EN

Abel

A narrow, flat-sided sans serif in one light weight, modelled on condensed newspaper and poster headline faces.

Sans Serif 1 style by MADType OFL

Download family 32 KB Type your own text

Abel is a condensed sans serif typeface credited to MADType, with flat-sided round letters and strokes of even thickness. Abel comes in one style, Regular 400, with 251 glyphs covering basic Latin, and it is not a variable font. Abel is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits headlines, navigation and short text.

Abel font preview card
Preview drawn by trendhub from the font files.
Designer
MADType
Classification
Sans Serif
License
SIL Open Font License 1.1
Styles
1 1 weight
Variable font
No
Glyphs
251
Languages checked
14 see the list
Last updated
version 1.003
Used for
HeadlinesMinimalistCondensed

Official source: Google Fonts. Facts on this page were read from the font files and the source’s published data.

Try Abel

Sample text

Type over the sample to test your own words. The preview loads a Latin subset of Abel; the download contains the complete files.

Abel font specimen: alphabet, numerals and weights
Abel specimen: alphabet, numerals and weights. Image drawn by trendhub from the font files.

Weights and styles

  • Regular 400Abel Regular

About Abel

Abel is a condensed sans serif in which the round letters have straight vertical sides, so o, c and e read as tall rounded rectangles. Strokes stay at one thickness throughout and are light for a headline face. The official description places the design in the tradition of flat-sided condensed faces first used in newspaper headlines and on posters, and credits the even stroke weight for keeping it usable at smaller text sizes on the web. Abel has a single style, Regular 400, with no bold or italic. The font holds 251 glyphs in the Latin subset, enough for English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and the Nordic languages. MADType is credited as the designer, and the copyright notice names Matthew Desmond. Abel was added to Google Fonts in 2011 under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Where Abel works

Headlines in narrow columns
Flat-sided, condensed letters fit more characters per line, which helps long titles stay on one row in sidebars and cards.
Navigation bars and menus
The single light weight gives menu items a quiet, even texture when several labels sit side by side.
Posters with a lot of copy
The style comes from condensed poster and newspaper type, so stacked lines of Abel pack tightly at large sizes.
Captions and short notes
Monoline strokes hold up at small sizes, although the Latin-only set limits this to Western European languages.

Glyphs

!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~¡¢

Latin and Latin Extended characters in the preview subset; the complete family has 251 glyphs.

Language support

The family contains the core letters these languages are written with:

  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • Italian
  • Dutch
  • Swedish
  • Norwegian
  • Danish
  • Finnish
  • Icelandic
  • Catalan
  • Estonian

Character sets found in the files: latin. The language list is a check of required letters against the font, not a promise of typographic quality in each language.

License

SIL Open Font License 1.1Copyright (c) 2011, Matthew Desmond (http://www.madtype.com | mattdesmond@gmail.com),with Reserved Font Name Abel.

What the license allows

  • Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
  • Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
  • Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions

  • The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
  • A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
  • The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

This is a short summary, not legal advice. The license text decides: read the full OFL text. A copy is included in the download.

Fonts that pair with Abel

Cormorant Serif

Abel is sans serif and Cormorant is serif (5 weights): the difference in structure separates headings from text.

Sanchez Slab Serif

Abel is sans serif and Sanchez is slab serif (1 weight): the difference in structure separates headings from text.

Inconsolata Monospace

Inconsolata is a monospace family (8 weights) for code and figures next to Abel as the text face.

Suggestions come from simple rules on the records: a contrasting classification and enough weights to carry body text. They are a starting point, not a verdict.

Use Abel on the web

Download the family and host the files on your own site, then declare them in CSS. Please do not link to the files on trendhub.net: preview files here are subsets and their addresses change.

CSS, self-hosted
@font-face {
  font-family: "Abel";
  src: url("/assets/fonts/Abel-Regular.ttf") format("truetype");
  font-weight: 400;
  font-style: normal;
  font-display: swap;
}

body {
  font-family: "Abel", sans-serif;
}

Or load it from the official source. Google Fonts serves Abel with this markup:

HTML, Google Fonts

Things to know

A single style
Abel is Regular 400 only. There is no bold or italic, and software will synthesise them if asked.
Latin subset only
The 251 glyphs do not include the letters for Turkish, Polish, Czech or Vietnamese, and there is no Cyrillic or Greek.
Reserved font name
The copyright notice reserves the name Abel, so a modified version must be renamed unless permission is given.

FAQs

Is Abel free for commercial use?

Yes, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Abel may be used in personal and commercial projects, modified and redistributed, but the font files cannot be sold on their own and a modified version must keep the same license.

Who designed Abel?

Abel is credited to MADType, and the copyright notice names Matthew Desmond.

Does Abel have bold or italic styles?

No. Abel has one weight, Regular 400, and no italic.

Is Abel good for body text?

Abel was drawn in a headline tradition, and its official description says the even stroke weight also works at smaller text sizes on the web. With one weight and no italic, Abel leaves no way to mark emphasis in long text.

Which languages does Abel support?

Abel includes the letters needed for English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Catalan, Estonian and the Nordic languages. Turkish, Polish and Czech are not covered.

Comments

No comments yet. If you have used Abel, tell other readers how it went.

Leave a comment

Comments are reviewed before they appear. Links are marked as user content.

Collections with Abel

  • Condensed fonts for headlines

    Narrow sans-serif and serif display fonts that set tall, compact headlines in limited width, from hairline to heavy.

Similar fonts

Other families in the same classification, ordered by shared use tags. All sans serif fonts