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Imbue

A narrow high-contrast serif with two variable axes: weight from 100 to 900 and optical size from 10 to 100.

Serif 9 styles · variable by Tyler Finck, ETC OFL

Download family 213 KB Type your own text

Imbue is a condensed high-contrast serif designed by Tyler Finck and issued by Etcetera Type Company. Imbue is a variable font with a weight axis from Thin 100 to Black 900 and an optical size axis from 10 to 100, giving nine named weights without italics. Imbue is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits headlines and invitations.

Imbue font preview card
Preview drawn by trendhub from the font files.
Designers
Tyler Finck, ETC
Classification
Serif
License
SIL Open Font License 1.1
Styles
9 9 weights
Variable font
Yes Weight 100–900, Optical size 10–100
Glyphs
893
Languages checked
25 see the list
Last updated
version 1.102
Used for
HeadlinesInvitationsEditorialElegantCondensed

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

Try Imbue

Sample text

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

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

Weights and styles

  • Thin 100Imbue Thin
  • ExtraLight 200Imbue ExtraLight
  • Light 300Imbue Light
  • Regular 400Imbue Regular
  • Medium 500Imbue Medium
  • SemiBold 600Imbue SemiBold
  • Bold 700Imbue Bold
  • ExtraBold 800Imbue ExtraBold
  • Black 900Imbue Black

Imbue is a variable font: the download holds the whole weight range in one file, and the named weights above are positions on that range.

About Imbue

Imbue is a narrow serif typeface in the didone manner: vertical stress, thick stems, and hairline serifs and joins. The letters are tall and tightly proportioned, so a long title occupies little width. Imbue is built as a variable font with two axes. Weight runs from 100 to 900, with nine named instances from Thin to Black; optical size runs from 10 to 100, so the drawing can be matched to the size at which the type is set. There are no italics. The file holds 893 glyphs and covers the Latin, Latin Extended and Vietnamese character sets. Tyler Finck designed the family, the name table gives Etcetera Type Company as the manufacturer, and the official notes present it as a face for special occasions. It is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Where Imbue works

Magazine and article headlines
Narrow letters fit a long headline on one line, and the heavier end of the 100 to 900 range gives it dark thick-and-thin strokes.
Wedding and event invitations
The official notes present Imbue as a face for special occasions; the Thin and ExtraLight weights set names in fine hairlines.
Posters with tall type
At large sizes the optical size axis can be pushed towards 100, where the design is meant to be seen big.
Mastheads and wordmarks
A single word in the Black weight shows the contrast between hairline serifs and thick stems.
Titles in Vietnamese
The 893 glyphs include the Vietnamese character set, so accented titles stay in the same face.

Glyphs

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

Latin and Latin Extended characters in the preview subset; the complete family has 893 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
  • Turkish
  • Polish
  • Czech
  • Slovak
  • Hungarian
  • Romanian
  • Croatian
  • Slovenian
  • Lithuanian
  • Latvian
  • Estonian
  • Vietnamese

Character sets found in the files: latin, latin-ext, vietnamese. 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 2020 The Imbue Project Authors (https://github.com/Etcetera-Type-Co/Imbue)

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 Imbue

Encode Sans Expanded Sans Serif

Imbue is serif and Encode Sans Expanded is sans serif (9 weights): the difference in structure separates headings from text.

Lekton Monospace

Lekton is a monospace family (2 weights) for code and figures next to Imbue as the text face.

Google Sans Flex Sans Serif

Imbue is serif and Google Sans Flex is sans serif (9 weights): the difference in structure separates headings from text.

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 Imbue 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: "Imbue";
  src: url("/assets/fonts/Imbue-VariableFont_opsz%2Cwght.ttf") format("truetype");
  font-weight: 100 900;
  font-style: normal;
  font-display: swap;
}

body {
  font-family: "Imbue", serif;
}

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

HTML, Google Fonts

Things to know

No italics
Imbue has nine upright weights. An italic is not part of the family.
Optical size runs from 10 to 100
Software that supports automatic optical sizing picks a value from the font size; elsewhere the axis is set by hand.
The file opens at Thin
The default position of the variable file is weight 100 and optical size 10, so set the weight explicitly in CSS or in the application.
One variable file
The package contains a single variable font holding both axes. Static files for the named weights are available from the official source.

FAQs

Is Imbue free for commercial use?

Yes. Imbue is licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, which permits personal and commercial use, modification and redistribution. The font cannot be sold on its own, and modified versions remain under the same license.

Who designed Imbue?

Imbue was designed by Tyler Finck. The font names Etcetera Type Company as its manufacturer, and the copyright notice names The Imbue Project Authors.

Is Imbue a variable font?

Yes. Imbue is a variable font with a weight axis from 100 to 900 and an optical size axis from 10 to 100.

How many weights does Imbue have?

Imbue has nine named weights, from Thin 100 to Black 900. Any value in between can be set through the weight axis. There are no italics.

Which languages does Imbue support?

Imbue includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as French, German, Polish, Turkish and Vietnamese. Cyrillic and Greek are not included.

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