How to Choose the Right Fonts for Your eCommerce site

Apr 7, 2022

Your store online is constructed by a range of components that range from colors and the logo, as well as the way you use language and the caliber of your customer service. It also is a part of the fonts. Fonts are a major component of that.

The fonts you choose to put on your website could be a significant factor in creating the look and feeling of your brand which is professional, playful and serious for instance. Additionally, they play a vital role in providing the most enjoyable experience for your visitors, including people with disabilities in their vision.

However, how do you choose the best fonts to use to the maximum extent possible?

An introduction to typefaces and fonts

Stop to take a break for just a few minutes. Many of you are acquainted with fonts like Times New Roman, Helvetica as well as the much-banned Comic Sans. But what are they, exactly?

The term "typeface" refers to typeface is the digital representation of text with a range of different styles. For instance, Helvetica has 36 different styles, such as:

  • Helvetica Light (the thin version)
  • Helvetica Oblique (the italicized version)
  • Helvetica Bold (the bold version)
  • Helvetica Black (an even thicker more bold version)
  • Helvetica Condensed (a version with letters that are closer together)
  • Helvetica Rounded (a version with the letters round)

It is an typeface that that is extremely specific that has exact weights and designs. Thus, Helvetica Bold is a font. Helvetica is a typeface. To make this piece this piece, we'll employ the words "typeface" as well as "font" in conjunction.

There are four major styles of fonts you can choose from and you can combine and mix them to give the perfect look for your site.

Serif fonts contain extra strokes that are added to particular letters, in contrast, the Sans Serif fonts do not contain these strokes. Below are some illustrations of letters with and without serifs below:

serif and sans serif fonts compared

The majority of serif fonts tend to be more classic and are an an excellent approach to show knowledge and trustworthiness. They are also simpler to read, because the serifs make each letter distinct in its own way. Serif-style fonts like Sans Serif are simple and feel more accessible than their counterparts. It's still easy and simple to read even in huge volumes of text.

The script and handwritten fontsclosely seem like handwriting and can be very elaborate. Certain fonts are more readable than othersand vary widely in their style. Here are a few examples

script font vs. handwritten font

You can clearly see that the first is more elegant, while the other looks very welcoming.

Display fontsare extremely diverse and include anything that could be considered ornamental. They are different in their appearance and feel. However, generally are used for creating titles. Here are three examples of display fonts:

examples of several display fonts

They don't look very appealing, do they? However, they're an excellent way to establish brand feel.

How to choose and implement the right fonts

Now that we've established some of the basics, let's take a take a look at some helpful suggestions for selecting the most suitable fonts for your business.

1. Consider legibility

The entire point of text is to ensure that it is understood, so legibility is the most important aspect to consider when selecting a font. After all, if people can't understand your content and aren't able to understand the services you provide or learn more about your business or even make an order!

The body text you write should make use of Serif or sans serif fonts since they allow people to comprehend huge blocks or paragraphs of text. Keep script and display fonts used for headings. In any event, ensure that they're easy to read.

The second thing you should think about is spacing between your text. There are three main space considerations to be aware of

  1. Kerning An amount that is left between the words. Correct kerning will ensure that every word is legible to be read in its unique way, and that one word doesn't appear like two.
  2. Leaping: A distance that separates two paragraphs of text. The proper led of a paragraph will make the text more accessible.
  3. Tracking Controls the letter spacing for words as a unit and not just for particular characters. Instead of changing the space between "t" in the word "this" and "h" in the word "this" it's best to change the spacing between four letters at the same time.

This is an illustration of every one of these:

illustration of tracking, kerning, and leading

The ideal spacing between words and lines will make it easier for readers to read, specifically when they are in paragraph form. Be assured that knowing more about this is enjoyable! There are excellent games online that will give you a chance to training.

2. Think about brand name

Your brand's character is what makes you stand out. Your personality is the character of your company. Your fonts will convey the company's personality to prospective customers and customers who are already in the market.

