You want your blog to look professional, but you don’t know how to choose the perfect font for your new blog. Fonts are an important part of any blog design, but it can be hard to know which fonts will look good together and which ones will work for your content. I’m here to help. In this post, I’ll describe the basics of typography so that you can choose the right blog font. I’ll also give you tips for using fonts effectively in your blog posts and show you some resources for finding free and premium fonts. Let’s get started!
The Basics of Typography.
Font topography is the study of how fonts look. It helps you choose the right font for your new blog. and makes sure that it looks good with the other fonts you use.
Serif fonts are fonts that have little lines on the ends of their letters. They can be used for titles or headings, and they make text look more professional.
A sans-serif font is a font without any lines on the ends of its letters. They are often used for body text because they are easier to read than serif fonts.
Decorative font styles are fonts that are designed to be decorative rather than readable. They can also be used for headings or titles, but they should not be used for body text. Any decorative font for your new blog should be used sparingly because they can be distracting and difficult to read. Typically they would be used at a larger size (to make them easier to read). They are also often used in a dropcaps.
A dropcap is a font that is used at the beginning of a paragraph to make it look different than the rest of the text.
Script fonts are fonts that look like handwriting. They can be used for titles or headings, but they should not be used for body text. Script fonts should be used sparingly because they can be distracting and difficult to read.
When picking a font for your new blog, it’s important to use a font that will be easy to see on different devices. That’s why it’s a good idea to use a web safe font.
Before delving into font selection, it’s important to keep in mind the size of the font – I’m refering to the file size.
Why?
Any font you select that is not already installed on your visitor’s web browser, will need to be downloaded. When you choose any type of font for your new blog, you need to think about how big the files are. That’s because if the font files are too large, they will slow down your website’s load speed. That’s not good because people want websites to load quickly. (And slow load speed is also bad for SEO).
Choosing the Right Font for Your Blog.
When it comes to selecting a font for your new blog, there are a few basic principles you should keep in mind.
First, consider the purpose of your blog. Is it a personal blog where you’ll be sharing your thoughts and experiences? Or is it a professional blog where you’ll be sharing industry news and insights?
The font you choose should reflect the purpose of your blog.
If you’re creating a personal blog, you’ll want to choose a font that is easy to read and has a friendly tone. A sans serif font like Open Sans or Roboto would be a good choice.
If you’re creating a professional blog, you’ll want to choose a font that conveys seriousness and authority. A serif font like Times New Roman or Georgia would be a good choice.
You should also consider the tone of your blog. Is it a fun and light-hearted blog? Or is it a more serious and formal blog? The font you choose should match the tone of your blog.
For a fun and light-hearted blog, you could choose a font with a quirky or playful style. For a more serious blog, you could choose a font with a classic or traditional style.
Another thing to keep in mind is the readability of your font. You’ll want to choose a font for your new blog that is easy to read, both on desktop and mobile devices. That means avoiding font styles that are too small or too light.
Once you’ve considered the purpose, tone, and readability of your font, you can start looking at specific font choices. There are thousands of fonts to choose from, so it’s important to narrow down your options.
One way to do that is to look at font families. A font family is a group of fonts with different styles (such as regular, bold, and italic) but the same basic design. That means they will all work well together.
Some popular font families include:
- Open Sans
- Roboto
- Times New Roman
- Georgia
- Arial
Once you’ve selected a font family, you can start looking at specific font choices within that family.
When it comes to font size, you’ll want to choose a size that is large enough to be easy to read, but not so large that it’s distracting. A good practice is to use a font size that is between 16px and 24px.
And finally, when it comes to font color, you’ll want to choose a color that is easy to see against the background of your blog. It’s better to use a light font color on a dark background and a dark font color on a light background.
Now that you know how to actually choose a good font for your new blog, it’s time to put it to use
How to Use Fonts Effectively in Your Blog Posts.
Fonts can be used effectively in your blog posts to convey a specific tone or mood. For example, you could use a font with a playful style for a light-hearted blog or a font with a classic style for a more serious blog.
You can also use fonts to create emphasis. For example, you could use a bold font for headings and italic font for quotes. But… Remember that headings use tags (H1 – H6) and they most always are “bolded” already.
