Font Friday #154

Gabarito (free font)

Gabarito seems fresh, clean & light-hearted. The sans-serif typeface Gabarito is set on a mobile phone, in the heading, body text, navigation and on a button, and in a big pull quote: "I'm flyin' away, Running like the wind, as I chase the sun." — from "Chase The Sun" by Planet Funk, sent in by long-time Font Friday friend Jana

Sans-serif typeface

from Naipe Foundry
designed by Leandro Assis, Álvaro Franca, Felipe Casaprima

Variable Font

1 axis: Weight

6 Styles

6 Weights: Regular to Black

Best for

  • Headings (display text)
  • Long reading text (body text)
  • User Interfaces (functional text)

License

Free and Open Source

Specialty

A light-hearted, approachable, free geometric sans-serif typeface with a warm attitude, ideal for friendly and robust text.

Get Gabarito

My Gabarito Font Review

Geometric sans-serif typefaces tend to feel very tidy, dry and restrained. This is definitely not the case with this week’s free font. Gabarito, or “Gabby” as Álvaro from Naipe Foundry called it emailing with me, is charming! And it’s also a solid all-rounder: sturdy, legible, clear.

Gabarito is like a good friend Gabarito seems simple and likable. Not elegant, but solid, rounded, easy going. Like a good friend, accepting you the way you are. Working well for body text, but taking up a bit more space. For very large text, it might be a bit too blunt. In smaller sizes, Gabarito still convinces, thanks to the tall x-height, distinct characters and sturdy strokes. Could it be something for a charming web or user interface design?
Gabarito works best for body text and small text.

To understand why Gabarito feels so approachable, let’s compare it to the mother of all geometric sans-serifs: Futura. Besides the fact that Futura has a vintage touch for contemporary eyes, the very simplistic letters (look at the lower case “l”), narrow proportions, and short lower case letters give it a dry and more noble touch.

Cold or friendly? Futura seems colder and more sober, Gabarito feels warmer and more welcoming.
Gabarito has the simplicity of a geometric sans-serif, but not its coldness

Tiny details like the curved terminal of the lower case “l”, that adorable question mark add to that impression. Also, the quotation marks (and the comma and apostrophes) are surprisingly tender with its dynamic shape. I only have an issue with the terminal of the “e”, it seems a bit bumpy and unbalanced, not in a drastic way, but it struck me.

The lower case “l” has a curved tail. This makes it friendly and legible. Simplistic and yet well-balanced question mark. The quotation marks are surprisingly organic. Not sure about the terminal of the lower case “e”. It feels a little bumpy.
The details show how Gabarito can be both: clean and warm.

A lovely additional feature you need to know about, are the various styles for numbers, see them in action here on Patreon.

See the four charming number styles. Unlock on Patreon

In my opinion, Gabarito works best for web and UI design. For lager text, a light weight would be great, also italics are missing to seriously consider it for a lot of body text. Maybe in this case similar Capitana or Grato or Gratimo work better.

Font Pairings for Gabarito

If you want something striking for your headings, mystic Avona would make a contrasting match. Pairing it with wild Roba will emphasize the geometric features of both typeface.

Gabarito (free)
Gabarito (free)
  • Headings
  • Copy
  • UI Text
Pitanga
Pitanga
  • Headings
  • Copy
  • UI Text
Avona & Avona Serif
Avona & Avona Serif
  • Headings
  • Copy
  • UI Text
Roba
Roba
  • Headings
  • Copy

Learn more about pairing typefaces using the Font Matrix.

What do you think? Does Gabarito seem nice and approachable to you as well? Or is it too casual? Tell me in the comments! Also, if you have a suggestion for a future Font Friday review.

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Edition #154, published

2 Comments

  1. What a great example about how the look and feel within large typeface categories can differ so much! I was just working on a lesson for my students about this for next month so I will definitely use the Gabarito as an example, thanks!

    Reply

    1. Wonderful, Andrea! Happy you found a good example in it đŸ€©! Another good example could be Dalton Maag’s Objektiv. The Mk1 style is very cold, Mk3 is very friendly and more legible.

      Reply

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