Fun fonts can add a dose of cheer to design projects and put a smile on people's faces. There's an almost endless supply of friendly, happy fonts whirling around the web, and we've picked out our favourites.
Used in the right projects, the quirky fonts below can add an injection of fun typography into your work. We've included options at a range of price points, with different personalities, including funny fonts, exciting fonts, friendly fonts and typefaces that simply make us smile (don't worry – Comic Sans didn't make the cut).
With the list below, you're should be able to find the best fun font for your project, but if you want more options, don't miss our selection of the best retro fonts. We also have roundups of the best free script fonts and calligraphy fonts.
The best fun fonts: quirky, upbeat type options
01. Balgin
Balgin is here to take you back to the '90s for a dose of nostalgic fun. This happy font designed by Cahya Sofyan is formed from basic shapes and is available in three 'flavours' – display, normal and text and six different weights. It supports over 75 languages and we just love its bright and friendly look – the very definition of fun typography. It's available from £7.99.
02. Mohr Rounded
A curvier version of the Mohr typeface, this fun font features soft terminals for a friendly look. The family includes three versions (normal, alt and italic) in a wide range of weights, making it nice and versatile. It was designed by Sofia Mohr for Latinotype and is available from £20.99 for individual styles.
03. Caramel Macchiato
Caramel Macchiato is as sweet and happy a font as the name suggests. Swirly and bouncy, it leaps off the page with bursts of caffeinated energy. A layered font, with two font styles, it's available for $14. It's worth having a look at Orenari's other font creations as there are lots of other fun font options to behold.
04. Lemon Yellow Sun
Taking its name from a lyric in Pearl Jam's, Lemon Yellow Sun is a quirky font with bouncy glyphs and lots of diacritics. It's an all caps typeface with a hand-drawn look that could look great paired with illustrations for a children's book. Creator Hanoded Fonts says that "upper and lower case have been designed to mingle, so have a ball!"
05. Rocher
Rocher is a rock-solid fun font family that has been made to feel like stone. If you take a closer look though, you'll see that there's nothing obviously stoney about the design. That's because the creators used rounded edges and the right amount of roughness to make sturdy letterforms that feel like stone, but don't resort to cliches like cracks and rubble. Buy individual styles from £20.99.
06. Masqualero
Taking its inspiration from the life and work of Miles Davis, Masqualero is at the classy end of the fun font spectrum. Designed by Monotype, this dual-natured serifed typeface packs the flair of Davis' electric funk and rock sounds. It can be yours to own and use from £13.99 for individual styles.
07. Marshmallow
With its fat shape, the super high-contrast script typeface Marshmallow looks just like the squidgy, tasty treat it's named after. Marshmallow might not be suitable for every occasion, but with 820 characters and a range of stylistic alternatives, it's certainly carved out a sybaritic niche. You can download it for £27.99.
08. Konga Rock
If you're familiar with the delightfully bubbly Konga Pro font that was released in 2012, you'll love the more rough and ready version: Konga Rock. Dotted with little stylish imperfections, Konga Rock has a screenprinted look that is sure to give your projects a handmade feel.
09. Argö
Just like Masqualero, the Argö typeface is a fun font that veers towards the sophisticated. Initially designed as an Art Deco display font, Argö is a serif typeface whose horizontal lines have been replaced with Medieval-style ascenders to create greater flow and versatility. It can be yours for just $30.
10. Quarz1974
The geometric free fun font Quarz 974 takes its inspiration from simple lines and triangles. This has resulted in a jagged, spiky font that has a lot of fun translating different word forms into its signature style. It's only composed of capitals and numbers, but this makes it the perfect eye-catching choice for posters and logos.
11. Rosecube
Looking like a font from a Wild West wanted poster, Rosecube is a deceptively odd serifed font. Its chunky capitals look like refined enough, but when placed side by side the letters have a sort of higgledy piggledy scruffiness about them. Rosecube has been a stalwart fun font since 2005, and you can download it for free.
12. Duke
When it came to designing Duke, creator James T Edmondson was inspired by the signage for the Cup & Saucer luncheonette in New York. Available as a pay-what-you-want font for personal use (or from $30 for a commercial license) Duke includes three layers: fill, shadow, and fill plus shadow. You can even try out Duke on the Lost Type site to see how you like it.
13. Ribbon
The road to release has been a long one for the Ribbon font. It started life as a purely numerical set, before creator Dan Gneiding expanded it into a complete display face that you can download for personal use at a price that suits you. Commercial Licenses start at $40.
14. Kitten
Rounding off our list of the best fun fonts is a special feline themed set. Say hello to Kitten, a multi-weight script family with a range of variants, alternates and ligatures. With its curvy, bouncy shape and variety of weights, this sassy font can be tailored to fit logo designs and longer text blocks. Available in 40 languages, Kitten is available to download from €29 (single weights).
For more on type design, see our guides to the difference between font vs typeface and the perfect font pairings. We also have a complete guide to font licensing for designers.
