Google fonts offer an entire library of free web fonts to choose from. Great! But what happens when you actually scroll through that list of 650 options? Eyes glaze over, fonts start blending together, and you might just pick a font that starts with ‘A’ so you don’t have to scroll down any further (maybe that’s how Arial got so popular…)But it doesn’t have to be that way. Choosing fonts can be fun rather than overwhelming. This Jimdo Tip will go through some of the basic ideas behind successful font combinations, and also provide a list of resources where you can find Google font pairings you like. How many different fonts does your website need? We usually recommend choosing 2-3 fonts.
Body/Paragraph text You can’t fail with a sans-serif font here that’s very easy to read, especially in smaller sizes. Steer clear of cursive or all-caps fonts, which get tough to read in more than a few words. Typekit Font layout found in Typecast, an easy way to special leads experiment with web fonts headings Here you can use something more decorative or fun because you’ll only use it for short pieces of text. You could also use an all-caps font. Choosing a unique font here can help add a bit of flair to your website design. Navigation menus You can repeat one of your first two fonts here, or choose a third complementary font. Just remember that your navigation menus must be easy to read, so we recommend steering away from cursive or overly-stylized fonts.
Like with your headings, you can use an all-caps font here. For more information on the difference between serif, sans-serif, and decorative fonts (and recommendations for all of them), check out the article, “Guide to Google Web Fonts“. Can’t you just use the same font everywhere? Lukas Haider’s portfolio, which only uses the font “Dia” You can. Ultimately there’s nothing wrong with a simple, minimal website, and you can differentiate your headings and body text using different sizes and colors. That said, using 2-3 different fonts is a nice way to add some personality and visual interest to your site. Different fonts help develop a sense of consistency and hierarchy throughout your web pages. Just like street signs, different fonts used consistently will act as signposts to your users, so they can quickly scan a page and know what type of information they are looking at.