When creating an attractive website, there is a lot to be careful of. Between selecting an amazing color palette and pixel-perfect background images for your website, it is not uncommon for certain elements to go down the drain. There is one thing that you don’t want to overlook is the font of the websites.
Typography is noticing an attractive website, but it is a glue that holds all of the elements of the UI design together. There are so many fonts available that choosing the perfect font for your website becomes overwhelming. It is like a minefield.
Tips For Picking Fonts For Your Website
Get Inspiration
You might already be having a few font styles in your mind for making your website more attractive. But before you make a single decision, make sure that you have checked out the different websites and their fonts. For your help, there are a lot of inspirational font websites where you can find endless recommendations. The list of different fonts will stimulate your creativity.
Even following the typography hashtags on social media will help you to look for great ideas. You can use Pinterest or other similar sites to find trending inspirations of typography.
Reflect Your Tone, Personality, and Branding
While the virtually limitless choice of fonts available on the web means that it is possible to have a typeface unique to your product. As a result, things can get too complicated, if you are not having an idea that from where to start. You must carefully consider the purpose of your product and have researched your target customers.
Another thing is that how do you want your customers to feel when they first access your website. If you are planning to provide a pleasant environment, then choose the typography carefully. On the other hand, if you want to make a comfortable, classy, fun, or serious website then there are a lot of options of fonts for a sophisticated website.
Once you are clear about the branding, personality, and tone of your website, you are ready to choose a font from the list you have narrowed down.
Less Is More
While it is tempting to use multiple fonts in a single layout but it can be overwhelming or clutter the interface. It is recommended that you should start with fonts from the same family. They are also known as single fonts. The fonts from the same family were created to work together in harmony. They stick to the single typeface and make the interface look more cohesive.
There are three categories in the sufficient range that you can choose the fonts for your website.
- Primary Font: Used for all larger texts such as headers or even logos. Your primary font must be visible on your page. It helps to reflect the identity of the brand. It means that you can create a little more daring and creative font for your website.
- Secondary Font: The secondary font source will include the body of your copy. The description or post of your website or page will not be in the secondary font, so it should be easy to read and clear.
- Tertiary Font: Tertiary fonts, also, known as accent fonts will be used for specific elements of the website. For example, the navigation menu or Call-To-Action button will be composed of the tertiary font. It should be visible enough to grab the attention of the user and convey important information. Hence, they should be subtle enough that they don’t collide with primary and secondary fonts.
Assess The Readability
When you are choosing a font, especially a secondary font, the number one priority should be readability. Some fonts are more readable than other forms. Some of the popular serif fonts such as Georgia and Times New Roman. These default font types are considered a great place to start and readable. These are the best matches for your aesthetic chosen fonts.
The serif fonts are the preferred option for printing, are praised traditionally for their readability. Sans Serif fonts are known to have modern and sleek design than their serif counterparts. It generally means that they make it the best to read the content in digital interfaces. Arial, Futura, and Helvetica are examples of sans serif fonts with better readability.
Make Sure The Fonts Are Scalable
Some fonts are easily seen when they are upgraded to larger sizes. On the other hand, fonts with thin letters or overly ornate designs can crack the smaller settings. Make sure that the fonts you have chosen for your website are scalable. It is an essential step when integrating typography into the user interface.
Scalable fonts are also known as vector fonts or outlier fonts. These fonts can be made larger or smaller without distortion. Each character’s outline is stored as a mathematical formula. Additionally, the countless sizes of each font offer the advantage of the resolution of an output device. The higher the resolution of the monitor, the better the appearance of the scalable font.
Mindful Of Font Load Times
One thing often overlooked by the designers is choosing fonts that are compatible with web browsers. Not all people are having the patience to accept the slow load time. Slow load times often damage the site’s UX. The font libraries such as Google Fonts offer a web font file that can be rendered in a browser perfect without any hassle.
You should stick to the limited number of fonts. Having too many fonts might not be the best idea as it slows down the loading speed. Also, you should focus on choosing the required style. If the size of the font is minimal, it means it will require less loading time. Hence, choose only the normal and bold style of your font.
Make sure that you don’t download the extra languages of a chosen font. If you require only one or a few different languages, then you should download them precisely. Also, don’t forget to deselect the ones you don’t need.
Think About Font Combinations
There are several things that you should consider while matching the different fonts. Each font is having its distinctiveness. Some fonts might look serious and other more polished. Also, some can give a spontaneous or quirky feel.
Mixing two fonts of different moods might be helpful for your website. As they say that opposites attract, you can apply this rule to your website. You can combine a strong font type with a more neutral or understated font. The former should be used for headers while the latter works best for the body text.
Another good combination of font is to mix serif and sans serif. When you mix the fonts, you create a contrast. For a subtle but clear difference, you can use a combination of serifs and sans serifs.
Choosing Fonts For Website – Reflect Your Personality
Choosing the fonts for your website can be overwhelming because of the numerous options. When you look for the font options, you get distracted because of the various styles in one font. Make sure that when you choose a font style, you look for the option that reflects your personality, branding, and tone.
The primary, secondary and tertiary fonts can be of different font styles or sizes. The major consideration is readability and clarity. The fonts you will be choosing for your website will determine that how will you attract the targeted customers to your website.