Typography Is Typical - and Topical

Typography is the art of arranging type and using type in design. It used to be that web designers had pretty limited fonts and font families that they could use. Arial, Verdana and Helvetica were pretty much all you had to work with if you were a web designer. Recently, though, more and more fonts have become web friendly and designers now have a plethora of fonts to choose from.

This does, however, present the same problem that all design elements have: just because you have the ability to use something new and flashy doesn't mean you should. 

A good general rule for typography on the web is to use what is already readable and eligible. Look at the fonts you read on a daily basis. If they are easily readable to you, chances are good they will be to everyone else also. If you look at the two images below, you can see that the readability of one is vastly better than the other:

Another golden rule that is often lost is one that I've blogged about already - contrast. Light type on a white background or red type on a black background is just plain difficult to read. A different way of looking at contrast is using two different typefaces on the same page. Two different fonts can look great together and make the title or message of your page stand out. Take a look at the title on the Bobulate website.The logo contains two different typefaces but it looks sharp and clean because the fonts work together and don't clash.

Basically, what you have to remember is to use typography to enhance your website and message and not use a new font just for the sheer novelty of it.