What kind of feeling are you hoping to instill for your visitors on your site? Inspiring and entertaining? Dependable and reliable? Elegant and sophisticated? This article will examine the different methods that several websites use fonts to convey their style.

Scratch Pet Foods font usage

Scratch Pet Food has a brand that's super friendly and the fonts they use reflect this. The fonts are extra aggressive sans serif to highlight headlines and a lighter sans serif for body text.

flor fonts on their homepage

FLWR is the title of an art studio that creates floral designs and also the name of a design studio. Because they design floral designs specifically for special occasions like weddings, it makes sense that their fonts should look elegant and stylish. They mix a modern serif and a thin sans serif for a unique style that is complimented by their wedding bouquets.

Ryanair professional fonts

Ryanair's corporate website is it's true, corporate and their fonts are a reflection of that. They chose variants that use the same, professional font for both the headlines and body text. The font looks professional and doesn't appear to be suffocating.

Do you realize that the three businesses make use of fonts to express what they would like their customers to experience upon hearing their brand name? The same thing happens. Don't be afraid to try different kinds of fonts too, until you find the perfect design.

3. Stick to just a couple of fonts

It's tempting, however, to include any of the incredible fonts you can find into your website, but it is best to restrict yourself to just a handful of. If not, your website could look disorganized and dispersed all across the web or cause a jarring experience for customers.

If you are choosing fonts, try using them in different contexts to test their performance. A single font might be suitable for headings, and one can be utilized to write body text. There are many variants of fonts -- for example, all caps or bold - for an individual font, while remaining within the identical font family.

Stroopwaffels website with custom fonts

Daelmans ' Stroopwafels is an illustration. It uses the same font for headlines and also in body content. They employ a bold all-caps style to write their headlines and a lighter one to write body text. In order to give their website some personality, they often employ a script font that complements the caramel used in their offerings. This script, when used sparingly, is effective at bringing attention to the most important concepts and creating the site appear distinct and authentic.

Scrollino website with unique fonts

Scrollino is a shop that sells kids' items, uses a super easy and enjoyable serif font for their headers. The font is paired with simple, clean sans serif body text which gives it a lovely and fun feel.

4. Make sure you choose the appropriate size font

It's essential that the font is big enough for site visitors to be able to read, even for those who have visual impairments. In general, 16px is the size you must use, though that can vary based on the font. Some fonts, for instance, can be difficult to read at a smaller size.

If you can, get someone who is a real person to read the text and determine how easy it is to understand. Make sure to review your text across every kind, including tablets, desktops, and mobile phones. Software like Screenfly assist in making the task much more simple.

Heggerty uses friendly fonts on their site

Heggerty, the company that provides courses as well as other resources for education, utilizes very large fonts. Although they're not huge enough that they completely dominate style, they're clean and easy to read on all devices.

5. Be aware of accessibility

Another thing you should consider is ensuring that your text is large enough to be read, but not overly complicated, as we've talked about earlier. You should also think about the contrast of colors. Make sure that your text is easily read regardless of what background it's placed it on, no matter whether it's a solid color pattern or picture.

Contrast ratio ranges from 1:1 (white on white) up to 21:1 (black on white). The best the contrast ratio you're looking for in text is 7:1 when it comes to body text and 4.5:1 for headlines. headlines. You can use the Tool for Accessibility WAVE to analyze your site to determine the color contrast ratios and other accessibility elements.

good font color contrast

Track 7 Brewing does a great job in achieving a high-quality color contrast when viewed against background that is dark. The homepage of their site employ either bright or white orange text so that it is distinct from their dark background.

6. Do not use caps when writing paragraphs.

Although all caps are excellent for making a point however they are difficult to read in large texts. The brain has a hard time understanding text written in capital letters even when it's presented in paragraph form. It makes reading more difficult and slow.

