Since the advent of the printing press, we have used typeface as a featured aspect of design.
We see hundreds if not thousands of fonts in our daily lives, but how often do you stop and consider the thought that went into those choices? Does it matter?
Of course! A typeface isn’t just how the letters look; the font you choose can radically impact your viewer’s impression.
The psychology of typography has been of interest to designers for decades and should be considered when choosing your fonts. The simple choices between serif or sans-serif, traditional or modern, can change how your viewers read your brand and can repel or attract your target audience.
Examples of Great Website Fonts
1. Branding
If typeface can have such an impact on viewers, you want to choose fonts that speak to your brand.
For example, a more professional and traditional brand identity would benefit from traditional serifed fonts like Playfair, Merriweather, or Lora.
Playfair
Merriweather
Lora
Conversely, if you wanted a more playful and casual brand, you might try a display typeface like Fredoka One
Fredoka
Or a monospaced typeface like Source Code Pro for a more modern and technical feeling.
Source Code Pro
2. Readability
Regardless of what type of content you are creating, it’s important that the font you choose is easily readable. Remember to take into consideration that some may struggle more than others to read certain fonts, particularly fonts with tight kerning, a very light weight, or overtly decorative typefaces.
Sans-serif typefaces are considered more legible, especially digitally, so consider using typefaces like Lato, Poppins, or Roboto for large sections of text. These typefaces also have several style options which can be extremely useful in creating more dynamic and readable typography; however, legibility can suffer as you increase or decrease the weight and relies heavily on font size.
Lato
Poppins
Roboto
3. Complementary
Now it’s time to bring together everything we’ve learned about fonts and find typefaces that pair well together. Using several typefaces will make creating attractive content much easier, but it’s important to choose the right pairs.
Combining serif and sans-serif fonts is a popular choice because it makes for interesting yet legible typography. For example, if we take a serif typeface like Merriweather Bold and use it for our titles or in our logo, we might use a typeface like Roboto for our larger blocks of text.
Merriweather Bold and Roboto
Similarly, if you choose a more decorative font, you will need to pair it with a clean, simple font to make your text readable.
Fredoka One and Lato Italic
Of course, for every rule of design, there is the opportunity to break it. There is nothing tying you to only using sans-serif fonts for text and bolder fonts for titles or logos. The only way to find what works for your brand is by experimenting!
Poppins Extra-Light Italics and Playfair Display Bold
Sources for Font Downloads
Luckily, there are endless sources for typeface downloads; however, remember that fonts used commercially must be available for commercial use. Many fonts may be restricted to personal use only.
All of the fonts referenced above can be found on Google Fonts, which offers almost 1,000 serif, sans-serif, display, handwriting, and monospace fonts which are free to use commercially.
Font Squirrel also offers fonts free for commercial use, which makes browsing the site a bit easier.
DaFont and FontSpace are also popular free download sites, but be careful to search only for commercial use fonts.
If you haven’t put much thought into your font choices before now, hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the importance of typography. For more web design tips and inspiration, check out our other blogs here.
Thanks for reading,
Christine
