Day 15: Fonts

Idea written multiple times in different fonts

It is super easy to get carried away with fonts. Visit fonts.google.com and there are over 800 fonts to explore. Choose a font and it will display even more fonts as popular pairings! With so many choices and great designs, it is easy to go overboard. This is never really a good idea as my recent sketch clearly indicates. Multiple fonts in a document, slide, or website can make the text difficult to perceive and for users to focus on whatever you or your students are trying to communicate.

Fonts can be organized into families or categories. There are handwriting fonts that look like cursive or more decorative fonts that can make your letters appear like they were written out of logs or even straight from a blockbuster movie opening credits. However, serif and sans-serif fonts going to be much more readable for a broader audience than handwriting or decorative display fonts. A serif font is characterized by little lines at the finishing edges of letters. Times New Roman is an popular serif font. A sans-serif font is without these little finishing lines. Arial is a popular sans-serif font. This blog is published using a consistent sans-serif font throughout.

Whatever font you and your students choose, it's a good idea to limit the number within a single document to no more than 2-3 fonts. If you are going to add an additional font, keep it in the same font family for a cleaner look. This will make it easier for readers to focus on your content. Users with reading disabilities, low vision, and/or attention difficulties will thank you!

Look for posts later this week to learn more about color choices and contrast when thinking about text and images!

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