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What Is Typography, and Why Is It

Important? A Beginner’s Guide
BY JAYE HANNAH, UPDATED ON MAY 11, 2023
14 mins read
Whether it’s on our phones, in books or on websites, we’re constantly digesting written
words. From instruction booklets to shop fronts, type is all around us.
We often reflect on the power of the written word, but rarely do we consider the
designer’s role in emulating the tone of the word or sentence.
Behind the scenes, a designer has taken the time to consider the relationship between
the look of the text and what the text says. In reality, different moods, atmospheres, and
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even trends can be expressed simply through the type choice. But what actually is
typography—and why is it so vital?
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In this article, we’ll lift the lid on everything you need to know about typography. We’ll
start with the definition of typography, including a brief history of its origins.
We’ll then address the benefits of good typography and the impact it can have on your
users. Finally, we’ll look into the different elements that comprise typography, and what
they all mean.
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1. What is typography?
2. Why is typography important?
3. The different elements of typography
Fonts and typefaces
Contrast
Consistency
White space
Alignment
Color
Hierarchy
4. How to choose the correct typeface for your website
5. Conclusion
Ready? Let’s dive in!
Let’s kick off with the basics: just what actually is typography?
Typography is the art of arranging letters and text in a way that makes the copy legible,
clear, and visually appealing to the reader.
It involves font style, appearance, and structure, which aims to elicit certain emotions
and convey specific messages. In short, typography is what brings the text to life.
To understand typography in 2023, it’s necessary to take a quick look into its
development:
A brief history of typography

Typography can be dated back to the 11th century, during the innovation of movable
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type. Before the digital age, typography was a specialized craft associated with books
and magazines, and eventually public works.
The first example of typography can be seen in the Gutenberg Bible, which kick-started
a typography revolution in the west.
Fun fact: the style of type used in the Gutenberg Bible is now known as Textura, and
you’ll find it in the font dropdown menu on major desktop applications today!
Fast forward to 2023, where typography is mostly associated with both the digital design
world and print.
With the birth of the internet came a creative explosion of the art of typography.
Suddenly, web designers had an abundance of fonts and type options at their disposal,
making typography more visually diverse than ever before.

Typography is so much more than just choosing beautiful fonts: it’s a vital component of
user interface design.
Good typography will establish a strong visual hierarchy, provide a graphic balance to
the website, and set the product’s overall tone. Typography should guide and inform
your users, optimize readability and accessibility, and ensure an excellent user
experience.
Let’s delve a little deeper into why typography is so important.
Typography builds brand recognition

Not only will good typography enhance the website’s personality, but your users will
subliminally begin to associate the typeface featured on your site with your brand.
Unique, consistent typography will help you establish a strong user following, build trust
with your users, and help to carry your brand forward.
Typography influences decision making

Typography has a profound effect on the way that users digest and perceive the
information conveyed by the text.
Eye-catching type is much more persuasive than weak fonts that don’t reinforce the
message of the text.
Typography holds the attention of the readers

Good typography could be the difference between someone staying on your website for
one minute or half an hour.
It’s important that your website is visually stimulating and memorable, and typography
plays a huge role in this process.
3. The different elements of typography

To get started in typography, you first need to get to grips with the eight essential
typographical design elements.
Fonts and typefaces

There’s some confusion surrounding the difference between typefaces and fonts, with
many treating the two as synonymous.
A typeface is a design style which comprises a myriad of characters of varying sizes and
weight, whereas a font is a graphical representation of text character.
Put simply, a typeface is a family of related fonts, while fonts refer to the weights, widths,
and styles that constitute a typeface.

There are three basic kinds of typeface: serif, sans-serif, and decorative.
Here’s a visual example of each:

Serif
As the visual example above demonstrates, serif typefaces are identified by the extra
marks at the end of letters.
The addition of these small strokes and elements give serif fonts an air of tradition,
history, authority, and integrity.
It’s no surprise, then, that you’ll see this “classic” style used for newspaper titles, for
example, or for the font used in books.
Times New Roman, the Microsoft Word original font, is a serif font. It was replaced in
2007 by the sans-serif Calibri.
Sans-serif
Just like the name suggests, sans-serif typefaces as defined by what they lack.
Without serif’s more traditional strokes and dashes, the sans-serif font family is seen as
much more modern and bold. As a result, it’s clear to read and when used in headlines,
grabs your attention more than serifs.
The CareerFoundry logo, for example, as well as the font used in this blog article, is
sans-serif. Popular sans-serif fonts include Helvetica and Arial, which is the default font
when you start writing in a Google Doc.
Decorative
Again given away by its name, the function of this typeface is aesthetic more than
readable. As a result, you’re far more likely to see these used in brand names, logos,
and short titles.
Walk around your local grocery or toy store and you’ll see decorative fonts jumping out
at you from every shelf. Just imagine trying to read an entire article written in them!
Decorative typefaces are excellent for allowing the user to show off even more
personality, feeling, and uniqueness with their font choice.
Best UI practices for using fonts

It’s all well and good to know what is typography, but you also need to learn how to use
it effectively in context. This applies heavily to UI design.
To keep the interface uncluttered and streamlined, a good designer will never use more
than three fonts —and keep decorative fonts to a minimum.
Most
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sans-serif fonts, such as putting main body
text in a serif font and putting your title in a sans-serif font, or vice-versa.
Contrast
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contrast helps to Digital ideas or
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to your readers. Analytics Marketing Categories Design Design
Spending some time on contrast makes your text interesting, meaningful, and attention-
grabbing. Most designers create contrast by playing around with varying typefaces,
colors, styles, and sizes to create impact and break up the page.

