface. In these instances, typography plays a major role in creating attribution across many pieces of communication and can be a valuable tool for unifying complicated ecosystems."
3D and interactive
2024 is gearing up to be the year 3D fonts come into their own," says Mark Nichols, a creative director
Eve Warren, another senior creative agrees that 3D type is likely to be a big part of 2024 typography. "It's become a big trend lately, and I expect it to evolve moving forward," she says.
"With Adobe introducing a 3D tool into Illustrator and the rising popularity of tools like Blender, these techniques will become more accessible to designers and art directors," predicts Eve. "And they'll enable them to create playful and tactile work that adds dimensions to everything from campaigns to book designs, packaging and beyond."
Massive x-height
Accessibility always needs to be front and centre of type design. And it's something Carl Rylatt, a design director, has been thinking a lot about lately.
"The more conscious we get about accessible design, the more we find that some of our favourite 'go-tos' as a designer are counterintuitive for many people," he points out. "Want to create impact quickly? Then your mouse may well be heading for those super chunky, condensed typefaces, set in all caps and 'hey presto', BIG IMPACT! Unfortunately, though, setting fonts in all caps, especially in tandem with low-contrast typefaces, can cause real legibility issues."
Which is why he thinks 2024 will be the year of the 'massive x-height'. "This allows designers to maintain the integrity of the shapes of words while still treating lowercase type as they would display type," he explains. "This means designers can achieve both legibility and impact without sacrificing either.”
Multilingual typefaces
Most discussions around typography tend towards the functional and technical. But culture comes into it too, believes Malex Salamanques, director at a cultural and creative consultancy .
"There is an important voice in typeface design that is becoming more prominent: feminist designers that believe that letters and their shapes carry deep cultural, social and political meaning and responsibility," she explains. "Fonts coming from Latin American and Perso-Arabic designers are committed to honour origin aesthetic and functional values in response to local challenges and needs. They intentionally leave behind the neutrality linked to the European tradition to better communicate – and honour – content."
Use of AI
How could we write a trends article without mentioning AI? Caspar Lam and YuJune Park, co-founders at a design consultancy, explain how this new tech is affecting typography just as much as any other design discipline.
"Type stands at the intersection of design and technology," they note. "It is foundational to communication. While we're still in the early days of AI, designers are rapidly exploring how type can be created with these emergent tools.
All this leaves me alreay with ideas for duture brand projects and lets make them fun and funky!