The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
New York vs Literata
Two serifs built for reading on screens, from the two platform giants. New York is Apple's transitional serif companion to San Francisco, released to developers in 2019 with four optical sizes, while Literata is TypeTogether's book face commissioned by Google for Play Books and now free under the Open Font License.
New York is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Source Serif 4, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to New York →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- New York ships as four discrete optical sizes (Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large) in six weights each, tuned to match San Francisco so it slots straight into Apple interfaces.
- Literata ships as two variable files, roman and italic, with weight and optical size axes that run from a dark, generously spaced text style to a higher-contrast headline cut and a sturdy flat-serif caption cut.
- Literata's italic is upright rather than sloped, an unusual choice for a screen face, meant to keep emphasis quiet in long-form reading.
- Both cover Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic, but New York's license restricts it to developing or mocking up software on Apple platforms, whereas Literata can be embedded anywhere, including the web, at no cost.
- Literata was designed from the outset for intensive editorial reading in books, magazines, and apps, while New York is first a system face that doubles as a display serif at large sizes.
New York
Reach for New York when you are designing a native Apple app and want a serif that is metrically and tonally paired with San Francisco, keeping in mind the license does not extend beyond Apple-platform software.
Literata
Reach for Literata for long-form reading on the web, e-books, or cross-platform apps, where its variable optical sizing, upright italic, and free licensing make it the practical choice.