The F Word

Font choices are a critical part of web design. Any graphic designer worth her salt should have a library of carefully hand-picked fonts at her disposal at any time. It’s not enough to have them, she should know how and why each of them works.

Newcomers to the wonderful world of font tend to get understandably excited about it. They want to use all the fonts at once. They go bonkers for Broadway crazy for Comic Sans and giddy for Giddyup Std

Some people can get attached to a certain font, going back to it again and again for the simple reason that they love it. Font-monogamy is fine for your personal work, but for public displays of font it’s best to carefully consider your options. How do you want to be perceived? What are you trying to communicate? Which font suits you best?

And sadly, some people overwork their font. They CAPITALIZE, bold, underline, colour, or italicize their font to death. Sadly, some even do EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME! This is unacceptable, to the reader and to the poor font.

Moderation, people. That’s what we’re aiming for. It’s time to stop the madness!

Think of font as a graphic element. It should help convey the meaning of the words. It should align with the flow of the other design elements. It should be a part of the overall look of the page. Fonts can’t be chosen randomly, or just because it’s cool.

Or even because you love it and use it for everything you’ve ever done. Let it go, man. Sometimes a font just doesn’t work anymore, and even though you’ve had great times together in the past, you have to say goodbye to it and look for something better. And there’s always something better. Believe me I know. I spend hours scrolling through fonts looking for ‘something better’.

Make your font work for you, but don’t flog it to death. If your copy (that’s the text you wrote) doesn’t sing, don’t make the font squawk to compensate. Change the copy. The internet is far more sophisticated than it was ten years ago, and so are the people on it. They will not appreciate your rainbow of font flavours.

At the end of the day, font is a personal choice. It’s going to be what helps to define you online and in print. It’s going to deliver your message to the world. Listen to your heart, listen to your head, and listen to your designer. And don’t be afraid of the ‘F’ word.