What To Look For When Hiring A Website Design Company
November 4, 2022
What Is Typography In Web Design
You might have come across the term ‘typography’ when learning or looking up website design. Typography is one of the most important aspects when it comes to creating websites. The text you are currently reading on this page is Typography but there is more to typography in web design than words. When we think about popular businesses and brands, we never take the time to think about their selected fonts but choosing the correct fonts with the right spacing, size is super crucial when it comes to human interaction as fonts help us to strike emotion and action into people when done correctly.
You could consider typography to be an art form as a web designer you will have to arrange lettering and text in order to make the website content copy that you’ve created to be presentable, readable and most importantly solidify the website branding. Typography when done correctly can bring your words to life.
We’ve put together this article for you today in order to learn more about the history of typography and how exactly it ties into website design and plus why it is so important to nail down the right typography for your website.
The History Behind Typography
The history of typography can be found all the way back to the 11th century during the innovation of movable type. For those who are unsure of what movable type is – movable type is a piece of printing equipment that is made up of individual pieces such as single letters meaning you can freely assemble printing on a chosen line. Typography was found way before the digital age as it is in the books you read, magazines and newspapers.
Fast forward to today and typography can be found everywhere and is now very closely associated with the digital world. Thanks to the internet, the evolution of typography has grown immensely with hundreds of fonts that are being created and uploaded to the online world. This means that web designers have a huge range of fonts available to use for their websites.
What Are Typefaces And How Are They Different From Fonts?
There can be confusion online between fonts and typefaces as they are both very closely linked with each other. A typeface is a design style that includes a variety of characters in various sizes and weights, whereas a font is a graphical representation of a text character.
There are three basic typefaces that you will find: serif, sans-serif and decorative. Whereas you can find many fonts belonging to a certain typeface such as Arial (Sans-Serif), Helvetica (Sans-Serif) and Times New Roman (Serif)
Why Is Typography Important In Web Design?
Typography isn’t just about choosing the prettiest looking font for your website but it needs to be a successful component of the user interface design so you can have the best user experience on your website. Having good website typography can establish a solid visual hierarchy, make sure that the balance of your site is correct and set the tone of the website and your brand.
You should focus on typography that guides the users on your websites, optimise it for clear and easy reading and finally accessible for everyone meaning that your user experience is fully optimised for success.
Typography can help establish your brand & business as fonts associated with the website can give recognition to people who have visited. When they come across the font, they will subliminally start to recognise the font with your brand. Having unique & constant typography throughout your website can build trust and help your brand move forward in the long run.
There is also a correlation between strong typography and influencing people’s decisions. Typography has a solid effect on individuals on websites as it helps the user either digest the content on your website or make them leave. We have all found ourselves on a website but can’t read it due to the size or the chosen font meaning we have exited it. You could craft the best content with all the right words but if the typography on your website isn’t chosen correctly then it makes it completely meaningless.
By having eye-catching typography instead of choosing weak fonts that can’t don’t reinforce the message that you are trying to send then you are losing hundreds of potential clients and customers that enter your website. Good typography can play a major difference in an individual staying on your site for one minute or one hour.
What Is The Right Typography For My Website?
One of the hardest decisions we have as web designers is definitely choosing the right font pairings for our websites, with so many options online it can sometimes become draining! We love fonts here at The Wolf Of The Web and have a few favourites but all websites should be unique and tailored to the person or business that you are creating them for.
It can leave you with the ultimate question of what is the right typography for my website? There are many different factors that you will need to take into consideration when choosing the correct font pairing for your website.
First of all, you will have to think of the personality and tone of the website. How do you want to come across the online world? Are you a highly professional law firm looking to instil trust in potential prospects? Are you a playful sports group? It’s important that your font matches the tone and personality you want to portray.
Think about performance, the typography that you are going to choose will have to be browser friendly and can be rendered successfully when someone enters your website without any problems.
And finally, always test and look around! Inspiration can come from anywhere, just think of Isaac and the apple. By looking around, you can come across hundreds of cool font pairings that you can use and make sure to always be testing them before you launch the website to see if the style works. It also helps to show other people your work as we are all prone to bias about projects we’ve designed ourselves.
Riley Williams is the creative force behind The Wolf Of The Web! With over 100+ websites built across diverse sectors. I believe in crafting eye-catching websites that not only look amazing but also generate more calls, leads, and sales for your business.
