Oswald

Vernon Adams

OFL DisplayOFL openFree commercialMulti-weightVariableWeb-font safeDisplayPoster-ready

Type specimen

Oswald - condensed display

The specimen uses the official Google Fonts subset when available, otherwise a font installed on this device. If neither exists the browser falls back to a system font, so treat the official download page as authoritative.

About this font

Vernon Adams' classic condensed display sans: Oswald squeezes roughly 60% width of a full sans per glyph - steep, upright, space-saving - a born poster and label face, descending from 1920s German grotesque with an architectural, industrial toughness. Seven weights plus variable and wide language support: banners, nav, price tags - anywhere a lot must fit on one line. A condensed face's superpower is space efficiency: more characters per line, naturally fitting multilingual banners, price tags, scores and campaign cards. Its early-20th-century Germanic skeleton carries built-in architectural solidity - attitude with zero decoration.

Where it works best

Banners, nav labels, poster display, infographics, campaign collateral. Condensed saves space - compensate with generous line-height; 600/700 for headlines, avoid for long body. For campaign and data display: banners, price/category labels, sports scores, infographic titles; widen line-height with condensed matter and use it sparingly in body copy.

Weights7
First release2011
Designed byVernon Adams
Rights holderVernon Adams
ScriptsLatin
LicenceOFL SIL Open Font License 1.1
Variable fontSupported

Licence and commercial boundaries

Licence:SIL Open Font License 1.1

The dominant permissive licence for open fonts: free commercial use, modification, embedding and redistribution. Its core duties are that derivatives stay under OFL without the Reserved Font Name, the licence text travels with the files, and the fonts themselves are never sold standalone. Works typeset with them belong wholly to you.

SIL OFL 1.1: free for all commercial contexts, embeddable, modifiable and redistributable; no reserved-name reuse in derivatives, no standalone sales. Served via Google Fonts' official CDN.

Hard restrictions

  • Derivatives drop the name.
  • No standalone sales.

Commercial-use FAQ

Can Oswald be used as body text?

Not for long paragraphs: condensed forms read densely and need over-wide line-height. Its place is headings, labels and banners - one to three words at display sizes - while body copy belongs to a regular-proportion face.

Important disclaimer

This site is an index of publicly available information. It does not host, mirror or distribute any font file and does not warrant any licence. Rights holders may change terms, split free and paid editions, or withdraw a permission at any time. Before commercial use, verify the licence on the official page and keep a dated screenshot as evidence. For trademarks, overseas publication and large-scale embedding, consult an IP professional.

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