Can we take a moment to admire some of our favourite digital font families? Before I ask the team at Glacier Media Digital (GMD) for their thoughts, to really appreciate a font you need to know what makes a good digital typeface. So to welcome you into our world of decision making, here are some general things we consider before rightly landing on our favourite typefaces.
How accessible is it?
Before you think that Google Fonts is not a super original choice for font selection, I would like to challenge you to think again. As of now, there are over 800+ available options contributed from multiple type designers and type design firms from all around the world. On top of that, the fonts featured on this magical database are designed with web experience in mind and are easily accessible for web development.
Legibility
Distinctiveness between the letter types really helps to increase legibility. So, for instance, when we consider the letter “L” in Source Sans Pro, how different is the number “1”, capital “I” and lowercase “l”?
Of course there are other things that can help enforce legibility too. Size, letter spacing, line height, contrast, weight, color, the variety of styles in the font family you have selected to create a strong typographic system… there really is a whole list of things we could tell you about to help create a more pleasing reading experience.
Personality
We do want our fonts to be legible but we also don’t want it to be boring. Visual intrigue is quintessential to a memorable and pleasing reading experience.
Having a personality plays a huge role in perception. Don’t believe me? I dare you to change all your headlines to Comic Sans right now. Just kidding. Unless you’re writing about unicorns and rainbows that’s probably a bit of an excessivechoice, it’s true.
So now you’re in the know! Armed with this general appreciation for what goes into selecting a good digital font, perhaps you can even join in on the conversations I had with our talented team of digital experts.
Influenced by the transition from quills to pointed steel pens in the early 19th century, and infamous type designer John Baskerville (I say infamous because in his day every Brit hated his style but now we all love him), today we’re in love with Playfair, especially in titles and headlines. Says Robert, our Creative Director, “Serif typefaces seem to be having a moment, and what I like about Playfair is its range in font family. Take the italic variants, for example. It’s got such character.” Adriano, our User Experience Designer, couldn’t agree more. “It has a level of sophistication that is just pleasant to look at.”
Lebon, one of our Graphic Designers, also chimed in with thoughts about serif typefaces. “They’re making a comeback and Crimson Text is leading the way!” He says enthusiastically, “The font comes in a variety of thicknesses (even in italics). It has a classic feel and reminds me of the typeface you see within a book, but it’s also contemporary enough to pair well with serif and sans-serif typefaces, making it a versatile contender for the best font.”
Andrew, one of our Web Developers, found it basically impossible to choose a favourite and so he shared his general thoughts with us. “I love really heavy fonts with short tracking for things like titles and headers. I love the look of Futura Bold, Arial Black, and PT Serif Bold for that. For stuff like paragraphs and subheaders, anything clean and easy like Helvetica Neue or Times New Roman looks good, depending on what I’m looking at.”
Fun Fact! PT Serif was a commissioned typeface made by ParaType for a project called “Public Types of Russian Federation.” Wikipedia says it was created to support all the different variations of scripts used by minority languages in Russia.
We also had an inkling that our Senior Web Developer Tyler had an affinity for design and so we asked him for his thoughts. He obliged, “I like Oswald because it is a web font with roots in the world of metal typefaces. It is a digital reworking of the “Alternate Gothic” family of fonts that is particularly well suited to title text on the internet. With a wide variety of weights available it is a versatile font that can meet many design needs. In addition, while it is a sans-serif font there are a few subtle flourishes that make this font easier to read than other more austere sans-serif fonts.”
Even our social team had thoughts to share regarding typography. Andrea, one of our Social Media Specialists, wanted to shine some light on Roboto saying, “It is my go-to typeface for paragraphs or smaller text because of its great legibility and readability. As a Google font, Roboto is the default font for Android and Chrome OS. From an aesthetic point of view, it’s simple, clean and friendly. Also, Roboto comes with 12 styles/weights.”
On a final brownie point type of note, we were really curious to get some thoughts from our Senior Social Strategist, who, little known fact, used to be a Graphic Designer. Says Rachel, “a couple of my standby’s are Montserrat because of its range and flexibility and Playfair for a sassy modern serif.” Rachel also let us know about a fun tool she uses to style social copy. I was wondering how our team got certain things to be bold or italic on our instagram page. Mystery solved, check it out: https://yaytext.com/bold-italic/
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