Oh fonts, we’ve all struggled to find the perfect font for our design.
Fonts play a big part, it could sway the direction of our design response positively or negatively.
For example, designing an app for the elderly. Using thin & narrow fonts could be trouble for the elderly as they might not be able to see the fonts clearly.
Yes, it might look aesthetically better, but does it fit the users that are going to use the app? When choosing a font, we need to look at a few factors such as:
- The requirements of the project
- The targeted audience
- The design style
Using a font just based on its aesthetics but not in consideration of the listed factors will result in an app that is might be hardly utilised by the targeted audience.
However, even though you chose a font that is thicker and has a better readability for the elderly, it does not mean that the target audience will all be utilising the app. It could increase the probability but it is not guaranteed.
There are many other elements that can affect that, such as the user experience, the graphics and even, personal preferences.
“It is impossible to find the perfect font that will please your entire target audience ”
We as designers should pick fonts that serve a purpose to our audience more than basing it on just aesthetics.
After all, we want it to function more than being just a pretty typeface.
Resources
We all know the struggles of finding fonts, here are some links which I use to help me in my font journey!
Unsure of what font is being used? This applicator will help you identify the closest matches to the font by just scanning through the image where the font is present Best results for images with fonts that are not pixelated.
Dafont has a wide range of fonts be it for personal use or commercial use.
Finding a suitable web font? Google fonts simple interface makes it easy to sort or filter to find the desired font you need, also pairing! When you select the font and scroll down, you will be able to find a section called “Popular Pairings…”. There you will be able to preview how the font will look like with other fonts. This is a great tool to check out if the two fonts you selected is suitable
This is a treasure hunt of fonts, most of the fonts here sourced from different parts of the web. So just keep scrolling you might find just the font you need! That being said, since it is links from all over the web, be sure to check if the font is for personal or commercial use.
The fonts found here needs to be purchased. However, the site has a “Free Goods” section where they offer 6 free goods such as textures/fonts/illustrations every week for free to download. Be sure to create an account so that you are able to download the free goodies! Also, one great thing about Creativemarket is that you will be able to see what you have purchased or downloaded, so you will always have a cloud copy without worrying about losing the links or losing the files.
