Snapchat is all about visuals. It’s a quick-hit platform where disappearing photos and videos reign supreme.
But there’s an unsung hero working behind the scenes: the fonts. Typography plays a huge role in user experience and branding, and the font choices a platform makes contribute a lot to its overall vibe. That’s especially true on a visual platform like Snapchat.
So, what’s the deal with the fonts on Snapchat? How do they contribute to the app’s instantly recognizable look and feel? And, most importantly, how can you use the platform’s font options to create eye-catching Snaps?
What font does Snapchat use?
Snapchat started out using Avenir, a clean, sans-serif font that’s easy to read. But they eventually created their own, proprietary font called Snapchat Sans.
Snapchat Sans gives the app a unique look and feel. It’s a playful font with rounded edges that make it feel a little friendlier and more approachable than Avenir. It’s also specifically designed to be readable, even on smaller smartphone screens.
Because Snapchat Sans is proprietary, you won’t be able to use it anywhere else. But there are plenty of similar fonts that can give your text and designs a similar vibe.
A brief history of Snapchat’s fonts
Snapchat’s early branding leaned heavily on the Avenir font family. Avenir was clean, modern, and easy to read. It helped Snapchat establish its initial visual identity.
But Snapchat didn’t stick with Avenir forever. The company eventually developed its own font called Snapchat Sans. This was a deliberate branding decision that reflected a shift in Snapchat’s target audience and overall personality. The new font was still clean and modern, but it was also a bit more playful and unique.
Snapchat uses Snapchat Sans throughout its app, in its marketing materials, and in its advertisements. This helps to ensure consistent brand recognition and reinforces Snapchat’s unique identity.
Fonts in Snapchat’s Stories and Chats
Snapchat uses fonts to add clarity and style to captions, chat messages, and other text-based elements. The fonts aren’t meant to be the star of the show, however. They’re designed to enhance the user experience without distracting from the images and videos.
The font selection within the app itself is pretty limited, but it’s also effective. Snapchat’s designers have chosen fonts that are easy to read and that complement the app’s overall aesthetic. They’ve also made it easy to change the color and size of the text to suit your needs.
How to Change Fonts on Snapchat
Want to add a little visual flair to your Snaps? Here’s how to access Snapchat’s font options and make your text stand out.
Accessing Font Options
After you’ve snapped your photo or video, just tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the text tool. From there, you can swipe through the available font options. It’s a pretty intuitive process.
Available Font Styles and Customization
Snapchat offers a few different font styles, including Bold, Italic, and Glow. But the fun doesn’t stop there! You can also resize your text, change its color, and even add animations using Snapchat’s creative tools. Experiment and see what you like best.
Font Alignment and Outlining
Snapchat lets you change the font alignment, too. You can center your text, align it to the left, or align it to the right. Also, check out the outlining option, which adds a border around your text for a bolder, more defined look. It’s a simple way to make your text pop.
How to change font size on Snapchat
Snapchat’s built-in text options give you some control over font size, but not as much as you might like. For more flexibility, you can use a pinch-to-zoom gesture on free-floating text.
- First, tap the “T” icon to switch to the free-floating text style.
- Then, use two fingers to pinch and zoom on the text to make it larger or smaller.
Keep in mind that there are limits to how much you can adjust the font size.
Finding Snapchat Text Fonts for Other Projects
One of the challenges with wanting to use a particular font is that you can’t always copy it to other platforms. Many fonts are proprietary, meaning they belong to a particular company. It’s also possible that the fonts are embedded in the app and not easily accessible.
If you’re trying to recreate the Snapchat look for another project, you may have to find a similar font rather than the exact font used in the app. If you’re trying to build a brand, using the same look and feel across multiple platforms can help people recognize your brand right away.
The Default Font — Public Sans
Snapchat uses its own typeface, Snapchat Sans, in its user interface. If you’re looking for something close, Public Sans is a free alternative with similar characteristics. Best of all, Public Sans is available in Google Fonts, so it’s easy to access.
Other Font Alternatives
Here are some other free and easily accessible fonts from Google Fonts or other font marketplaces that have a similar vibe:
- Bad Script
- Cormorant Upright
- Comic Neue
- Noto Serif Georgian
- Ms Madi
- Armino
- Pixelify Sans
- Fredoka
- Alfa Slab One
- Bangers
Using other editors
Snapchat’s built-in text editor is okay, but it could be better. The fonts are pretty basic, and it doesn’t give you much control over things like letter spacing. Also, it can be tricky to layer text and graphics in Snapchat itself.
One option is to use an external editor like Kapwing. This gives you more control over the size, spacing, color, and placement of your text. You can even upload your own fonts! There are also many other external editors you could use.
In Closing
It’s easy to overlook how important typography is to user experience and branding, but the fonts a platform chooses play a big part in its visual identity. Even something as simple as a font can signal to users what a platform is all about.
When it comes to Snapchat, users can get creative with the fonts they choose, both on the platform itself and in the content they create to share elsewhere.
As social media continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how typography keeps pace and what new and engaging ways platforms find to use fonts.