Here is the hard truth for designers: There is no downloadable "Glass Animals Zaba font."
The typography was almost certainly custom-drawn for the album artwork by the band's creative team (Micah “Mighty” Bickham and Dave Bayley himself have been known to handle visual art). Because it is not a commercial typeface, you cannot install it on your computer.
If you find a website offering a file called "Zaba Font.ttf," it is either:
This is arguably the closest match in spirit. Lily of the Valley is a groovy, retro script font that features thick downstrokes and smooth curves. While the actual Zaba lettering isn't a connecting script, the weight and rounded terminals of this font hit the same note. It feels organic and hand-drawn.
The album’s main title, however, is not Bliz. The blocky, stenciled, three-dimensional letters spelling “ZABA” are a bespoke creation by the band’s long-time creative collaborator, artist Micah Lidberg (who also painted the album’s iconic, kaleidoscopic cover art).
Lidberg’s lettering for “ZABA” is thick, wooden, and architectural—like tribal carvings or burnt-wood signage found deep in the jungle. The letterforms are rigid sans-serifs with interior cutouts (stencil gaps), giving them a tactile, hand-hewn quality. This contrasts brilliantly with the ethereal Bliz typeface, creating a dialogue between the physical (the jungle) and the spectral (the music).
The search for the Glass Animals Zaba font is a rite of passage for fans and designers. It is elusive because it was never meant to be a font. It is a piece of art created for a specific moment: the arrival of one of the most unique psychedelic pop albums of the 2010s.
You will not find a perfect, one-click download. But by combining a high-contrast serif like Abril Display with some gritty texture and organic distortion, you can capture the spirit of Zaba.
So stop searching for the ghost file. Open your design software, grab a Didot-style typeface, and let it grow wild. After all, as Dave Bayley sings: "You just want to be a creep, yeah, crawling in the jungle."
Do you know a better font match for the Glass Animals Zaba font? Let us know in the comments below. And if you want to learn how to design album covers for the streaming era, check out our guide to vintage digital aesthetics.
The artwork for Glass Animals' debut album, ZABA, is a standout collaborative piece between the band, the creative agency Boat Studio , and the illustrator Micah Lidberg
While the "font" used on the cover is often a point of curiosity, it is not a standard typeface. Instead, it is a custom, hand-drawn logotype designed to mirror the "psychedelic jungle" aesthetic of Lidberg's intricate illustrations. Key Visual Details
Custom Lettering: The lettering is fluid and organic, designed to look like it belongs within the lush, surreal foliage of the cover art rather than being a separate digital layer. Illustration Style : Micah Lidberg glass animals zaba font
created a dense, "Where's Waldo"-esque jungle scene filled with hidden creatures and vibrant colors that represent the album's "moody cave" and "cosmic jungle" vibes.
Packaging: The physical vinyl often features gold foiling on the logo, which contrasts with the dark, saturated greens and purples of the artwork, giving it a premium, almost artifacts-like feel. Aesthetic Elements of ZABA
Designing a guide for the Glass Animals aesthetic requires a mix of tropical typography, botanical illustrations, and a specific "neon-jungle" color palette.
While the band hasn't released an "official" font name for the era, the lettering is a custom-designed serif with distinct psychedelic and art-nouveau influences. 1. Identifying the Typography
wordmark is characterized by high-contrast strokes, rounded terminals, and "liquid" curves. To replicate this look, look for Psychedelic Serifs Art Nouveau Closest Matches: "Glass Animals" Font: Often identified as a modified version of Abbey Road "ZABA" Font: Very similar to . It features heavy "thorns" and teardrop terminals. Modern Alternatives: Belladonna: Captures the sharp yet flowy botanical vibe. A refined serif with the same high-fashion jungle feel. Nimbus Roman No. 9: For a more classic, "encyclopedia of jungle animals" look. Color Palette The album’s visual identity relies on Deep Jungle Tones contrasted with Electric Neons Primary Greens: Forest Green (#0B2414), Deep Teal (#053D38). Pop Accents:
Gold/Mustard (#D4AF37), Tropical Pink (#FF3E7F), and Electric Blue (#00AEEF). Backgrounds:
Use dark, desaturated charcoals or deep purples to make the typography "glow." 3. Layout & Graphic Elements
To make your guide feel authentic to the 2014 era, incorporate these design elements: Botanical Framing:
Use illustrations of Monstera leaves, cocoa pods, and palm fronds. The artwork often "tucks" the text behind the leaves to create depth. The "Shadow" Effect:
text often features a subtle, glowing drop shadow or a multi-layered offset (e.g., a pink layer slightly shifted behind a gold layer). Gold Foil Textures:
If you are designing digitally, apply a metallic gold texture to the main serif headers to mimic the physical vinyl packaging. 4. Implementation Tips Kerning (Letter Spacing): wide tracking
. Spacing out the letters gives it an airy, mysterious, and premium feel. Distortion: Here is the hard truth for designers: There
Use a "Warp" or "Liquid" tool in your design software to slightly curve the stems of the letters, making them look organic rather than digital. Are you looking to recreate a specific tour poster style, or are you designing social media graphics inspired by the album?
You're looking for a guide on how to create a font inspired by Glass Animals' album "Zaba"!
Glass Animals' debut album "Zaba" (2014) features a distinctive, hand-drawn typography that has become iconic. While there isn't a single, official font inspired by the album, I can provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to create a similar font using a combination of font creation tools and techniques.
Gathering References
Before we begin, collect references of the album's typography:
Choosing a Font Creation Tool
For this guide, we'll use a popular font creation tool:
Designing the Font
Create a new font project in your chosen tool:
Recreating the Zaba Font Style
Study the album's typography and recreate the distinctive features:
Creating Characters
Design each character individually:
Tips and Tricks
Exporting the Font
Once you've created the font:
Inspiration and Variations
Feel free to experiment and create variations of the font:
By following these steps, you'll be able to create a font inspired by Glass Animals' "Zaba" album. Happy font creating!
Remember: the Zaba font isn't just about the letter shapes; it is about the texture. To truly replicate the look, take a clean serif font (like Playfair Display) and apply a "grunge" or "roughen" effect in Photoshop or Illustrator. Add grain. Scan it. Print it out and scan it again. That analog degradation is the Zaba secret sauce.
Here is the truth that graphic designers often have to accept: the typography on the Zaba album cover isn't an "off-the-shelf" font you can simply download from Adobe Fonts or Google Fonts.
The lettering appears to be custom hand-lettering. The characters possess unique quirks that suggest they were drawn specifically to fit the organic, flowing shape of the album’s central "eye" motif. Notice how the letters vary slightly in weight and how they curve to match the contours of the artwork? That level of specific distortion usually points to custom illustration rather than a typed-out typeface.
However, just because it’s custom doesn’t mean you can’t achieve the same aesthetic. The font falls squarely into the "Groovy," "Liquid," or "Psychedelic" categories of typography.
Finding the font is only half the battle. To truly channel the Zaba album cover, you need to apply the right treatments: Do you know a better font match for