The overused font check: eleven typefaces that make sites look alike
The overused font check fails a page that declares any of eleven typefaces: Inter, Poppins, Montserrat, DM Sans, Space Grotesk, Karla, Fira Sans, JetBrains Mono, Playfair Display, DM Serif Display and Cormorant Garamond. None of them is a bad font. They're flagged because generated sites reach for them so often that seeing one has become a hint about where the page came from.
How a good font becomes a tell
Inter was designed for screens and reads very well at small sizes. Poppins and Montserrat are friendly geometric sans faces that look tidy in a hero. Playfair Display gives an instant editorial feel. Each became popular for good reasons, then became the default in starter kits, UI libraries and templates. Language models learn from all of that, so when a model is asked to style a page it picks the same handful again. The result is a recognisable look: the same letterforms on the bakery site, the SaaS dashboard and the wedding page.
Type is one of the first things a visitor registers, before they've read a word. If it's the same type they saw on the last five generated sites, the page starts at a disadvantage.
The list and the rule
| Kind | Typefaces |
|---|---|
| Neutral and geometric sans | Inter, Poppins, Montserrat, DM Sans, Karla, Fira Sans |
| Grotesque with character | Space Grotesk |
| Monospace | JetBrains Mono |
| Display serifs | Playfair Display, DM Serif Display, Cormorant Garamond |
The Critic reads the page's stylesheet, takes the first font family named in quotes in each font, font-family or font custom property declaration, and compares each name with the list. The match is on the exact family name. That matters for close relatives: Inter Tight is a different family from Inter and isn't flagged. When the check fails, the Report tab lists the names it found.
How Anticode's design systems choose type
Each of the seven design systems uses one typeface for the whole site, picked to suit the system rather than taken from a default:
- Editorial: Geist
- Technical: IBM Plex Sans
- Luxury: Jost
- Playful: Fredoka
- Brutalist: Archivo
- Organic: Figtree
- Swiss: Inter Tight
None is on the overused list, and each is set up with its own headline size, weight and letter spacing, so the system's character comes from how the type is used as well as which face it is. Every stack ends in system-ui and sans-serif, so if the web font fails to load the page falls back to a sans face rather than Times. Because one family is used throughout, these pages also pass the Critic's one font family check.
If you want a different font
On a design-engine page the typeface comes from the design system you pick, so in practice these pages pass; you can't name a different font for them. The check is still a useful review list for type chosen anywhere else. A brand font is a fair reason to ignore it, since the check is advisory. If you just want “something like Inter”, consider faces with a similar job that are seen less often, and look at them in your own headline rather than in a specimen. A quick test: set your headline and one paragraph of real copy in the candidate face, put it next to the same text in Inter, and ask whether someone would notice the difference from across a room. If not, the change isn't buying you much. The design guides on overused fonts in web design and alternatives to Inter suggest specific options and what to look for.
Limits
- It doesn't block publishing. This is a Critic check, shown in the Report tab. The design gate doesn't refuse these fonts by name, though it does refuse serif type and a third font family, so the three display serifs on the list would also fail the gate on those grounds.
- A fixed list. Fonts that become overused later aren't flagged until the list changes, and a rare font can still be a poor fit.
- Names in quotes only. A family written without quotes in the stylesheet isn't read by this check.
- Pages built by the design engine. Model-written apps aren't scanned by the nineteen Critic checks.
Questions people ask
Is Inter a bad font?
No. It's a well-made screen typeface. The overused font check flags it because it's so common on generated sites that it no longer helps a page look its own.
Is Inter Tight flagged?
No. The check matches exact family names, and Inter Tight is a separate family. It's the typeface of Anticode's Swiss design system.
Can I keep Poppins because it's my brand font?
The check itself only reports, so a brand font is a fair reason to keep one. On Anticode's design-engine pages, though, the typeface comes from the design system you choose, not a font you name. An app build, which the model writes, can be asked for a particular sans-serif font; ask for it and test it.