Pixel Art & Pixel Fonts: How to work with this timeless design trend

You may have noticed a lot of pixelation on the web lately. And that is by design.

Pixel art and pixel fonts – a design element that isn’t necessarily new – are making a popular comeback. Pixel art and fonts often refer to some of the same elements – designs sometimes contain pixel type or design elements with non-pixel elements. The overall look has a “start of the web” feel.

Here’s a look at this website, font and graphic design trend and how to use it in your projects.

What is Pixel Art and Pixel Fonts?

Pixel art is a form of digital art where images are created with tiny pixels, while pixel fonts are fonts designed to look like they are made up of pixels. Both design elements have a nostalgic feel, and they are often used to create retro or vintage designs.

According to My Modern Metpixel art is decades old:

“Pixel art was born in the 1970s, even though it is very crude compared to the digital art of today. Due to technological limitations and the general newness of the field, users were limited in the graphics they could create. Some of the earliest pixel art was simply squares and rectangles.”

You may remember playing with software like SuperPaint or the graphics from the original Mario Bros. video game. Both are excellent examples of pixel art in action.

Pixel fonts is much the same concept with letters. You can also call these screen or bitmap fonts and all the letterforms have a block style design without the flowing curves and lines of other...