Consistency
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When conveying information, it’s essential to stick to the same font style, so your readers
instantly understand what they’re reading, and begin to notice a pattern.
While it’s ok to play around with levels of hierarchy to some extent, it’s good practice to
establish a consistent hierarchy of typefaces (one consistent font for headers, another
for subheadings) and stick to it.
White space
Often referred to as “negative space,” white space is the space around text or graphics.
It’s often overlooked and tends to go unnoticed by the user, but proper use of white
space ensures the interface is uncluttered and the text is readable.
White space can even draw attention to the text and provides an overall aesthetically
pleasing experience. White space often takes the form of margins, padding, or just areas
with no text or graphics.

Alignment
Alignment is the process of unifying and composing text, graphics, and images to
ensure there is equal space, size, and distances between each element.
Many UI designers create margins to ensure that their logo, header, and body of the text
are aligned with each other.
When aligning your user interface, it’s good practice to pay attention to industry
standards. For example, aligning your text to the right will seem counterintuitive for
readers
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to right. Data Digital More UX UI
Color
Color is one of the most exciting elements of typography. This is where designers can
really get creative and elevate the interface to a new level.
Text color, however, is not to be taken lightly: nailing your font color can make the text
stand out and convey the tone of the message—but getting it wrong can result in a
messy interface and text that clashes with the site colors.
Color has three key components: value, hue, and saturation.
A good designer will know how to balance these three components to make the text
both eye-catching and clearly legible, even for those with visual impairments. Often,
designers will test this by viewing the text in greyscale (without color) and making tweaks
if the text is too dark or too light against the background color.
If you’d like to learn more about applying this effectively in design, check out our full
guide to color theory.
Hierarchy
Establishing hierarchy is one of the most vital principles of typography.
Typographical hierarchy aims to create a clear distinction between prominent pieces of

copy that should be noticed and read first, and standard text copy.
In an age of short attention spans brought about by social media, designers are urged
to be concise and create typefaces that allow users to consume the necessary
information in short amounts of time.

Hierarchy can be created using sizing, color, contrast, and alignment.
For example, if you have a line of copy with an exclamation mark icon at the beginning
that is in red and larger than the previous copy, this is a visual clue to the readers that
it’s a call to action.
The most typical example of typographical hierarchy is size: headings should always be
larger than subheadings and standard text.
4. How do you choose the right typeface for
your website?
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Design
UI
Design
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Now that we’ve familiarised ourselves with what is typography itself as well as its
elements, let’s talk about the process of picking typefaces for your interface.
Choosing a font for your website is a lot harder than it first seems.
With so many different fonts and typefaces to select from, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
Making the right choice depends on so much more than just seeing what looks nice.
Here are a few key considerations:
Think about personality

How do you want your users to feel when they first enter your website? Do you want to
emulate a friendly atmosphere?
Do you want the site to feel high-end, welcoming, playful, or serious?
It’s imperative that the typography reflects the personality of the brand or product. A
good starting point when faced with this challenge is to define the core traits of your
brand, and start to gather typefaces that reflect these traits.
From there, you can begin to notice a trend.
Reflect on tone
It’s equally important to consider how the font harmonizes with the tone of the message.
For example, if you want to convey serious or important information, choose a less
stylized or decorative font that is both clearly legible and will limit distraction.
Don’t skimp on function

Function is just as vital as form: there’s nothing worse than a website that looks pretty
but is entirely illegible, leading you to click the wrong button or take a wrong turn
because
UX the
UIinstructions
Web were unclear.
Data Digital More UX UI
When deciding what typefaces to include in your interface, set the style, aesthetic, and
voice aside and reflect on whether the font is legible, readable, and accessible.
Can the text be legible without strain? Are the characters distinct enough?
Consider performance
One thing that many designers often overlook is choosing typefaces that are web
browser-friendly.
Commonly used font libraries such as Google fonts offer web-based font files that can
be rendered perfectly in a browser without any issues.
Pro tip: when downloading web fonts, never download more character sets than you
need to. This way, you’ll avoid excess weight!
Get inspired
If you’re not sure where to start, take some time to see what other people are doing.
Open your eyes to the typography that you see around you.
Can you notice similar patterns? Can you see good and bad examples of typography?
Even following typography hashtags on social media or looking up typography on
Pinterest will give you some good ideas of what’s out there.
Check out this guide on UX Collective or Adobe XD’s typography blog article for further
guidance and inspiration.
Take some time to test

