# Red Hat Text font

> The text cut of the Red Hat family: looser spacing, narrower letters and thinned joins for small sizes.

Red Hat Text is a geometric sans serif by Jeremy Mickel of MCKL, the small-size companion to Red Hat Display. Red Hat Text is a variable font with weight from 300 to 700, five weights and italics, 10 styles in all. Red Hat Text is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits body copy, interfaces and captions.

## Facts

- Classification: [Sans Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/sans-serif)
- Designed by: MCKL
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 10 (Light 300, Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600, Bold 700; with italics)
- Variable font: Yes (wght 300–700)
- Glyphs: 446
- Character sets: latin, latin-ext
- Last updated: 2025-09-05
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Red+Hat+Text
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/red-hat-text
- Tagged for: Body text, Interfaces, Geometric

## About Red Hat Text

Red Hat Text is the optical size of the Red Hat family intended for smaller type. Compared with the Display cut, the official notes describe a slightly smaller x-height, a narrower width, more generous spacing and thinned joins where strokes meet, all aimed at legibility in small sizes. In the specimen the letters stand a little further apart than in Red Hat Display, with round bowls and a two-storey a. The family is variable in weight from 300 to 700: Light, Regular, Medium, SemiBold and Bold, each with an italic, 10 styles in total. Each font holds 446 glyphs in the Latin and Latin Extended subsets. Jeremy Mickel of MCKL designed the typeface for the Red Hat identity on a commission from Paula Scher of Pentagram. Red Hat Text is published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2024 The Red Hat Project Authors (https://github.com/RedHatOfficial/RedHatFont)

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

- **Paragraphs and documentation**: Generous spacing and thinned joins are the adjustments the designer made for running text at small sizes.
- **Interface labels**: Medium and SemiBold separate buttons and field labels from Regular body copy inside the same file.
- **Captions and footnotes**: The narrower width of the Text cut fits more words per line in small print.
- **Body copy under Red Hat Display**: The two cuts share one design, so headings and paragraphs match without a second typeface.

## Things to know

- **Stops at Bold**: The weight axis ends at 700. ExtraBold and Black exist only in Red Hat Display.
- **Latin subsets**: The 446 glyphs are organised in the Latin and Latin Extended subsets.
- **Weights retuned in 2024**: The official notes say a November 2024 update changed Medium and SemiBold slightly, so text set with an older copy can reflow.

## FAQs

### Is Red Hat Text free for commercial use?

Yes. Red Hat Text 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 Red Hat Text?

Red Hat Text is credited to MCKL; the official notes name Jeremy Mickel as the designer. The copyright notice names The Red Hat Project Authors.

### How many weights does Red Hat Text have?

Red Hat Text has five weights, from Light 300 to Bold 700, each with an italic, for 10 styles. It is a variable font, so in-between values can be set.

### Can Red Hat Text be used for headlines?

Red Hat Text works at heading sizes, but the family includes Red Hat Display for that job: the Display cut is spaced more tightly and goes up to Black 900.

### Which languages does Red Hat Text support?

Red Hat Text includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as German, French, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish and Turkish.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/red-hat-text (trendhub)