Website typography, or the art of formatting written information online, isn’t only an essential part of a website’s overall design. The letters and fonts form part of the visual approach web designers consider to grab users’ attention, convey the messages clearly, and keep readers engaged.
Like the words that it forms, letters and fonts matter in that it can impact how a user perceives and understands the messages behind the words. In the study entitled, ‘Aesthetic of Reading,’ researchers Kevin Larson, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) psychologist, discovered that high-quality typography seems to conjure a positive impression.
More than choosing the correct font colors and designs, website typography includes the overall layout and arrangement of information, making it easier to digest. Allow us to briefly discuss what this artform is all about and raise points on the importance of website typography.
Website Typography 101: The Basics
When you look at a webpage, what do you see? Letters, words, and images designed in different ways, spreading different types of information. The way this written information is arranged is loosely what one would call ‘web typography.’
Simply put, it dictates how a company website relays information to the users. The aim of a designer should then be to come up with a highly legible design capable of sending the right information; in a visually-appealing manner. Navigate to this site for useful tips on how to design web typography better.
Reasons Why Web Typography Is Crucial
1. You Can Use It to Grab Reader’s Attention
The web is a highly crowded and competitive space for companies and organizations to send various messages of support, purchases, and offers to billions of worldwide users. Considering the amount of information relayed every few seconds, it’s critical to grab users’ attention with your visual content. An effective web typography is key to achieving this goal.
2. It Makes Information Easily Digestible
Sometimes, improving website design can do wonders for increasing your website traffic and eventually conversions.
Sometimes, when you get too excited, you want to cram all the critical information in one page. But poor choice of text, words, alignment, can make your overall site confusing, which sadly translates to missed opportunities.
The way your webpage is laid out should make it easy for the users to absorb the information by guiding the readers toward the right information.
3. It Helps Establish Brand Identity
Famous global brands use a specific typeset for its logo and company trademark. While they may look simple, effective typography principles are unquestionably behind the success of these logos.
Brand recognition is what sets your company apart from your competitors, making it a crucial element in establishing a company’s identity. When people distinctly remember your brand, you’ll likely be the first choice for your industry.
4. It May Increase Customer Engagement
As earlier mentioned, the MIT study by Larson pointed out that typography may influence a person’s first impressions of a certain written message or style. And while an intuitively designed page is capable of stirring positive moods, the opposite can be said of a poorly laid out page.
The New York Times made a more specific study where they asked over 45,000 participants to react to a specific statement written in various typefaces. The result showed that a statement can indeed be more believable based on the font type used.
For instance, a bold typeface often denotes urgency; hence, it’s used in headlines and titles. Alongside using compelling words in your marketing campaign, choose the right font types and study the word placements carefully to deliver a more effective message.
Besides relaying information, typography is also capable of stirring specific emotions from the readers. This opportunity may be used to influence conversions and purchasing decisions. At the very least, it can be used to boost customer engagement.
5. It Makes Your Site Aesthetically Appealing
Website typography makes your site or your brand’s online image highly appealing. Besides effectively grabbing users’ attention, it also makes your site more interesting to read.
A carefully thought-out site should reflect the brand’s values in every page. By looking at the design alone, the reader should be able to grasp the message that the brand or company wishes to relay. When done right, typography should provide consistency and personality to your overall web design.
Conclusion
From choosing the right hues, font sizes, spacing, to the accompanying photos, lines, edges—typography aims at arresting and keeping attention while delivering crucial information about the company, its products, and its services.
Understanding how your page or site is laid out and how it may impact your customers’ absorption and acceptance of the messages you’re sending out are crucial if you want to stand out and grow your brand.
