Discover the benefits of variable fonts for both designers and developers. Learn how to utilize this technology in various design applications and explore careers in graphic design and web development.
Key Insights
- Variable fonts offer designers greater control over typography, enabling more dynamic and unique designs.
- These fonts can be animated, offering new design opportunities.
- For developers, variable fonts mean less code to load into a webpage or app, resulting in faster loading times for users.
- Design applications like Photoshop and Illustrator support variable fonts, but not all applications such as Adobe XD, offer this support.
- Websites like play.typedetail.com and v-fonts.com offer the opportunity to test out variable fonts.
- Noble Desktop offers courses in graphic design and web development, as well as hands-on courses in specific design applications like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.
Why Variable Fonts Matter
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Designer Freedom
One font with fine-tuned axis controls — more unique designs without juggling files.
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Animation Possibilities
Variable fonts can animate weight, width, slant, and other axes — new motion options.
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Faster Web Loading
One file replaces multiple weight files — fewer assets to download.
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App Support Varies
Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch (v59+) support them; Adobe XD does not yet.
Why Variable Fonts Are Good for Designers
Being able to control greater aspects of typography gives designers more freedom to create dynamic designs. Instead of being limited to a specific number of pre-made fonts and styles, having a single font that has settings you can control with fine-tuned accuracy will enable designers to create better looking and more unique designs.
The ability to animate variable fonts also brings exciting new opportunities!
Why Variable Fonts Are Good for Developers & Users
Currently, web developers must know which weights and styles of a font to load into a webpage or app. They don’t want to include any that aren't used since that needlessly increases the download time. Variable fonts offer more flexibility in a single font file. That means a bit less code for developers (only loading one font file), and more importantly, fewer assets to download (which means faster loading). It’s a win-win for users and developers.
How Do I Use These in My Design App?
Your design app must support variable fonts for you to take full advantage of them.
For example, Photoshop and Illustrator support variables fonts. Sketch (version 59) added support. Unfortunately, not all apps have added variable font support. For instancedoes not currently have a way to access the settings to customize variable fonts.
Play with Some Variable Fonts
Here are some sites where you can find and test out variable fonts. Have fun playing with them!
Learn Design & Coding at Noble Desktop
- Check out our graphic design classes to see our offerings such as UI/Visual Design and Graphic Design.
- Check out our Web Development classes to learn how to code websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and more.
- Learn specific design apps with hands-on Photoshop courses, InDesign classes, and Illustrator classes.
