NEW USERGUIDEWelcome to Font Squirrel! We know that diving into the world of fonts can be a bit daunting. There are so many choices! Fortunately, you have this handy guide to get you started. Here we'll run you through the basic steps needed to get some awesome free fonts. Well start with a few font style choices, as well as what fonts are popular, and end up with some tips on getting them up and running. Before we begin though, a quick word about licensing...WHAT IS COMMERCIAL USE ANYWAY?You probably noticed that right under the squirrel we say 100% free for commercial use. The part most people focus on is FREE, but the most important part isCOMMERCIAL. There are many free font sites out there, many with great free fonts, but the vast majority of them focus on personal use fonts, not commercial use. So, whats the diference? In simplest terms, commercial use fonts are used for a business purpose, as in the pursuit of making money. Whether you are a mega corporation or a single user, if you are doing commercial work, you need a commercial license. Many free fonts on the internet unfortunately are only good for "personal use." The last thing your business needs is to be breaking license agreements, so you want to make sure youre using commercial fonts. And of course, if youre using these fonts for per-sonal reasons, then you are covered by default.Commercial use doesn't solve all font licensing questions however. Some limit how a font can be used commercially. Sometimes web use or app use requires an addtional fee. Fortunately, weve included a link to the license for each font on our website. Reading it will insure your usage fits the license, and youre cleared to do what you want with the font.Now, with that out of the way, lets get started!A SANSSans fonts are ubiquitous because they can do so much. At small sizes and lighter weights, they make great text fonts in any application, web, print, sofware, you name it. Make em big and use a heavy weight, and suddenly theyre a display font great for logos or headers. Theres a reason everyone makes sure they have a few. Font Squirrel has a cornucopia of fantastic Sans families, youll want one or two that have a vari-ety of weights. Our recommendations:Open Sans,Source Sans Pro,Fira SansA SERIFMost of the time, a sans font works great for your text. There are other times, like in print, where you'll need a serif font to fulfill these du-ties instead. Keeping a couple in your tool belt is very important, you never know when youll need them. Note that slab serifs dont really fall into this category, well be talking about them later.Our recommendations:Alegreya, Andada, MerriweatherA HEADLINEWere taking two very popular categories and putting them together in this section. The first is Display Sans, specifically condensed display sans. These fonts can pack a lot of info in a title without seeming crowded, and are popular for a reason. The other is Slab Serif. These are gener-ally used much diferently than their other serif brothers and sisters, and instead have a display-like feel, great for titles on web and sofware specifically. Grab one of each of these, and you can separate your title text from the rest as easy as pie. Our recommendations:Bebas Neue, Steelfish, Ostrich SansEVERYTHING ELSE Afer this, it really depends on what kind of clients you have and how youre filling out your repertoire. Need some scripts for invitations or other fancy occasions? Try out Great Vibes or Alex Brush. Making some trendy new artwork for new businesses, bands, restaurants, or other cool things like that? Download Pacifico or Nexa Rust. This is the stage where you really start fill-ing out with unique fonts.Fira SansAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpMerriweatherAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoBebas NeueABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZostrich sansABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZSteelFishAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZzSource Sans ProAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpAndadaAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoOpen SansAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPAlegreyaAaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmI HAVE SOME FONTS. NOW WHAT?Download the fontsThis is pretty self explanatory. Go to the page, download the TTF or OTF font that comes with it. These fonts are sometimes downloaded right from Font Squirrel, but sometimes you have to head over to outside sources like our sister site Fontspring to download them. Once theyre on your computer, you can head to step 2.Install the fontsInstalling the font is usually as simple as unzipping the files you downloaded from Font Squirrel, then double clicking the OTF or TTF font, and hitting install. Afer that, just open your program (make sure it was closed while you installed the font) and of you go! If you have some issues, ask us for help! Have fun! Go design cool stuf, thats what its all about, isnt it? Head to your favorite design tool or word processor and get crack-ing! Once you get here and you need actual design advice, the world is your oyster, as a simple google search will give you enough material to keep you reading for the rest of your life. Dont be afraid to try new fonts that you wouldnt otherwise, thats the best thing about free fonts.I NEED HELP!We have a fantastic help section that covers everything from installing desktop fonts, to embedding and troubleshooting webfonts. Its definitely the place to get started. If that doesnt help, you can always check our our Forums, or send an email to hello@fontsquirrel.com and well give you a hand. I WANT MORE FONTS!We are always on the lookout for high quality free fonts. Please share with us any you find. And while we have an extensive list, you may not find exactly what you need. We recommend that you head over to our sister site Fontspring.com. Fontspring has thousands of great fonts for every use, in a variety of prices, with easy to understand licensing. Its the next step for when you have a budget and a need for top quality, fantastic looking fonts. Go give it a try!