# Montserrat Alternates font

> Montserrat with special letterforms: an arched A, a single-storey a, a looped E and crossbarred Z.

Montserrat Alternates is the sister family of Montserrat in which many letters take special forms. Led by Julieta Ulanovsky, Montserrat Alternates has nine weights with italics, 18 static styles, and 1,447 glyphs covering Latin, Cyrillic and Vietnamese. It is not a variable font. The license is the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## Facts

- Classification: [Sans Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/sans-serif)
- Designed by: Julieta Ulanovsky, Sol Matas, Juan Pablo del Peral, Jacques Le Bailly
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 18 (Thin 100, ExtraLight 200, Light 300, Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600, Bold 700, ExtraBold 800, Black 900; with italics)
- Variable font: No
- Glyphs: 1447
- Character sets: cyrillic, cyrillic-ext, latin, latin-ext, vietnamese
- Last updated: 2025-09-05
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Montserrat+Alternates
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/montserrat-alternates
- Tagged for: Headlines, Logos, Branding, Geometric

## About Montserrat Alternates

Montserrat Alternates is a geometric sans serif that shares its skeleton with Montserrat but replaces many letters with special forms. The specimen makes the differences plain: the capital A has a rounded arch for a top, the E is a looped curve, M and W are built from arches, Q has a vertical tail, Y borrows the shape of a lowercase y, and both Z and z carry a crossbar; in the lowercase, a is single-storey and l and t end in curved feet. The project grew out of Julieta Ulanovsky's wish to preserve the sign lettering of the Montserrat neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The family has nine weights, Thin to Black, each with an italic, as 18 static files with 1,447 glyphs across Latin, Cyrillic and Vietnamese. It was redrawn by Jacques Le Bailly in 2017. The license is the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2011 The Montserrat Project Authors (https://github.com/JulietaUla/Montserrat)

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

- **Logos that need a twist**: The arched A, looped E and crossbarred Z make a wordmark distinct while keeping a plain geometric base.
- **Headlines beside Montserrat text**: Because the skeleton is shared, a heading in Alternates sits naturally over text in the regular family.
- **Shopfront and cafe graphics**: The special forms echo the urban sign lettering the Montserrat project set out to preserve.
- **Cosmetics and fashion labels**: Thin and ExtraLight show the arched capitals as fine lines on packaging and tags.

## Things to know

- **Static files only**: The package holds 18 separate fonts. Unlike Montserrat, this family is not a variable font here.
- **Lightest files report unusual weight values**: The Thin and ExtraLight files are labelled 250 and 275 internally, so they appear under those numbers in the specimen.
- **Alternates are the default forms**: The special letters are not an optional feature; typing ordinary text produces them.

## FAQs

### Is Montserrat Alternates free for commercial use?

Montserrat Alternates can be used in commercial work at no cost under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. The license also permits modification and redistribution; the font cannot be sold on its own, and any modified version must stay under the same license.

### What is the difference between Montserrat and Montserrat Alternates?

Montserrat Alternates keeps Montserrat's proportions but changes many letters, for example an arched capital A, a single-storey a and a crossbarred Z.

### Who designed Montserrat Alternates?

Montserrat Alternates belongs to the Montserrat project led by Julieta Ulanovsky, a type designer in Buenos Aires. Jacques Le Bailly redrew the family in 2017.

### How many weights does Montserrat Alternates have?

Montserrat Alternates has nine weights from Thin to Black, each with an italic, for 18 styles.

### Which languages does Montserrat Alternates support?

Montserrat Alternates includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as Spanish, German, Turkish, Polish and Vietnamese, and for Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian.

---

Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/montserrat-alternates (trendhub)