Can Something As Simple as a Font Matter for Your Website?

We all know colors, design, and content are key to a successful website that converts. Sometimes, though, something simple and small like a font is completely overlooked. The right font can make or break a user’s experience, and choosing the right one can be difficult, especially for someone who grew up in the age of newspaper (appealing fonts for print are much different than those for a website). It can be difficult to choose a perfect font that you both enjoy and think will be good for a potential client: here are a few tips to get you started.

Consider the Size

If you have a website that is automatically mobile friendly – a responsive design – one of the things the design does is increase the font size for mobile users. This is because in tests, people much preferred the larger size of the font over the smaller size that’s more popular (and more readable) on larger screens. If you don’t have a responsive design, or you’re considering those who use computers more than mobile devices, then font size is very important. Generally, people prefer 16-point or higher, just because it’s easier on the eyes (especially older eyes), but anything over 14-point should be okay for most information. If you’re manually doing your fonts for mobile, 16-point and above is best (it results in an easy-to-read 40 characters a line on a regular phone or tablet).

Consider the Color

Luckily, we’re not in Geocities world anymore, where everyone thought it was cool to have a black or animated backgrounds with scrolling pink letters and highlighter green text. However, today we have different ideas about font color that are important to consider. Most people believe that white and grey backgrounds with black fonts are best as they are easy to read. Some say that that kind of contrast is difficult to read, and that grey with a darkish grey background is better. It’s completely up to you, and the balance can be tricky to strike, but once you get it, you’ll know.

User Expectations Matter

Are you a fun business? Do you sell coffee or balloons or kid’s birthday parties, or do you sell newspapers and are a source of authority on green printing methods? Expectations matter. Using a serious font on a pony party website may be less than optimal; your fans expect something more fun. However, if you’re a more serious website, than a more serious font may fit your image better than something that looks more playful.

Whether you’re choosing a small font, large font, pink or grey font for any audience, the choice is yours – just know that font choice does matter and affects the experience of a person browsing your website, so choose wisely.