Typography: how your fonts shape the way people see your brand

Fonts are one of those things people don't notice until they're wrong. But they're quietly doing a lot of work for your brand every day.

The same sentence can feel luxurious, playful, techy or old-school depending on the font. So it's worth getting right.

Choosing your fonts

Every font has a personality. A classic serif tends to feel established and elegant. A clean sans-serif feels modern and straightforward. A script feels personal, but it can be hard to read in long passages.

Most brands only need two fonts: one for headings and one for body text. Any more than that and things start to look messy.

Setting up hierarchy

Hierarchy is how you guide people through your content. Headlines should be clearly bigger or bolder than subheadings, and subheadings should stand out from body text.

When someone skims your page, and they will, the headings should tell them the whole story on their own.

Don't forget spacing

Spacing is the most underrated part of typography. A little extra space between lines makes text so much easier to read. Tight, cramped paragraphs feel heavy, even if the font is great.

Pay attention to line spacing, the space around headings, and how long your lines are. Lines that run all the way across a wide screen are tiring to read.

Readability comes first

A gorgeous font that nobody can read isn't doing its job. Check your fonts on a phone, make sure there's enough contrast with the background, and save the decorative fonts for short headlines.

Brands that get it right

Disney: the script wordmark is so recognizable you'd know it from just a couple of letters.

Airbnb: in 2018 they rolled out a custom typeface called Cereal across their app and site. It's friendly, simple and easy to read, which is exactly how they want booking a stay to feel.

Nike: "Just Do It" set in big, bold, all-caps type feels like a push to get moving. The type is doing as much work as the words.

The takeaway

You don't need a custom typeface to get this right. Pick two fonts that fit your personality, use them consistently, give them room to breathe, and always choose readable over fancy.

If your fonts feel a bit off and you can't pin down why, I can help.