Fixel (free font)

Sans-Serif typeface

by AlphaBravo for MacPaw
designed by Marcela Mozhina, Serhiy Makarenko

Variable Font

2 axes: weight & width

18 Styles

9 weights: Thin to Black
Text and Display

License

Free

Best for

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

Specialty

A shape-shifter between styles. This free sans-serif font is sober at its core, friendly in its appearance and clean in any application.

Get Fixel

My thoughts on Fixel

The free sans-serif typeface Fixel lives between styles and is quite adaptable. It has very even strokes, is clean and unobtrusive, in a sense neutral but never boring or cold.

Clean and friendly in bold, elegant in Light
Латинське та кириличне письмо
The text style is more compact than the display style, which makes it more versatile. Fixel works well in running text. It is unobtrusive, clean and calm. A few letter shapes draw more attention, like the g, but not too much.
It also delivers in smaller sizes, keeping its clear impression. This makes it a good choice for I design, even if it might be slightly too wide in some use cases.

It claims to be a “grotesque with a human touch”, but what does this actually mean? When comparing it to popular grotesque typefaces like Helvetica, you can see that letters are more open. Everything is a bit more rounded, the curves are softer. The spacing and proportions are a bit wider too, giving Fixel even a slight geometric touch, confirmed by the almost circular o and e.

Neue Helvetica vs. Fixel comparing the text “What a feeling“ — Compared to *Neue Helvetica,* the apertures of e and a of *Fixel* are more open. The typeface is also wider and seems softer.

One highlight of this typeface are the stylistic alternates, which move Fixel into a totally different direction. With the single-story a, the f with a descender, and the playfully bent stem of the t, it almost looks like an upright italic. Does this remind you of a strict version of Bree, too? This makes the alternates a welcomed addition for attention grabbing display text.

The Alternates show softly bent, striking shapes — The stylistic alternates give Fixel a very different, more organic look

Overall, Fixel is a smart choice for copy, UI design, and bold headlines as well. It is available in Latin and Cyrillic script and was made for the software company MacPaw, which also created the beautiful microsite showing all of Fixel’s features.

Fixel Display vs. Fixel Text in the Font Friday Video Digest for Patrons on May 26th, 2023

Thanks to Ashley for recommending Fixel, I also spotted it on the brilliant tools.design newsletter. If you have a suggestion for an upcoming Font Friday 😉.