Arts Assistance

  • About
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Testimonials
    • Resources
  • Services
    • Website Care Plans
    • Website Inquiry Form
    • Design Evaluation
  • Portfolio Examples
  • Blog
  • Contact

Fonts, the Cheapest Way to Upgrade the Design of Your Website

June 5, 2013 by Nancy Seeger

Ask a designer what their favorite fonts are and watch their eyes light up like the night sky full of stars. They will wax rhapsodic about the merits of their favorites well after your eyes glaze over.

Classic-300px

So What is the Big Deal About Fonts?

Fonts are extremely powerful design elements. A font can standalone as its own design… or strongly enhance a marketing image. Often the cheapest design element, it’s hard to convince clients that the font is usually doing the heavy lifting with designs. Pictures are wonderful but they can only go so far. Fonts usually "seal the deal" in making effective designs.

Modern-300px

In web design, Google Fonts are the hot topic. There certainly are some good ones but as is often the case with anything free, you have to sift out the good from the bad. Issues that can come up with Google Fonts are poor kerning (spacing between letters), may come in only one or two font weights, and several are imitators of highly popular paid fonts. Usually logo fonts are not Google Fonts.

So What Fonts Should You Pick for a Website and How Many?

Typically two are a safe bet, one for the content areas and one for the titles. Be sure to pick fonts that work with your logo. Ideally one of the fonts should be your logo font. One of the easiest ways to find good font pairings is to use a font family (Proxima Nova and PT Sans are two good examples).

My favorite starting place for webfonts is Typekit. They cherry pick quality fonts that have excellent kerning, have frequently proven themselves as print design fonts, and Typekit continually publishes technical enhancements released from font designers.

To get you started – here are a few strong paragraph fonts from Typekit.

  • Museo Sans
  • Proxima Nova
  • Nimbus Sans
  • PT Sans
  • Franklin Gothic URW
  • Myriad Pro (also comes in condensed – nice for titles)

There you go, one designer’s secret sauce to designing sites. Enjoy!

Psst, Typekit will be adding desktop sync for their fonts. Now you can enjoy great looking fonts for your own materials affordably.

Filed Under: Web Design, Website tips

Get More Tips For Your Website

Comments

  1. Jennifer says

    June 5, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    Very useful post, thank you. I am not a designer and I still have a font addiction! Typekit will probably owe you a commission for sending me there . . .

    • Nancy Seeger says

      June 5, 2013 at 9:48 pm

      Hi Jennifer,

      Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it!

      Nancy

Recent Posts

  • Annual Website Checkup for 2022
  • Where Did My StudioPress Theme Go?
  • Keeping Your WordPress Website Hack Free
  • Increase Ticket Sales in Social Media with Better Website Links

Testimonials

"...We have been working with Nancy Seeger and Arts Assistance for a number of years. In all that time, we have found her to be extremely professional, highly skilled and knowledgeable, very responsive and a joy to work with...." [ Read More ]

"Thank you for your hard work in bringing our latest website to life. We’ve done three web properties together, and they keep getting better and better!..." [ Read More ]

Latest Posts

  • Annual Website Checkup for 2022
  • Where Did My StudioPress Theme Go?
  • Keeping Your WordPress Website Hack Free
  • Increase Ticket Sales in Social Media with Better Website Links
  • Hidden Trap – Critical Quick Step To Protect Your Website Domain

Receive Website Tips

FacebookLinkedInTwitter

Copyright © 2022 · Arts Assistance · Website Design Services in Fairfax, VA · Privacy Policy · Contact Us

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsOK
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT