Neue Freigeist

Neue Freigeist is old with a young spirit. The sans-serif grotesque typeface Neue Freigeist set on a mobile phone in the body text and a pull quote taken from the specimen that reads: “The early Grotesk typefaces were wild, unrestrained, and full of the spirit of the golden age of type design.”

Sans-serif typeface

from Studio René Bieder
designed by René Bieder

18 Styles

9 weights: Extra Light to Heavy
with matching italics

License from

$ 25 (single), $ 199 (bundle)

Best for

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

Specialty

A reinterpretation of historic Grotesque typefaces, giving your project a certain twist and coolness.

Get Neue Freigeist at ILT

My thoughts on Neue Freigeist

When the first sans-serif typefaces came up in the 1850s, people called them Grotesque. Because back then when everyone was used to seeing serifs, they simply looked bizarre. And these typefaces were not that polished and clean like Helvetica or Futura. The were wild, quirky and quite unusual. Neue Freigeist by René Bieder is picking up exactly that spirit and transforming it in a contemporary, and versatile typeface.

Sharp & Quirky for interesting titles
Working for a bit of copy. While most letters can blend into the background nicely and let the content speak, in long reading text, the f still stands out. This might be a bit too distracting in some situations.
In small or/and functional text, Neue Freigeist performs okay. The 134 numerals remain 6,890 clear and 0.27 readable. But it is quite space consuming and a bit noisy for UIs.

Neue Freigeist simply looks gorgeous in stronger weights and headings. Very determined, clear, and sharp. For body text, it works fine, however, the lower case f stands out a bit too for my taste, which might be too distracting in really text heavy applications. Unfortunately, there is no alternative character provided. But you have to make a decision as a designer, if you want certain features to stand out or to blend it.

Sharp hook at the f, Wedged cutout at the r, Tight apertures at the c,
Contrasting strokes at the G — These features make *Neue Freigeist* so interesting

Besides the sharp hook at the lower case f, other features that make Neue Freigeist so special are the wedged cutouts you can see at the r, u, m, n. Also, the very tight, sharp apertures at the c and s, the contrasting strokes at the G and a. They all add this special flavor of subtle weirdness to it.

When it comes to stylistic alternates, there are plenty. Some that make the typeface a bit simpler, like the single story a and g, or the diagonal leg of the R. Others that make it more playful, like the tail of the Q, the curved y or the aggressive hook at the r. Play around with these in your headings or titles and discover what works best for the mood of your project.

Neue Freigeist free font Alternative
in the Font Friday Video Digest
for Patrons on May 26th, 2023

Tell me your thoughts in the comments, also if you have an idea for an upcoming Font Friday 😉.

2 Comments

Lise says:

3. May 2023 at 08:25

This is my first read of your newsletter. I absolutely love it! It’s supernerdy and insightful 🙂

1. Oliver says:
  
  3. May 2023 at 12:02
  
  Yay, Lise! Happy you enjoyed it so far! Always curious about your feedback, so don’t hold back in future editions 😉.