Montserrat
The old posters and signs in the traditional Montserrat neighborhood of Buenos Aires inspired Julieta Ulanovsky to design this typeface and rescue the beauty of urban typography that emerged in the first half of the twentieth century. As urban development changes that place, it will never return to its original form and loses forever the designs that are so special and unique. The letters that inspired this project have work, dedication, care, color, contrast, light and life, day and night! These are the types that make the city look so beautiful. The Montserrat Project began with the idea to rescue what is in Montserrat and set it free under a libre license, the SIL Open Font License. This is the normal family, and it has two sister families so far, Alternates and Subrayada . Many of the letterforms are special in the Alternates family, while 'Subrayada' means 'Underlined' in Spanish and celebrates a special style of underline that is integrated into the letterforms found in the Montserrat neighborhood. Updated November 2017: The family was redrawn by Jacques Le Bailly at Baron von Fonthausen over the summer, and the full set of weights were adjusted to make the Regular lighter and better for use in longer texts. In fall, Julieta Ulanovsky, Sol Matas, and Juan Pablo del Peral, led the development of Cyrillic support, with consultation with Carolina Giovagnoli, Maria Doreuli, and Alexei Vanyashin. The Montserrat project is led by Julieta Ulanovsky, a type designer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. To contribute, see github.com/JulietaUla/Montserrat
- Classification
- Sans
- Foundry
- License
- free
- Source
- Get this font ↗
01Style templates
Montserrat for the heading, Adobe Garamond 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
9 styles07In context
Text settingsGood letters carry the memory of the pen.
The brief asked for warmth without nostalgia, and authority without sternness. Montserrat 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. Montserrat 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 Montserrat
The old posters and signs in the traditional Montserrat neighborhood of Buenos Aires inspired Julieta Ulanovsky to design this typeface and rescue the beauty of urban typography that emerged in the first half of the twentieth century. As urban development changes that place, it will never return to its original form and loses forever the designs that are so special and unique. The letters that inspired this project have work, dedication, care, color, contrast, light and life, day and night! These are the types that make the city look so beautiful. The Montserrat Project began with the idea to rescue what is in Montserrat and set it free under a libre license, the SIL Open Font License. This is the normal family, and it has two sister families so far, Alternates and Subrayada . Many of the letterforms are special in the Alternates family, while 'Subrayada' means 'Underlined' in Spanish and celebrates a special style of underline that is integrated into the letterforms found in the Montserrat neighborhood. Updated November 2017: The family was redrawn by Jacques Le Bailly at Baron von Fonthausen over the summer, and the full set of weights were adjusted to make the Regular lighter and better for use in longer texts. In fall, Julieta Ulanovsky, Sol Matas, and Juan Pablo del Peral, led the development of Cyrillic support, with consultation with Carolina Giovagnoli, Maria Doreuli, and Alexei Vanyashin. The Montserrat project is led by Julieta Ulanovsky, a type designer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. To contribute, see github.com/JulietaUla/Montserrat