Typography in Web Design
Typography is a fundamental part of web design. But, like any web design element, its job isn’t purely decorative. Good typography is readable: it helps readers process text quickly and efficiently, so they can absorb the information they sought out. Great typography balances readability with design. The text design isn’t just clear and legible—it tells visitors something about the brand they’re interacting with.
When it comes to website typography, there’s a lot to consider. You need to choose the right typeface, style text thoughtfully, and design layouts that ensure text is readable. With so much to explore, you could spend years mastering the art of typography. But once you learn some basic text design terms and best practices, you can start designing and using website typography like a pro.
Choose the right typeface
The first step in designing typography for websites is choosing a typeface. A typeface defines the general way text is designed, while a font defines the specific way it’s styled. For example, Arial is a typeface and Arial Bold 11-point is a font.
Selecting a typeface is a branding exercise akin to designing a logo. The text on your client’s website should be legible, but it should also encapsulate their brand. As you sift through the thousands of typefaces, there are three main categories you’ll encounter: serif typefaces, sans-serif typefaces, and decorative typefaces.
Serif typefaces
Serif typefaces are defined by the small lines (or serifs) attached to the end of each letter. These typefaces derive stylistically from the typewriter era, when text printed inconsistently and letters needed visual markers to stand out. Serif typefaces evoke a long history of written language, so they often feel classic and authoritative.
Sans-serif typefaces
Sans-serif typefaces are defined by their lack of serifs. When digital technology emerged, text could be reproduced precisely and consistently, leading to cleaner, less decorative typefaces. Sans-serif typefaces are used everywhere from street signs to tech platforms, and they can feel bold, simple, minimalist, or modern, depending on how they’re styled.
Decorative typefaces
Decorative typefaces are known for their flair, style, and personality. Also known as display or ornamental typefaces, they can resemble handwriting, neon signs, letterpress prints, and more. Because decorative typefaces are so striking, they can lend a custom feel to any design. But they should be paired with a serif or sans-serif typeface to keep text clear and readable.
When choosing a typeface, it’s also important to consider font standards, like what styles and languages the typeface comes in, and what special characters are included. You should also consider how much the typeface costs. While there are spectacular paid options out there, there are also hundreds of great typefaces you can use for free.
Style text thoughtfully
Once you’ve picked a typeface, your job is to bring out the best in it. With thoughtful styling and spacing, you can design copy that’s readable and impactful. You can also establish a clear visual hierarchy that makes the website clearer to navigate.
Text size and style
There are many ways to customize text. You can make it bigger or smaller. You can underline, bold, or italicize it. You can also change its color, highlight it, or adjust the way it’s capitalized.
When making these decisions, put clarity first. Your text should be big enough (at least 18-20 px) and thick enough (at least 18-point) for a variety of people to read, and it shouldn’t blend in with the background.
You’ll also want to use a light touch when formatting text. Bolding, underlining, or italicizing text is great for emphasis, but too much styling can make pages cluttered and hard to read. For the same reason, you should stick to 1-2 typefaces and 2-3 fonts per website. Think: one display typeface, plus one sans-serif typeface styled two different ways.
Text spacing
Spacing also impacts the readability of your text. Leading describes the amount of space between lines of text (line height). Tracking describes the amount of space between letters in a word. And kerning describes the amount of space between two specific letters.
When it comes to spacing, you’ll want to strike a happy medium. While too little space makes text hard to read, too much space does as well. To ensure text is comfortable to read, line height should be about 1.5 times the base font size, and spacing between paragraphs should be about 2 times the base font size.
Visual hierarchy
Monotonous blocks of text are hard to read. So it’s important to use text design to break up your content and differentiate between headings, subheadings, body text, and more. In doing so, you can show readers how to navigate each page, helping them seamlessly skim, digest, and understand your content.
Design heading levels so they decrease in prominence and size. Heading 1 (<h1>) should be bigger than heading 6 (<h6>), but both should be bolder than your body text. Secondary textual elements, like pull quotes, should also stand out, but they shouldn’t distract from the structure of the page.
When styling interactive text, like hyperlinks and buttons, use clear visual cues. Format hyperlinks so they’re distinct from the rest of your text, and change the way navigation elements appear when you hover over or click on them.
Design a readable website
Even the best typography can be undermined by a bad layout. As you build websites, don’t force your text to compete with busy backgrounds or distracting design choices. Create a clear design language that feels consistent from page to page.
Color contrast
Color can make text stand out, but it can also make it difficult to read. When playing with your palette, use adequate contrast; your text should stand out against whatever background it’s on.
Be careful putting text over photos and videos, and avoid pairing text and background colors that look too similar. Generally speaking, text and background colors should contrast in both hue and brightness, though there are always exceptions.
To keep text accessible, aim for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1. You can use an accessibility checker to test the visibility of your text.
User-friendly layouts
When creating layouts, make choices that complement your text design, rather than compete with it. Use padding to add space between text and other content. Take care when overlapping elements and eliminate distractions, like unnecessary image, page, and text animations.
You should also thoughtfully format your text boxes—the places your typography will live. Use appropriate spacing between letters, lines, and paragraphs. Left-align text when designing for languages read from left to right (like English). Shorten lines of text to about 45-75 characters long, so more people can comfortably read them.
Site-wide consistency
Your website typography choices should feel consistent from page to page. Cement them in a style guide, and implement them website-wide. By defining typography rules—rather than manually styling each page—you can keep your text design choices nimble and easy to update.
There’s a lot to explore in the world of typography. But once you understand the basic principles of text design, you can create websites that are clearer, more engaging, and that better encapsulate your client’s brand.
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