Blackletter and gothic fonts
Textura, Fraktur and modern blackletter display faces, plus three medieval-flavored relatives, for mastheads, labels and heavy music artwork.
Old Brewery
Blackletter is the script of the medieval scribe turned into type. Written with a broad pen held steeply, its curves break into angles, its vertical strokes crowd together, and a page of it looks dark, hence the name. Gutenberg's first books were printed in it, and in German-speaking countries it stayed the everyday type until the twentieth century.
There are several kinds, and they behave differently. Textura is the most rigid: narrow, upright, built from repeated vertical strokes with diamond-shaped feet. Fraktur is the later German form, with some curves restored and elaborate, bent capitals. Modern display blackletters simplify both for legibility, or exaggerate them with spikes for tattoo and metal aesthetics. Three fonts here are relatives and not blackletter proper: a hybrid of fraktur and sans shapes, an uncial and a chisel-cut face with a Gothic flavor. All three are much easier to read.
Today blackletter signals tradition, craft or rebellion, depending on the company it keeps: newspaper mastheads, beer labels and diplomas on one side, streetwear and heavy music on the other. Use it for a few words. The capitals are ornate initials, never meant to stand in a row, so avoid setting it in all capitals, and add no letter spacing.
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UnifrakturMaguntia
A Fraktur descended from a 1901 typeface, with a long s and ligatures for ch, ck and tz.
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UnifrakturCook
Thick, broken strokes with diamond-shaped terminals and ornate split-stem capitals, in one Bold weight with ligatures that respect letterspacing.
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Pirata One
A simplified, condensed gothic textura drawn to hold up on screens as a header face.
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Grenze Gotisch
Ornate double-stroke capitals over a calmer lowercase that stays close to roman shapes, variable from Thin to Black.
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New Rocker
Heavy blackletter with spiked terminals, inspired by tattoo lettering and heavy metal logos.
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Germania One
A hybrid of fraktur and geometric sans shapes with angled stroke cuts and a diamond dot.
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MedievalSharp
Sharp, chisel-cut letters with a Gothic flavor, first drawn by a stone carver; open and upright, not a broken-stroke blackletter.
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Uncial Antiqua
Rounded uncial and half-uncial pen letters with wedge-shaped serifs, merged into one alphabet: a medieval relative, not a blackletter.
Samples load a basic Latin subset of each family. Every family here carries an open license; its page states the terms and offers the original files.
Questions about blackletter and gothic fonts
Is blackletter the same as Old English?
Old English is a common name for one English style of blackletter. Blackletter is the wider family, which also includes textura, Fraktur and others.
Why is blackletter hard to read?
Its letters share narrow, repeated vertical strokes, so shapes are less distinct than in roman type. Simplified modern designs and short texts keep it legible.
Can I use these fonts for a band logo or label I sell?
Yes. Every font here is under the SIL Open Font License, which allows commercial use and reworking the outlines for a logo or label. A modified font that you redistribute stays under the same license.