Why Typography is Important for a Good web Designer

Typography is a word that not too many people are familiar with. If you have been in the web design world for very long, you have probably quickly learned some of the reasons why typography is important. Unfortunately, most web designers when they first get into the business really look over what typography has to offer. Below are some things related to typography that you should consider in your design.

#1: It sets the tone of your website

Typography is one of the first things people will see on your website. It often sets the tone for what your website is about. You will find that most websites who want a classic look will use some form of sans serif font with the small slabs built into the typeface. A lot of more modern styles of typography will use a standard serif font. However, you are not limited to just serif and sans serif, there are other formats out there and some which will give you a rustic feel, an elegant feel, a feminine feel, and typography will help set the tone for the style you are attempting to get across to the website visitors.

#2: Must be easy to read

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen new web designers make a mistake of not making their typography easy to read. Just because you have the ability to place a really fancy and unique typeface on your website for all of your content doesn’t mean that you should. A lot of people like the “look” of small font, but the reality is, is that it isn’t always the best choice. If your website looks great, but does not communicate well to the website visitors that it does receive, then what is the point? You have to have to find a good balance for this. You need to find what looks good and is readable.

Let me give you a tip, the vast majority of people should use some form of relatively standard typeface. You regularly see Arial or Verdana but with the recent changes in CSS3 other options are now more viable than they were just a year ago. Still, keep your primary content simple. Being a fancy-pants is not better, ensuring your website functions as you would want it to for the website visitors in the long run is better. My recommendation is you stick with roughly 12 pixel / pt height in your font. This may seem a little bit big a lot of times, but increasing your line-height to 18px will be a great decision in the long run and typically looks good too.

#3: Can create emphasis on certain words in a design

The only time I see a viable solution for straying away from the more common fonts and something really basic is when you want to create emphasis on a word. Let me give you an example, a lot of fonts, while still easy to read, will have a different form of typography than the rest of their content. Why is this? This isn’t just because they want their logo to look awesome, but they also want it to stand out. I have seen some people introduce Sans serif typefaces when their typical typeface is a serif font on the remainder of the website. While it is most commonly advised not to mix sans serif fonts and serif fonts some people on occasion will do it to set a word or two apart from the rest.