# Gravitas One font > A fat-face display serif: very heavy verticals against hairline horizontals, in one wide style. Gravitas One is a fat-face display typeface designed by Riccardo De Franceschi for Sorkin Type Co, modelled on the heavy advertising types of industrial-era England. Gravitas One has one Regular style with 230 glyphs in the basic Latin subset. It is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and works for posters and packaging at large sizes. ## Facts - Classification: [Display](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/display) - Designed by: Riccardo De Franceschi - License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/) - Styles: 1 (Regular 400) - Variable font: No - Glyphs: 230 - Character sets: latin - Last updated: 2025-09-08 - Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Gravitas+One - Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/gravitas-one - Tagged for: Headlines, Posters, Packaging, Retro ## About Gravitas One Gravitas One is a display serif in the fat-face tradition, the very heavy advertising letters that appeared in England during the industrial revolution. The specimen shows what defines the genre: vertical strokes many times thicker than the hairline horizontals and serifs, wide letters, ball terminals on a, c, f and r, and lowercase counters reduced to narrow slits. The numerals and the ampersand carry the same extreme contrast. The family has one style, registered as Regular at weight 400 although it is visually very heavy, and it is not a variable font. Its 230 glyphs cover the basic Latin subset only. Riccardo De Franceschi designed Gravitas One, and Sorkin Type Co is named as its maker. The official notes recommend medium to large sizes, where the thin strokes survive. The license is the SIL Open Font License 1.1. ## License SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright (c) 2011 by Sorkin Type Co (www.sorkintype.com), with Reserved Font Name "Gravitas". Allowed: - 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. Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/ ## Where it works - **Poster and playbill headlines**: The fat-face model comes from advertising print, and the massive verticals carry a few words across a sheet. - **Mastheads and cover lines**: Wide, dark letters with hairline serifs set a title that reads from a distance. - **Labels for spirits, coffee or preserves**: Heavy numerals and ball terminals suit the nineteenth-century print look often wanted on such packaging. - **Large numerals**: Prices, dates and issue numbers in Gravitas One become a graphic element of their own. ## Things to know - **One style**: Gravitas One has a single style. There is no lighter weight and no italic. - **Not for small sizes**: The hairline strokes and slit-like counters close up when the type is set small; the official notes point to medium and large sizes. - **Central European languages are not covered**: Only the basic Latin subset is present. English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and the Nordic languages have complete letters, and French lacks only the rare capital Ÿ; Central European languages are not covered. ## FAQs ### Is Gravitas One free for commercial use? Yes. Gravitas One is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which allows use in personal and commercial work, modification and redistribution. The font cannot be sold on its own, and modified versions stay under the same license. ### Who designed Gravitas One? Gravitas One was designed by Riccardo De Franceschi. The copyright notice names Sorkin Type Co. ### How many weights does Gravitas One have? Gravitas One has one weight. It is registered as Regular 400 but is drawn very heavy. ### What is a fat face, and is Gravitas One one? A fat face is a very heavy advertising letter with extreme contrast between thick verticals and thin horizontals. Gravitas One is modelled on the UK version of that style. ### Which languages does Gravitas One support? Gravitas One includes the letters needed for English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic and Catalan. --- Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/gravitas-one (trendhub)