Playful fonts: The secret to making text stand out

Whether you’re working on product branding for kids or a fun-to-read book, playful fonts are an easy way to communicate your project’s core concept in a millisecond.

In this article, I’ll show you some of the best fonts available—free and commercial— and explain why I picked them for this collection of playful typefaces and what specific tone you’ll achieve when you use them.

Fun sans-serif fonts for display

Besides finding the coolest fun font for your project, don’t forget to try out a variety of color palettes alongside testing your text in new typefaces—colors can genuinely make a difference in how they support or balance out a typeface’s character. 

Check out Bool above. I selected the boldest of all weights, Black. This font has many alternate letter designs—in my example, you’re looking at different B letters. They almost look like toys—swap them if you need more logo character for your text. More details on Bool.

If you’re going for a look that’s much more on the wild side of things, try Pout, a reverse-contrast typeface. We usually know this style from Western movies, but this one is sans-serif, making it modern and playful. Since the visual weight of the design is at the top and the bottom, vertical letter stems become thin and horizontal bars get bold. The i-dots are round and full, creating tension and memorability.

A bit more standard at first glance, this sans-serif font is called Vole Display, here shown in a light font weight. However, this typeface is very playful—slanted stems (letters M, W), fully rounded and without entire x-height-extended stems for letters a, m, n, and r make this font approachable and fun for kids. It’s a bit soft, too—created by the overly rounded letter counters, e.g., see letter k.

Playful wedding type

Usually, wedding fonts are either elegant serif or handwritten display fonts. If you want to stay in a playful realm, it’s best to stick to a handwritten typeface similar to Lace. It is a monolinear fun typeface with many weight options to dial up or down aspects of elegance (thinner) or kids (bolder). And it comes as a rounded version too.

Rail is a fun, undoubtedly unique typeface that lets you create elegant text elements with a playful twist. The letters of this font have a thin stem that connects the bolder stems, communicating a concept of bond and connection. Its rounded, geometric shapes add a modern look to the design. Check out the Rail family.

Elegant summer serif fonts

Both typefaces are in the serif category of fonts, and both have nine weights, from super thin to very bold. Kijs is casual but elegant in a lighter weight; its partial cursive designs (e.g. letters i and j) create a natural, retro fun look. Kijs is easy to install for Figma and other design apps.

More straightforward but very trendy are bold serif fonts like Bauhaus Mod. Its sweeping terminals, curvy serifs, and compact letter shapes make this font playful—primarily when used in bold styles.

Wild bubble typefaces for ultimate playfulness

Bubble fonts come in all styles and shapes—I selected a more organic, cursive style named Skay at the top and fun font “Loco” in a lighter contrast weight below. Skay is an uppercase-only typeface that reminds us of the Skims logo design. It’s full and fluid, making display text such as logos and headlines soft, bold, and curvy.

Finally, Loco is similar to the logo font seen on the Cocomelon show. Some letters are heavier, e.g., letters M and N, some letters are titled, e.g. c and l, and all letters have a highlight strip included, creating a 3D effect for ultimate playful summer designs.

Free Google fonts

If you’re looking for a straightforward web integration of your fonts or free options for Canva, I recommend looking into the following playful Google typefaces too:

– Borel is a handwriting typeface featuring a school look.

– Caprasimo is a rounded, bold serif font that reminds us of the 70s.

– Titan One is a fun, modern bubble font

All of the Google fonts listed above only have one free font style—it’s best to use them for displaying text such as headlines.

Check out our fun collection if you want additional ideas for playful designs.