Veer website using all caps in headlines

So, if you want to utilize all caps, use it sparingly and only in headlines. This is what Veer does by using all capital letters. can be very effective in making a point and bringing people to their website However, they do not employ them in paragraphs.

What are the web-safe fonts?

Fonts load and display in browsers differently across the web. Safe fonts for web are those that are beautiful and function flawlessly across all browsers and on every device. Even though you do not want to avoid the amazing custom fonts you chose for your brand however, it is important to include safe web options to your font collection -which is the font collection that you use for your website.

Doing this essentially sets the default font of your online store, and allows the full power to choose how your content will appear if in some way the font you have created won't be able to load to visitors. You can, for instance, inform browsers that you want to use Playfair for your font if it isn't on the market, Georgia if Playfair isn't an option, or a default serif font in the instance that none are available.

Kinsta offers some excellent tips about how to add the fonts used for backup which are suitable for internet use on your site.

How do you find fonts are suitable for use on your site

How can you find the most appropriate fonts to use for your online shop? First thing you should do is to ensure you have the right legal permission to make use of the options that you select to use. There are fonts available that can be downloaded for free, while some come with premium prices which are appropriate for any use, while other are free onlyfor private use. Take the time to understand how the license works on your fonts.

Here are some fantastic websites fonts to use:

  • Google Fonts: Google Fonts has an extensive collection of fonts, which are available for free to use for commercial and personal purposes. They also offer software to view fonts in action.
  • Your theme The vast majority of WordPress themes have libraries of fonts, sometimes from sources like Google fonts. They are used to construct your site.
  • Creative Market A marketplace online that allows you to purchase digital resources Creative Market offers some really beautiful, unique fonts that come in many styles.
  • Font Squirrel The resource categorizes types of fonts based on categories and lets you preview them. But, you should be aware that certain fonts are only meant for use by the user. So make sure you are aware of the kind of font you're downloading.
  • Adobe Fonts These fonts are of premium quality for businesses who are holders of Creative Cloud licenses.

Change the font on your site

When you've picked the fonts you want to use, now is the time to incorporate them into your website. There are three primary options to apply them:

1. Create your own design

Like we said, many themes come with a collection of fonts. Many themes let you apply the fonts you wish to use on your website through their individual settings panel. Additionally, you are able to install these fonts by using the WordPress Customizer.

  1. In the WordPress Dashboard, click the Appearance tab and then Customize.
  2. Select the Option to Fontsoption.
  3. Click the dropdown menu for each type of text -such as Headings or Base Font and the list goes on. -- and select a font. When you update your font, the display of your site will be updated to let you see how it will look like prior to using the new font.

The Customizer are able to modify the font styles (bold or italicized.) and font size.

2. Use a plugin

If the theme you're using doesn't have fonts, or even the ones you'd like to use, then the easiest option is to install the plugin. There's a myriad of options , but when you're looking to use a Google font, WordPress Google Fonts is an excellent choice. It lets you use the entire Google Fonts library, then lets you apply specific fonts across different areas of your site, like headings, paragraphs, as well as lists.

If you're looking to install the font that you would like to utilize from a different source, consider using it with the custom fonts plugin. You are able to upload your personal fonts as well as incorporate them with themes of other popularity and web builders for a simpler setup.

3. Make use of a customized code

If you're familiar working with computers, there are two additional alternatives:

  1. Host fonts on your own website , and then apply the codes to apply them to text areas
  2. Install the fonts downloaded from an outside source (like Google Fonts) and allow them to be used

For additional information and directions For further details and instructions check out this blog post by Kinsta.

Explore your creativity But remember that simple is the greatest

Have fun with your fonts! Design your own distinctive branding and pick fonts that represent the personality of your business. Yet, at the you should remember that simplicity is usually the best method to take. Choose fonts that are simple to read, and try not to be overloaded by more than five options. The reader should be the primary concern.

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