Note: H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 are all HTML tags that designate headings of different levels of importance. H1 is the most important, H2 is less important than H1, and so on. (Every blog post should have only one H1 tag).
Another thing to keep in mind is how much text you want to set in bold or italics. Too much text in bold or italics can make your blog post difficult to read. It’s a good practise to use no more than two or three words in bold or italics at a time.
You can also use fonts to add visual interest to your blog post. For example, you could use a different font for the title, subheadings, and body text. This will help break up the text and make it easier to read.
When selecting fonts for your new blog posts, it’s important to keep the purpose, tone, and readability of the font in mind. You’ll also want to choose a font size and color that are easy to see against the background of your blog post.
And finally, you’ll want to use different fonts sparingly so that they don’t distract from the content of your blog post. Too many different types of fonts look messy, disorganized, and unprofessional.
Ideally, a good web page should only load two or three (at most) different fonts. Too many different fonts simply won’t cut it.
Tips for Choosing Fonts When Designing a Blog or Creating Blog Graphics.
When you are creating a blog layout or making blog graphics, there are some things to think about when choosing a font for your new blog.
- You want to pick a font that reflects the tone of your blog and is easy to read.
- Again, you don’t want to use too many different fonts at once, or they will look messy.
- Use font sizes and colors that are easy to against the background of your blog post.
- Ensure the font is easy to read (that there is enough contrast between the blog and the background).
- Try to stick with a font that would normally be installed in web browsers.
- Ensure the fonts you select pair well together.
These are the most common pairings I’ve seen, that work well:
- Arial & Times New Roman
- Arial & Georgia
- Open Sans & Roboto
- Times New Roman & Georgia
If you’re looking for resources to help you pair fonts, below are some of the better ones I’ve used in the past:
When you’ve finalized the font for your new blog, you’ll want to ensure that there is a minimal site load speed impact. For WordPress users, this becomes easy.
OMFG plugin: Several of my clients use this plugin: OMGF | GDPR/DSVGO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. What it does is leverage Browser Cache to reduce DNS lookups and requests, as well as reducing Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
DNS lookup is when the computer looks up the location of a website’s address, so that it can get the files and display the website.
A blog’s cumulative layout shift (CLS) is when the text and images on a page are not aligned correctly. This makes it hard to read and look at the page. The shift part is when something else get’s loaded (such as a font), causing elements to move (shift) on the displayed page.
WP Rocket plugin: Another exceptional plugin is WP Rocket. It includes a preload feature where you can upload your fonts to your own website, and this plugin can then access and preload those fonts.
Resources for Finding Free and Premium Fonts.
Often premium fonts can be better than free fonts because they often tend to be more unique and have better quality. However, free fonts can also be high quality and unique if you know where to look. Personally, I believe for the majority of us, using a font for your new blog is a good solution.
So it really depends on your specific needs. Some of the best places to find free fonts are:
If you’re looking for premium fonts, some good places to start are:
Just to remind… WordPress users can use one of the above plugins to preload those fonts (directly from your own blog), which will improve how fast your blog fonts load for visitors.
A Font for Your New Blog Checklist.
To simplify the above, below are the most common issues I see:
- Fonts being too small.
- Fonts displaying too large.
- Fonts not easy to read against background color.
- Using too many different fonts.
- Fonts not commonly installed in web browsers.
- Fonts that don’t pair well with other fonts.
- Fonts that impact site load speed negatively.
- Fonts being loaded from a third party website.
And… Here’s what we all should be ensuring:
- Fonts should be easy to read.
- Fonts should reflect the tone of your blog.
- Font size and color should be easy to see against background.
- Fonts should be a common fonts that is installed in web browsers.
- Fonts should pair well with other fonts on the page.
- Fonts should be loaded from your own blog.
- Fonts shouldn’t impact site load speed negatively.
Conclusion.
When choosing a font for your new blog, you’ll want to make sure that it is easy to read against the background color and that there is enough contrast between them. Where possible you’ll also want to choose a font that is commonly installed in web browsers and pairs well with other fonts on the page. If you’re looking for free fonts, be sure to avoid loading fonts from third-party websites as they can often slow down your blog’s load speed. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different fonts, to see which has the most beneficial impact for your audience.
You can learn much more about blog design, by visiting our Blogs and Blogging posts. As well as find out further about Blog Design in particular.