EB Garamond
EB Garamond is intended to be an excellent, classical, Garamond. It is a community project to create a revival of Claude Garamont’s famous humanist typefaces from the mid-16th century. This digital version reproduces the original design by Claude Garamont closely: The source for the letterforms is a scan of a specimen known as the “Berner specimen,” which was composed in 1592 by Conrad Berner, the son-in-law of Christian Egenolff and his successor at the Egenolff print office. This specimen shows Garamont’s roman and Granjon’s italic types at different sizes. Hence the name of this project: Egenolff-Berner Garamond. Why another Garamond? That typeface is a key moment in the history of typography, and European type designers have been reacting to this work ever since. It is probably the most revived typeface in the world and many are excellent. In the world of free/libre culture, however, only a few Garamond-inspired types exist, and none share the scope of this project. In November 2019, the family has been updated to a variable font family. This version of the project was originally led by Octavio Pardo ( github.com/octaviopardo/EBGaramond12 ), which is forked from Georg Duffner's original project github.com/georgd/EB-Garamond . It is currently maintained with contributions from the wider community, including the Google Fonts team.
- Classification
- Serif
- Foundry
- License
- free
- Source
- Get this font ↗
01Style templates
EB Garamond for the heading, Futura PT for the body.
02Suggested pairings
AaBbCc
0123456789
{(!@#$?&})
05Type scale
Waterfall · 64 → 16 pxDesign starts with a question.
Good letters carry the memory of the pen.
A soft serif with old-style warmth, drawn for display sizes and unhurried reading.
This typeface borrows the melting charm of phototype and rebuilds it, patiently, for the screen.
At text sizes the warmth settles into something quieter: open counters, a generous x-height, and forms that curve rather than cut. It reads like a well-worn paperback — familiar, unhurried, and slightly mischievous.
06Weights
5 styles07In context
Text settingsGood letters carry the memory of the pen.
The brief asked for warmth without nostalgia, and authority without sternness. EB Garamond answered both at once — a face that feels typeset by hand yet holds up at retinal resolutions. At this size it settles into an unhurried rhythm: generous spacing, open counters, and letterforms that carry tone before they announce themselves.
Small sizes are where display faces usually apologise for themselves. EB Garamond does not. Drop into text and the texture tightens into a competent, readable grey — open counters, a generous x-height, and forms that curve rather than cut. At text sizes the warmth settles into something quieter: familiar, unhurried, and slightly mischievous. It reads like a well-worn paperback, holding its voice across captions, footnotes, and long paragraphs without flattening into noise. Paired with a neutral grotesque for wayfinding and labels, it gives an identity system exactly one strong opinion — usually the right number — while the body keeps doing the quiet work underneath.
08Character set
Hover a glyph to inspect09About EB Garamond
EB Garamond is intended to be an excellent, classical, Garamond. It is a community project to create a revival of Claude Garamont’s famous humanist typefaces from the mid-16th century. This digital version reproduces the original design by Claude Garamont closely: The source for the letterforms is a scan of a specimen known as the “Berner specimen,” which was composed in 1592 by Conrad Berner, the son-in-law of Christian Egenolff and his successor at the Egenolff print office. This specimen shows Garamont’s roman and Granjon’s italic types at different sizes. Hence the name of this project: Egenolff-Berner Garamond. Why another Garamond? That typeface is a key moment in the history of typography, and European type designers have been reacting to this work ever since. It is probably the most revived typeface in the world and many are excellent. In the world of free/libre culture, however, only a few Garamond-inspired types exist, and none share the scope of this project. In November 2019, the family has been updated to a variable font family. This version of the project was originally led by Octavio Pardo ( github.com/octaviopardo/EBGaramond12 ), which is forked from Georg Duffner's original project github.com/georgd/EB-Garamond . It is currently maintained with contributions from the wider community, including the Google Fonts team.