Typographic 
Trends
Making Way in
2020.

The year 2020 has been an exciting year for font trends, as there have been aesthetically amazing throwback san-serifs and retro fonts from the past that are making their way into pop culture, popular shows, clothing, magazine, and website designs, if not already have. From spins from the past to modern-day twists, kinetic animated fonts to minimalistic fonts, font designers are creating new ways to freshen up past trends and modify them with a modern interpretation to create new designs. As typography design continues to push the boundaries, there will be possibly new even more visually appealing designs that the year 2021 will entail. Not only in typography are past trends making a comeback but 2020, in general, has been a year of reviving and resurfacing trends from the past and it being “trendy” and “nostalgic”, which is very evident in fashion especially, whether it be hairstyles, clothing, and accessories, all of which help to make you look more stylish while paying tribute to old styles or to establish new styles, the same goes for fonts. Different fonts are utilized to set the “tone” of the text based on the content, and it helps add emphasis to the context, and add style to a web page or design just enough while still maintaining the readability and legibility of the context (Computer Hope, 2020).

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Going further into why retro serif typography from the ‘70s to ’80s is the #1 trending font of 2020 is because serif typography is having its moment and time to shine this year. From thin lines to unique, interesting shapes, this type of font is very versatile and can be paired with a range of different font design styles and niches to create some eye-catching contrast and variety, as well as trending and taking over many different forms of media, graphic design, and pop culture. The font in combination with the groovy, psychedelic, nostalgic aspect along with other elements brings it all together. One of the cautions that designers have had about using serif fonts is that for a while they may look a bit dated, although that is exactly the look that is being aimed, as people thrive for the nostalgic, past look of retro. The best font pairing when it comes to using this font is generally using a serif for the larger text while the smaller text uses a simple sans serif, it helps to complement each other and the larger text can be more decorative as opposed to readable text, as this allows for the personality of the serif to come through while providing optimal readability and ease of typesetting with the sans option (Cousins, 2020). The 1970-80s were filled with many cultural trends and social movements that all greatly influenced graphic design, which is still the case today, as many of these cultures are still influencing trends in graphic design today (Keung, 2020). One thing was for sure, the visuals and designers were pushed to the extremes, some might say tasteful and very colourful, although that is a goal many are looking for in font design and graphic design in general nowadays, as bright groovy colours to pastels are becoming more in because they represent a positive and happy vibe which is sought over and very trendy currently. Needless to say, there is a reason why the retro font is at the top of the list is that you can’t go wrong with it as it's a nostalgic fun blast from the past that could add some positivity to 2020.