The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Free font
Barlow Condensed
A free alternative to Interstate.
About Barlow Condensed
Barlow Condensed is the narrow cut of Jeremy Tribby's 2017 grotesque, a slightly rounded, signage-bred sans in nine weights with true italics. The rounding takes the edge off the flat-sided gothic model without softening its utilitarian character, and the condensed fit packs a lot of headline into very little measure. Terminals stay flat and the joins stay clean, so it holds at poster sizes.
It is the natural stand-in for Interstate Condensed and Compressed — the widths that made the original a sports-graphics and wayfinding staple — with the same signage lineage packed tighter. It answers Knockout on similar terms, softer than those flat-sided gothics but bred for the same work. Nine weights with italics give it more range than most free condensed faces, enough to carry a whole hierarchy rather than a single headline.
- Designer
- Jeremy Tribby
- Released
- 2017
- Available at
- Google Fonts →
- Featured on
- 2 paid font pages
Barlow Condensed is also a free alternative to…
- Interstate → The narrow cut of Barlow is the natural stand-in for Interstate Condensed and Compressed, the widths that made the original a sports-graphics and wayfinding staple. Same signage lineage, packed tighter.
- Knockout → A slightly rounded grotesque in nine weights with true italics; softer than Knockout's flat-sided gothics but with the same utilitarian, signage-bred character.
Display + body that work together
A grammar of empty space
A pairing is a relationship: one voice speaks first, the other answers, and the contrast between them sets the tone for the whole page.
Modern · Editorial Barlow Condensed + Lora
Quiet type that does the work
The display sets the register; the body follows through. When both halves of a pair pull in the same direction, the design disappears and the words come forward.
Editorial · Modern Playfair Display + Barlow Condensed