What is Typography?

Typography is the deliberate layout of fonts and text on a page. From hand-drawn calligraphy to digital design, we use fonts and typography every day. A good layout of text will inspire the reader, allowing them to more easily comprehend the meaning of the written word. Practicaltypography.com asks the question “Is typography art?”

What Fonts Should I use for my site?

You may not even realize what thought has been put into the type that goes into books, websites, and even your phone’s texting feature. Sometimes a designer’s most challenging job is to create a text that is readable to the user, as well as finding a style that represents the product or company. For your site, you want to look at the demographics of your customer, their age, the product they are trying to find, and any possible limitations to reaching their goal. For example, your company sells reading glasses. Is your customer a 20 something or possibly an older set of clients? You want to attract all ages, but the largest group of buyers may be in the 40 and up to an age group for this type of glasses. Paragraph text must be on the larger side in a dark color against a light background for the midlife to an older customer. The font should be simple, with ample space between characters.

Layout of content

Again, the content tells you how it should be laid out. If you have four different lists, a table could be created with headings for each set of bullet items. A services page should be set up with each part of your business in a separate block. Speaking Green Communications website, created by the 360 WEB DESIGNS team, shows that a clean break in the headers and text give the reader a chance to isolate the content that is relevant to them.

Hierarchy

The audience can be lead into the text by using large to small text groupings. For example, this page from Love Cook Nourish.com helps the viewer know what he should read first, and how to separate the text for easy comprehension. This keeps the viewer’s attention and keeps them reading.

Color

We are all attracted to color. Each color has a meaning to us, and that meaning, or feelings it invokes, can vary from culture to culture. In the coming weeks, my blog will feature color topics, such as color theory, symbolism, and colorblind issues.