The best way to decipher which font to use for your interface? Test, test, test!
By gathering useful feedback from real users, you’ll get a clearer insight into what works,
what doesn’t, what is legible, and what feels counterintuitive or clunky.
In this video, Elizé Todd guides us through the key processes for typesetting and gives
us a hands-on tutorial in Adobe XD:
5. Conclusion
Typography is often overlooked, but it’s a crucial component of user interface design.
Mastering typography will see you well on your way to becoming a fantastic UI designer!
If you’re not sure where to start, why not head to your favorite websites and start making
a note of what typefaces they’ve gone for.
Keen to learn more about UI design? Check out these related blog posts:
10 examples of beautiful blogs that have nailed their UI design

32 user interface elements for UI designers: your ultimate glossary
Here’s how to design an icon from scratch: a step-by-step guide
FAQ
Typography is the art of arranging letters and text in a way that makes the copy legible,
clear, and visually appealing to the reader. Typography involves font style, appearance,
and structure, which aims to elicit certain emotions and convey specific messages. In
short, typography is what brings the text to life.
Typography can be dated back to the 11th century, during the innovation of movable
type. Before the digital age, typography was a specialized craft associated with books
and magazines, and eventually public works. The first example of typography can be
seen in the Gutenberg Bible, which kick-started a typography revolution in the West. Fun
fact: the style of type used in the Gutenberg Bible is now known as Textura, and you’ll
find it in the font drop-down menu on major desktop applications today.
Good typography will establish a strong visual hierarchy, provide a graphic balance to
the website, and set the product’s overall tone. Typography should guide and inform
your users, optimize readability and accessibility, and ensure an excellent user
experience. Not only will good typography enhance the website’s personality, but your
users will subliminally begin to associate the typeface featured on your site with your
brand.
3. How do you choose the right typeface for your website?
The typeface you choose for your website depends on how you want your users to feel
when they first enter your website. Do you want to emulate a friendly atmosphere? Do
you want the site to feel high-end, welcoming, playful, or serious? It’s imperative that the
typography reflects the personality of the brand or product.
A good starting point when faced with this challenge is to define the core traits of your
brand and start to gather typefaces that reflect these traits. From there, you can begin to
notice a trend. It’s equally important to consider how the font harmonizes with the tone
of the message. For example, if you want to convey serious or important information,
choose a less stylized or decorative font that is both clearly legible and will limit
distraction.
What You Should Do Now

1. Get a hands-on introduction to UI design and design your very first app screen with a
free, self-paced UI Design Short Course.
2. Take part in one of our FREE live online UI design events with industry experts, and
read about UI graduate Florian’s career change to product design.
3. Become a qualified UI designer in just 4-9 months—complete with a job guarantee.
4. This month, we’re offering reduced tuition to the first 100 applicants—worth up to
$1,370 off all our career-change programs To secure your spot, speak to one of our
advisors today!
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Jaye Hannah
Jaye Hannah is a freelance content writer and strategist, based between London and Lisbon.
She's worked in EdTech for over five years, inspiring career changers on their journey into tech.
When she's not writing, you'll find her whipping up new recipes in the kitchen.
 
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Design Design Development Analytics Marketing Categories Design Design

What Is Typography, and Why Is It

Ready? Let’s dive in!

A brief history of typography

2. Why is typography important?

Let’s delve a little deeper into why typography is so important.

Typography builds brand recognition

Typography influences decision making

Typography holds the attention of the readers

3. The different elements of typography

Fonts and typefaces

We use cookies to enhance your browsing and learning experience,

Here’s a visual example of each:

We use cookies to enhance your browsing and learning experience,

Best UI practices for using fonts

We use cookies to enhance your browsing and learning experience,

We use cookies to enhance your browsing and learning experience,

Color has three key components: value, hue, and saturation.

Typographical hierarchy aims to create a clear distinction between prominent pieces of

We use cookies to enhance your browsing and learning experience,

Hierarchy can be created using sizing, color, contrast, and alignment.

Think about personality

Do you want the site to feel high-end, welcoming, playful, or serious?

From there, you can begin to notice a trend.

Don’t skimp on function

Take some time to test

10 examples of beautiful blogs that have nailed their UI design

2. Why is typography important?

3. How do you choose the right typeface for your website?

What You Should Do Now

3. Become a qualified UI designer in just 4-9 months—complete with a job guarantee.

This article is part of:

UI Design All articles o

Related UI Design Articles

Style Tiles: Everything You Game UI Design: Everything

Wondering Why UI Design Is a

We use cookies to enhance your browsing and learning experience,

PROGRAMS TO CHANGE YOUR CAREER COMPANY

Voice User Interface Design

We'd love to hear from you!

Connect with a program advisor

TERMS AND CONDITIONS | PRIVACY POLICY | IMPRINT | SECURITY

We use cookies to enhance your browsing and learning experience,

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