Computer Technology A site about computer technologies
Related Articles
The proverbial “they” say print is dying. They say we will only be reading on screens in the not-too-distant future. They say all design will be for the Web and mobile devices even sooner than that. Well, they’re probably right. And whether you work in Web application development, app design, or any other digital design, picking your fonts has never been so easy yet so complex.
So what makes a good Web or display font? First and foremost, the font should have the ability to be universally displayed rather than being replaced by a generic typeface. Legibility is certainly important as well. Can you easily distinguish between characters? And does the font’s design lend itself toward smooth, effortless reading? Legibility goes hand-in-hand with the font’s intended purpose. Is it even a font designed for the screen? And what was it designed to be used for? There’s no point using a typeface for headings that was actually crafted for use as paragraph text.
If you have the time, energy, and inclination, you can distinguish between whether one paragraph font will be more legible than another by comparing the x-heights, ascenders, descenders, etc. Related to this is whether to use a serif or san-serif typeface, which is also tied to trends that ebb and flow. In reality, these things won’t make or break your design. The best designers tend to develop an instinct for what feels right.
What you do with the font is a different story. Readability is affected by size, contrast, leading (line spacing), tracking (letter spacing), measure (line length), and visual hierarchy (organization of text). Some of these aspects are difficult, if not impossible, to control in Web or app design, however; a good display font will hold up well.
If legibility and well-crafted readability is all that were needed for good online typography then surely, Arial would be used by every designer on Earth. After all, it was designed as a screen font, it works equally well at a large or small size, it’s been around since 1992, and it’s bundled with both Windows and Mac operating system. It checks the boxes.
The answer as to why this isn’t the case is relatively obvious: it’s boring. The beauty of learning about typography is that you start to see that type can have personality. I’m not talking about Comic Sans vs. Helvetica vs. Papyrus. I mean the geometric curves of Avant Garde versus the humanist curves of Gill Sans. Or Futura’s pointed apexes compared to Univers’s flat edges. With Google Fonts and other tools, it’s now possible to add some personality to online typography without compromising legibility or readability.
Whether you are a designer or a Web developer, it’s important to take your time deciding on which typefaces to use and to consider why you use them. The computer may eventually kill print, but it doesn’t have to kill the tradition of thoughtful design around type.
