Katelyn Brooke

12 Great Google Web Fonts

blogging· tips and tutorials

11 Oct

I see a ton of free font lists out there on Pinterest, but to be honest, as a designer there’s really only one kind of free font that I use regularly: Google Web Fonts.  Here’s why: you know that whole rule about only using 2 to 3 fonts in your blog design?  Well, I’m usually kind of a stickler about that.  And in order to pull that off successfully, it’s imperative to take advantage of web fonts so that I can have more than just the regular system fonts available for things like post titles and sidebar headings (although I use those plenty too!)

The cool thing about Google Web Fonts is that you can use them for the web AND you can download them to your computer- for free! – and use them on print items, so everything matches.  Isn’t that awesome?  All you have to do is make a collection of fonts, download the collection, and install them on your computer.

One of the great things about Google Web Fonts is that there are tons of choices.  Right now there are 554 font families to choose from.  While it can be fun to browse them, it can also be overwhelming.  That’s why I put together a list of 12 tried and true Google Web Fonts- the ones that I use the most.

Amatic SC | Josefin Slab | Old Standard TT | Open Sans Condensed | Oswald | Quicksand | Sofia | Cookie | Rouge Script | Arvo | Droid Sans | Droid Serif

If those links don’t get you to a page where you can figure out how to use or download them, just go to Google Web Fonts, search for the desired font, and follow the instructions above to download.  That’s it!

What are your favorite Google Web Fonts?  And can you recognize which ones I use on here?

{I came across these posts featuring some other great options- there are so many out there!)

And yeah, every excerpt on here is from a Disney movie.  That’s how I roll.

Update: don’t miss part 2!

45 Comments

« Passion & Laughter
Starred this Week »

Comments

  1. Michelle says

    October 11, 2012 at 10:30 am

    Oh I love this! Thanks for posting these! Obviously I am no designer, but I still consider myself to be a bit of a font snob :)

    Reply
    • Kate says

      October 11, 2012 at 10:38 am

      No problem! I could spend all day browsing fonts :)

      Reply
  2. Lisa // Elembee says

    October 11, 2012 at 10:31 am

    Great picks! I hadn’t seen Amatic before. Thanks for sharing my link! (And I LOVE that you used Disney quotes!)

    Reply
    • Kate says

      October 11, 2012 at 10:34 am

      Nice- Amatic is my favorite handwriting font! And I’m glad :)

      Reply
  3. elizabeth says

    October 11, 2012 at 10:41 am

    this is great – thanks for the round up!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      October 11, 2012 at 11:26 am

      No problem, glad you liked it! :)

      Reply
  4. Eliza St.Clair says

    October 11, 2012 at 10:53 am

    I love how you wrote out these Disney quotes :) Haha! They just made my morning! Is there a way to install fonts in Blogger to change the post text? I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about even enough to ask the right question ;) I hope that made a little bit of sense! xoxo, eliza

    Reply
    • Kate says

      October 11, 2012 at 11:29 am

      Yay, I’m glad! And absolutely! I just Googled “how to configure google web fonts on blogger” and a ton of tutorials popped up, including this one. But before you do that, make sure that the one you want isn’t already available in the customize area- because Blogger is run by Google, they’ve already uploaded a lot of the web fonts already.

      Reply
  5. Rachel says

    October 11, 2012 at 11:01 am

    I’ve never tried this mainly because I like to use the fonts in Photoshop when making graphics. I didn’t know you could download Google fonts to your computer- I thought it was just for the web. I feel stupid haha but thanks for enlightening me!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      October 11, 2012 at 11:30 am

      Yeah, you definitely can- that’s how I made the graphic above :) Don’t worry, it took me a while to realize that you could download them too!

      Reply
  6. Milynn says

    October 11, 2012 at 11:29 am

    I love this post and the graphic is a perfect visual!

    Reply
  7. Allyssa says

    October 11, 2012 at 11:36 am

    I use Google web fonts, but I usually only stick with one or 2. It’s definitely overwhelming! I never know which ones are decent or not. Thanks for sharing! I’ll be downloading these later!

    Reply
  8. Mark Allman says

    October 11, 2012 at 12:47 pm

    I paint some sayings on canvas and I needed more fonts to choose from. Thank you for this tip!

    Reply
  9. Kaity says

    October 11, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    it took me a minute to notice the Disney connection…the first few were so short I kind of just thought they were font titles. by the time I hit the end, the little flag went up in my mind that something was going on. like, hold on, this is a lot of words…oh, it’s a quote…wait a sec, I recognize this!

    anyway, thanks for making me think this morning. :)

    Reply
  10. Megan C. Stroup says

    October 11, 2012 at 2:50 pm

    I definitely picked up on the Disney. Love it!

    Reply
  11. molly @ still being molly says

    October 11, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    i LOVE this post! i am such a font nerd and i loveeee finding new fonts to use!

    Reply
  12. Betsy Transatlantically says

    October 11, 2012 at 10:26 pm

    UGH thank you. I get so overwhelmed when I go to Google Web fonts! lifesaver.

    Reply
  13. LWLH says

    October 12, 2012 at 11:51 am

    I need some new fonts so I will def. be moseying on over there.

    Reply
  14. Yelle says

    October 12, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    This is a great collection! You even made the fonts stand out better with their color!

