Newsreader is an open-source serif typeface commissioned by Google Fonts, designed for on-screen, longer-form reading. Imagining the wants and needs of readers of news streams and publishing platforms, we designed a text family that could be elegant, sturdy, contemporary and bookish—all without diminishing personality. Its shapes are open and familiar, fostering engaged reading, with features like optical sizes and large display cuts that maximize the type’s ability to be expressive. The primary source was a mix of cuts inspired by an 18th-century Baroque specimen, with forms becoming blends and averages from the same source material.
The result is an efficient family of 42 styles, including three optical sizes and seven weights—for all the hierarchy that long-form reading requires—while feeling fresh and vibrant.
Design: Hugues Gentile.
Original art direction with Jean-Baptiste Levée
