How to choose perfect font palettes

Knowing how to use fonts effectively doesn’t need to be a daunting task.

When used with purpose, style and attention, fonts can make a design stand out, convey a brand clearly and get a message to jump off the page. Mastering the art of fonts is crucial for design success so take these tips about how to use fonts effectively.

First up, don’t confuse your serif, sans serif, and script.

Serif:A letter or character with an extra stroke, line or flourish at the ends

Sans serif:A letter or character without the extra flourish at the ends (sans means ‘without’)

Script:A letter with fluid stroke like cursive writing

Second up, know where and when to use them:

• Always choose an easy-to-read font for body text. Generally, sans-serif is easier to read on a screen while a serif (particularly a Roman typeface) is easier to read in print.

Typographic hierarchy refers to the order that text is read. The eye is naturally drawn to large or dominant elements, so choose the largest font size for the most important message—the title—followed by the subtitle and body text.

Remember, some fonts look better in short sentences and some fonts work better for paragraphs and each font has a different width, height, thickness, style, and size.

Get the look with these templates:Band Flyer⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and Colorful Blocks Spring Promotional Poster⁠(opens in a new tab or window)

Fonts come in different shapes and sizes. Using one font family and making use of size, style and uppercase and lowercase can create contrasting titles and subtitles.

The fonts in the Weekender image have contrast with lower case text for the heading and uppercase text for the subtitle. Font size enhances this contrast.

The font Raleway has been used in two different styles in the Rainforests image:heavy for the title and regular for the subtitle.

Get the look with these templates:Red-tinted Cherry Blossoms Poster⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and Church Sermon Pastor Flyer⁠(opens in a new tab or window)

Titles with all capital letters can really make your message stand out. They look elegant for short blurbs, titles and subtitles but a paragraph in all-caps can be difficult to read.

Note that script and more elaborate fonts shouldn’t be used as all-caps, so use sentence case and lowercase letters when using those fonts.

Get the look with these templates:Orange Microphone Talent Show Flyer and Pink⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and Black Grunge Creative Wattpad Book Cover⁠(opens in a new tab or window)

Readability is essential for any design, especially for longer sections of text. Avoid using elaborate (script) fonts or uppercase letters for body, as it can strain the eye. Save these options for titles or headings.

The graphic above uses a (subtle) serif font for the block of text and sans serif font the line underneath. Both are very readable. Using a white font over a dark background increases the readability.

Get the look with these templates:Cream Illustrated Flowers Summer Quote Instagram Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and Quote on Defining Goal X (Twitter) Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window)

Play with the size of letters and the spaces in between for alignment and to create blocks of text.

In this image, size and spacing have been adjusted so the text forms a rectangle shape and creates a geometric block of text.

A font should always enhance the message (or vibe) you are trying to convey; and pairing up fonts with different personalities will catch people’s attention.

For example, Yellowtail, a cursive font, suits the fun and casual content of the Waffles graphic. Raleway has been used for the subtitle to create balance.

Here are four more fonts that have a personality:

Be elegant and sophisticated with a script or italicized font or an old style or calligraphic font.

Examples include:Parisienne (pictured), Euphoria, Allura, Great Vibes.

Have fun with a font with lively, recognizable or slightly retro characters.

Examples include:Lobster (pictured), Cody Star, Londrina Sketch, Sniglet.

Be cool with an on-trend or timeless geometric sans-serif font.

Examples include:Anton (pictured), Helvetica,Archivo Narrow, Racing Sans One.

Chill out with relaxed serif or italicized font, or a font with has a sense of being hand drawn.

Examples include:Yellowtail (pictured), Sacramento, Pacifico, Satisfy.

Get the look with these templates:Yellow and Black Vintage Beauty Logo⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and White and Pink Strikeout Cosmetics Beauty Logo⁠(opens in a new tab or window)

Different fonts will appeal to different audiences so always think about who the design is for. For example, Economica might be too serious for a children’s birthday party but Crafty Girls is too young for an office memo⁠(opens in a new tab or window). Remember that fonts can set the tone for design.

Get the look with these templates:White and Brown Minimalist Farmer's Market Poster⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and Green Border Variety of Fruits Raffle Flyer⁠(opens in a new tab or window)

Ascenders are the rising stems of lower case letters (such as b, d and h) and descenders are the downward tails of lower case letters (such as g, p, and q). The create gaps and spaces you can have fun with such as filling these spaces with subtitles or small lines of text can enhance the way your design is presented.

There are rules when it comes to using fonts, but then again, rules are made to be broken. So remember the font fundamentals and then get creative have some font fun.