Amazing free serif typefaces you need to download in 2020, part 1

Cormorant

Let’s start with the typeface you’re reading right now. Cormorant claims to be inspired by the Garamond heritage but tweaked for use in large display sizes, while not compromising on legibility at lower sizes. Here’s what the type designer himself has to say about the typeface:

Cormorant is characterized by scandalously small counters, razor-sharp serifs, dangerously smooth curves, and flamboyantly tall accents.

Does it accomplish what it sets out to do? We’ve set our crack team of investigative typographists on the case and they’ve delivered a verdict that’s sure to shock many (fig. 1)

fig. 1

Cormorant’s “scandalously” small counters can potentially cause issues with legibility, so the typeface is also offered in a selection of Cormorant Garamond styles, with tweaks including bigger counters so that no pearl-clutching type designer is needlessly scandalized.

Here’s a comparison between the lowercase ‘e’ and ‘a’ of the basic vs the Garamond styles (fig. 2) which showcases the difference in counter sizes.

fig. 2

Cormorant is easy to recommend, and not just because it looks great. It not only offers a big variety of weights and matching italics but it goes even further than that by including features that you don’t normally find in the hundreds of free typefaces available for download out there, like small caps, standard and discretionary ligatures and even stylistic sets.

You can download Cormorant here.

fig. 3 – Cormorants look kinda pathetic so here are some seagulls.