Instagram is rolling out brand new fonts for Stories today after a successful and smaller-scale test period.
First announced in April, the new fonts were applied to a “small percentage” of the app’s users for trial and review. Now, some four months on, the social media giant has made the call to deliver the new feature to all of its users.
From today, you too can play around with the new fonts and features that allow you to apply font backgrounds, drop shadows and halos, essentially customising your own story offering far beyond what was previously available.
New
fonts
coming
to
Stories
soon*🖌
*We’re testing this with a small percentage of people. Stay tuned for updates. ✨ pic.twitter.com/1RfBbtUIYv
— Instagram (@instagram) April 29, 2020
It’s a great tool for us regular users, but also one we imagine will come in handy for brands, businesses and influencers.
The new fonts allow labels and businesses with an Instagram presence to heighten and refine their own branding on social media, and potentially appear more polished and professional to stand out in a saturated market.
Already, we’re seeing our own feeds transform with the new fonts as people begin to catch onto the offering of ten fonts, as opposed to the original five.
Some members of the Instagram community, while seemingly excited at the news, have also found themselves confused at the addition of what appears to be the Comic Sans font — an often mocked typeface most commonly paired alongside memes.
But there’s a convincing case for including Comic Sans or fonts like it due to its readability, particularly for those with dyslexia.
As The Cut points out in a fascinating article about the font’s history, Comic Sans is recommended by the British Dyslexia Association, and also the Dyslexia Association of Ireland.
In an article for ArcStone called, Designing for accessibility: The best defense for Comic Sans, writer Michael Sasorith explains why: “The irregularity of the font is what makes each letterform unique and easier to distinguish”.
So whether for style or readability, and whether you like it or not, Comic Sans is now an option for jazzing up your Instagram stories.
Update your app now to play around with the full suite of new fonts.
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