In addition to the five great google fonts of my previous post, here I have discussed two beautiful, stylish and very extensive google Webfont families and their variants. If you’re looking for a font family with a great range of possibilities for different heading styles or you just want to try out a few tricks you’ve seen in different designs to really set your website, branding or other design outcomes apart, these two families are certainly worth looking at.
Ubuntu
The term “Ubuntu” is of Southern African origin and can be translated as the “belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”. This is encapsulated by the free and open-source software of the same name.
Official Ubuntu releases consist of Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Business Desktop Edition, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu TV and Ubuntu Touch. All editions are developed and released by Canonical LTD who encourage the use of free software and its improvement and distribution.
These principles tie in closely with Google’s Google Font model. Google Font’s offers free, open-source fonts available as web fonts and downloadable font files for anyone who wishes to use them. This is great news for designers as, in the spirit of “believing in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”, the full font family of the Ubuntu font is available, through google fonts.
Developed during 2010-2011, the Ubuntu font is a stylish, clean and modern sans-serif. The font was developed by Dalton Maag. and was developed to communicate the Ubuntu brand strongly, wherever used. This is definitely achieved through its characteristic curves.
The Ubuntu font intends to cover the languages of all Ubuntu users and will thus be extended continuously.
The font family, as available from google fonts, is extensive and really helpful for designers trying to use a variety of typographic designs and techniques to set a website and brand, as well as any print outcomes, apart.
The family includes a light, normal, medium and bold font weight as well as an italicised version for each. There is also an Ubuntu Condensed front available in a single, normal, weight. There is also a monotype version as well. View the full font here.
Roboto
Developed by Christian Robertson, an interface designer for Google, Roboto is the newer Android font, replacing Droid sans as the default font.
The family combines elements of a Grotesk sans, think Akzidenz Grotesk or Helvetica, and a Humanist sans like Gil Sans or Apple’s own Myriad.
A link to justification by the designer behind Roboto can be found here.
The font family for the robot is extensive and includes thin, light, normal, medium, bold, ultra-bold and also an Italicised version for each. There is also a condensed version of the font with light, normal and bold weights. Furthermore, there is an italicised version of each and, in addition to the two san-serif versions, there is also a slab version that is great to pair with. View the full font here.
