Importance of Font Pairing in Web Design

In the world of website design, fonts are like your kidneys: You don’t notice them until they’re not working right, then they can become a major problem. The literal handwriting of the Internet, a good font can make a website soar while a bad font can lead to some irreversible problems. Font pairing is a good way to make your fonts pop out, making your website or blog more visually interesting and thus driving your readership up.  

Anyone who’s had any sort of document program has at one point or another messed around with the font setting. Trying out something that looks like cursive, then something gothic, and finally trying the weird one that turns everything into hearts and squares. When designing your website though, what’s the right way to go? First instinct may be to just leave it as is, usually in a Calibri or Arial font, which is fine. It’s legible, clear and does its job. 

To move into the more creative aspects though, you may try to pair a traditional font with something more cartoonish or differently shaped. Mess with the title of your blog post in something fun like Algerian or Matura, then pair it with a more basic font for your main content. In website design, it’s perfectly acceptable to try something bold. Search the Internet for fonts you’ve never seen before. There are literally millions of fonts online that some people have never even used before, many made by specialist artists who spend their entire lives designing the letters of the alphabet.

Along with the do’s there are of course a few don’ts. The biggest key to fonts is legibility. A reader isn’t going to waste their time squinting at their screen for half an hour trying to determine the difference between a K and a Z. It’s usually best to bring in some outside help that hasn’t read the content to see if they can accurately interpret what you’re trying to say. If they struggle in any way it’s time to change. 

Your website design needs to appeal to the reader, not be the visual equivalent to the Las Vegas strip after a head injury. Keep your colors and font sizes consistent. Keep in mind that the eye is drawn to the most visually intense thing on the page, so reserve different sizing and coloring to each font you have paired. Mixing and matching will only confuse the reader and send them out of your website. 

Joe Meyere writes for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. He/She writes for many other clients as well. Follow on Twitter