Open Sans
Designed by Steve Matteson, Type Director of Ascender Corp, Open Sans is a humanist sans-serif characterized by wide apertures, a large x-height, and upright stress optimized for legibility across print, web, and mobile interfaces. Its neutral yet approachable aesthetic and comprehensive language support including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew scripts make it one of the most versatile choices for corporate, government, and editorial brands. Available as a variable font with weight and width axes, it was updated in 2021 under the Open Font License.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
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About Open Sans
- Designer
- Steve Matteson
- Foundry
- Google / Ascender Corp
- Released
- 2011
- License
- SIL Open Font License 1.1
- Category
- Humanist Sans
- Recommended Weight
- 700
- Variable Axes
- weightwidth
- Script Support
- Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Vietnamese
- Available Weights
- 300400500600700800
Who Uses Open Sans
WordPress (Admin dashboard font since v3.8), UK Labour Party (Official font), UK Liberal Democrats (Official font).
Pairs Well With
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Compare Open Sans
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was Open Sans updated to a variable font in 2021?
The 2021 update converted Open Sans to variable font format with weight and width axes, reducing file sizes and enabling continuous weight selection. This modernization also refined letterforms and expanded language coverage while maintaining backward compatibility.
What makes Open Sans so widely adopted by government websites?
Open Sans's neutral, highly legible design meets accessibility standards required by government agencies. Its open license, broad language support including Hebrew and Cyrillic, and reliable rendering across devices make it a safe, professional choice for public-facing content.
Does Open Sans support a width axis in addition to weight?
Yes, Open Sans is one of the few Google Fonts offering both weight and width variable axes. The width axis allows designers to use condensed or expanded variants from a single file, which is particularly useful for responsive layouts and space-constrained UIs.