Although web design is a complicated and time-consuming process, it can be broken down into smaller steps to make it easier. One of the most important of these steps is defining your brand.
As you might already know, your brand image is essentially your online persona, and it’s closely related to the way people perceive you and your website. It can be influenced by things like your overall design, colour schemes, font pairings and more.
Font pairings and selection is one of the most important parts of the entire web design process, but it’s one that we don’t often talk about. Because of this, I decided to put together a list of a few tips to help you choose the perfect fonts for your new website.
- Think About The Message You’re Trying To Convey
Although you might not realise it, different fonts can be extremely effective to convey different messages. Some websites are best with more serious fonts, while others work well with fun or creative styles.
For example, if you’re building a new small business website for your up and coming law firm, you will want to build a professional image. In this case, it would be best to use serious, somewhat boring fonts.
On the other hand, entertainment or social type sites are often better suited to more creative fonts. Depending on your overall design, you might decide to use a font which really stand out at unique.
- Match Similar Fonts
At the same time, you need to make sure that the fonts you choose work well together, otherwise your website simply won’t be as attractive as it could be. If you’re going with a serious style, then try and pair two fonts that are similar, but not identical. Similarly, pair more creative fonts with other creative, stylish options. Ultimately, you want to use contrasting fonts, but not conflicting ones.
- Play With Different Options
Meanwhile, it’s usually a good idea to explore your options and play around a bit before settling on a particular font. There are literally thousands of different fonts available in different libraries – such as Google Fonts – so the options are pretty much endless.
- Use An Online Font Pairings Tools
If you’re really stuck and don’t know what fonts to use, you could consider taking advantage of an online tool to help you make your decisions. There are numerous tools out there, but one of my favourites is the Web Font Blender
Basically, this tool allows you to test different combinations in a sandbox like environment. You can mix and match different fonts, change their sizes, and play around with other features while you’re making your choice.
Choosing the right fonts for your website isn’t always easy, but there are plenty of tools out there to help you out. I’d recommend thinking carefully about what sort of message you’re trying to convey, playing around with your options for a while, and then using an online font selection tool to help you make your choice.
