The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Free font
Istok Web
A free alternative to Frutiger.
About Istok Web
Istok Web is a humanist sans released in 2008 and designed explicitly for screen reading, with wide letterforms, generous spacing, and an ample x-height. Andrey V. Panov drew it in four styles, including true italics rather than obliques, and kept the shapes simple and open — built to hold at small sizes rather than to perform at large ones.
It is a lesser-known but visually striking match to Frutiger, particularly through the lowercase, where the shared humanist construction principles do most of the work. More usefully still, it is the closest free match to Verdana's actual proportions: the wide setting, big x-height, and generous spacing reproduce Verdana's footprint and texture rather than merely gesturing at its mood. If an existing layout was measured and drawn around either face, this is the place to start.
- Designer
- Andrey V. Panov
- Released
- 2008
- Available at
- Google Fonts →
Istok Web is also a free alternative to…
- Frutiger → A lesser-known but visually striking match to Frutiger, especially in the lowercase. Designed explicitly for screen reading, with the same humanist construction principles and ample x-height.
- Officina Sans → A sturdy humanist sans in four styles with a plain, slightly utilitarian flavour that sits close to Officina's office register. Strokes are a little heavier and the letters a little wider, and it has none of Officina's pseudo-serifs, but for dense text at modest sizes it gives a similar workmanlike impression.
- Verdana → The closest free match to Verdana's actual proportions — wide humanist letterforms, a big x-height, generous spacing, and simple open shapes built for small screen sizes, in four styles including true italics. If you need Verdana's footprint and texture, start here.
Display + body that work together
Quiet type that does the work
Crisp, even strokes give the display its punch. Quiet serifs underneath stay readable across thousands of words — used together by editors at the kind of paper that still prints corrections.
Letters that hold their nerve
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 DM Serif Display + Istok Web