    Reply
  15. Anna says

    October 12, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    Oswald + Arvo = ♥

    Reply
  16. Kendra says

    October 16, 2012 at 11:25 am

    Great list, Katelyn! I love all of these too. One of my new favorite sans-serif fonts to use for paragraphs from GWF is Muli.

    Reply
    • Kate says

      October 16, 2012 at 2:37 pm

      Thanks Kendra! That looks like a good one- I’ll have to try it sometime! :)

      Reply
  17. Kim M. says

    October 25, 2012 at 12:34 am

    I headed over to take a peek, and yep, you definitely chose the best fonts. Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      October 25, 2012 at 10:09 am

      Thanks Kim- glad we’re on the same page :)

      Reply
  18. onel says

    December 18, 2012 at 1:06 am

    I’ve never heard of Google Web Fonts before reading this (I’m so glad I stumbled upon this post!!)
    Thanks for sharing this, the fonts are lovely (and the quotes too)!

    Reply
    • Kate says

      December 19, 2012 at 6:33 pm

      It’s awesome, isn’t it?! I love how there are so many fonts all in one place! And thanks- always happy to find ways to include Disney movies in my blog posts :)

      Reply
  19. Kelly says

    January 26, 2013 at 11:53 pm

    Wow, gorgeous fonts! Thank you for sharing. I just pinned it. :-)

    Reply
  20. Alison says

    February 1, 2013 at 4:16 am

    Very useful! thanks :)

    Reply
  21. Ab Mac says

    March 16, 2013 at 3:49 am

    These fonts are awesome. I liked Oswald and Droid Sans. Thanks for the share.

    Reply
  22. Calli says

    May 4, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    Just wanted to say… LOVE the use of Disney quotes for examples! Love all these fonts too… not a regular blogger yet but I’m working on this, so I’ll keep this in mind for sure! Thanks!

    Reply
  23. Brittany says

    August 24, 2013 at 11:33 am

    I had 10 of these on my top 10. Love Google Fonts and how easy they are and I adore the Disney here. I think I will do this when I do my font posts and definitely when I re-do my Disney font posts! Thanks!

    Reply
  24. Sweet Stuff says

    September 6, 2013 at 11:27 am

    Thank you so much for this! The titles of my sidebar look much better now :)

    Reply
  25. Saksham says

    September 12, 2013 at 5:35 am

    wow

    awesome collection
    Ty

    Reply
  26. Matthias says

    November 11, 2013 at 7:41 am

    Yes, its great. And to download a Google Font use this online-tool: http://www.g-fonts.com. Its fast and free!

    Reply
  27. Debasree says

    November 9, 2014 at 3:31 pm

    Awesome! Im definitely checking out google web fonts!

    Debasree // All She Needs

    Reply
  28. Felicity says

    February 26, 2015 at 3:43 am

    Great article and the fonts are so professional looking. Thanks for posting this :-)

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Weekly Wrap Up: Leopard Flats, Breadsticks + Hair « Lyss Barn says:
    October 13, 2012 at 12:56 am

    […] knew Google fonts were great, but there are just so many. Luckily, Kate made a great list of some of her […]

    Reply
  2. How to Make the Most of Pinterest says:
    January 29, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    […] boards (#1 and #2 on my most popular board list below.)  I think part of it is that in December a post that I published in September really started to pick up steam, so my guess is that some people found me that way.  For all I […]

    Reply
  3. Monday Morning Blog Talk says:
    April 15, 2013 at 7:29 am

    […] 12 Great Google Web Fonts […]

    Reply
  4. 50 Blogging Tips : Hey Love Designs says:
    May 15, 2013 at 7:32 am

    […] 12 Great Google Web Fonts | Katelyn Brooke Blog […]

    Reply
  5. 12 More Google Web Fonts says:
    May 16, 2013 at 11:03 am

    […] six months ago I wrote a post about my 12 favorite Google web fonts.  Since I wrote it it’s become my most popular post, so I figured I’d give you guys […]

    Reply
  6. RECENT NEWS: SUPER SIZE PRINTS – Spark Box Studio says:
    October 11, 2013 at 11:08 am

    […] -Free Google Fonts for your blog. […]

    Reply
  7. Fantastic Free Fonts Round Up says:
    November 30, 2013 at 7:19 am

    […] […]

    Reply
  8. 2013 in Review says:
    December 31, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    […] read post: How to Make the Most of Pinterest (although this post actually got the most […]

    Reply
  9. 5 CSS Tricks for Creating Hierarchy says:
    November 20, 2014 at 9:00 am

    […] fonts for your site can be really challenging. Luckily, there are tons of round-ups out there (and even more here!), but depending on your logo and brand, sometimes coming up with a […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect

  • Bloglovin
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Topics

design work
sketchbooks
moodboards
tips and tutorials
starred this week
monthly recaps

Pinterest

12 months ago
…
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 
gluten free carrot cake recipe

gluten free carrot cake recipe

1 year ago
gluten free carrot cake recipe
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 

1 year ago
…
Continue Reading
 

Disclosure

There are some affiliate links on my site, which means that if you purchase something through the links, I may earn a commission. This is at no cost to you, and rest assured that I only recommend products that I use myself. Thanks again for visiting my blog!

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

Copyright © 2023 · Built on the Refined Pro Theme