Typography Standards

Typography is not an aesthetic choice. It is an accessibility filter. We obsess over inclusive language, yet we ignore inclusive design. We demand people bring their whole selves to work, then hand them documents their brains cannot process. If your strategy document is written in 10 point Times New Roman, fully justified, on a stark white background. You have statistically locked out a massive portion of your workforce before they read the first word. You are not sharing information. You are creating cognitive friction. Corporate documents often act as a dense, impenetrable canopy. Good typography is the trellis that actually supports the reader. Here are 9 ways to build an inclusive visual trellis for your team. 1/ The Serif Ban → The Rule: Default to sans serif fonts like Arial or Lexend. → The Impact: Removes decorative visual noise that exhausts dyslexic readers. 2/ Strict Left Alignment → Rule: Never use justified text. Always align flush left. → Impact: Creates a consistent visual anchor and prevents distracting rivers of white space. 3/ The Contrast Shift → Rule: Use dark grey text on an off white background instead of pure black on pure white. → Impact: Prevents the strobe effect and reduces sensory fatigue. 4/ The 1.5 Spacing → Rule: Set line spacing to 1.5. → Impact: Breaks up the dense wall of text to prevent accidental line skipping. 5/ The Emphasis Strategy → Rule: Use bold weight for emphasis. Avoid italics and underlines. → Impact: Italics deform letter shapes and underlines cut through descending letters, causing cognitive strain. 6/ The Format Reset → Rule: Always paste as plain text to prevent mixed font styles. → Impact: Stops the ransom note effect that distracts the nervous system. 7/ The Agency Protocol → Rule: Share editable documents instead of locked PDFs whenever possible. → Impact: Allows the user to change the font, size, and background to fit their own visual ecosystem. 8/ CamelCase Hashtags → Rule: Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag. → Impact: Ensures screen reading software can actually pronounce the words correctly (#InclusiveDesign). 9/ Descriptive Hyperlinks → Rule: Write descriptive links instead of just saying click here. → Impact: Provides navigational safety and context before the user leaves the current environment. Typography is policy. If your team has to spend energy decoding your message, they have no energy left to understand it. There are so many more nuances we could add here. What is one typography barrier you wish would permanently disappear from corporate communications?

Bad typography kills good design. That’s my biggest lesson after 10+ years designing. Here are 10 principles and tips that will instantly improve your work: 1/ Font styles Fonts carry emotion. Make sure your typography aligns with your brand’s tone. Whether you’re going for modern or playful, the right font sets the mood for the entire design. Pick ones that align with the brand story you're telling. 2/ Size & hierarchy Use 3-4 font sizes per section, maximum, to avoid overcrowding your design. Use a type scale to maintain consistency. Use headings that are minimum 2-3x your body text size. A clear hierarchy will guide readers through your content effortlessly. 3/ Font weight Font weight differentiates importance without adding visual clutter. Stick to 3-4 font steps in weight. Remember: reducing opacity also reduces perceived weight. Good rule of thumb: - headings: 600-700 - body: 400-500 - supporting text: 300-400 4/ Text contrast Create high contrast between text and background. Minimum WCAG AA: 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text. Run A11y plugin before you ship. Low contrast looks "modern" but kills readability. Accessibility should be a requirement, not a trend. 5/ Text alignment Typography alignment is key to readability and design flow. For non-Arabic countries, left-aligned text is easiest on the eyes. Center or right align sparingly for emphasis; avoid justified text unless spacing is perfect. 6/ Spacing Proper spacing makes or breaks readability: Line height: 1.5-1.7 for body, 1.1-1.3 for headings Leading: -1 to -2% for headings, 0% for body Paragraph spacing: 1.5-2x your line height Tight spacing feels cramped. Too loose feels disconnected. Find the right balance. 7/ Line Length Keep your paragraph length between 40 and 90 characters per line. For 16px body text, that's roughly 450-700px width depending on font. This range keeps readers engaged and makes content easy to scan. 8/ Don’t overdo it with fonts. Stick to 2 complementary fonts. Too many fonts can make your design feel chaotic. Keep it simple and let the fonts breathe. Limiting the number of fonts also makes your designs feel more thought-out and cohesive. 9/ Prioritize readability over style. Decorative fonts work for logos and short headlines. Don't use them for body text. Fonts need to look good, but most importantly, they must be clear and legible across all devices. Good design is always functional, not only aesthetic. Bad typography makes great content unreadable. Great typography makes content feel effortless. Master these fundamentals and your designs will immediately level up. Save this for your next project. As always, I hope this was helpful. Have an awesome day! 👋

What’s the most accessible font for the web? I continue exploring hidden accessibility subjects, one of them is about accessible fonts and I noticed that one font kept coming up during my research: it is Roboto Flex. And the claim was bold - it might be one of the most accessible fonts available today and that made me curious about what actually makes typography accessible? After digging into research and accessibility guidelines, I realized something important: accessibility in typography is less about one perfect font, and more about how the font is designed and used. Here are a few key factors: 1️⃣ Letter shapes must be easy to distinguish Accessible fonts make characters clearly different from one another. Think about how easily we confuse: • I, l, and 1 • O and 0 • b, d, and p Fonts designed for accessibility, like Atkinson Hyperlegible or Lexend, exaggerate these differences so letters are easier to recognize, especially for people with low vision or dyslexia. 2️⃣ Large x-height improves readability The x-height (height of lowercase letters) plays a huge role in readability on screens. Fonts with larger lowercase letters tend to be easier to read at smaller sizes, which is why fonts like Verdana, Roboto, or Open Sans are often recommended for digital interfaces. 3️⃣ Open letterforms reduce visual noise Accessible fonts usually have open shapes and generous spacing. When letters are too condensed or closed, they can visually blend together, especially on small screens or for users with visual impairments. 4️⃣ Spacing matters more than people think Interestingly, research shows that spacing and layout can affect readability as much as the font itself. Things like: • line height • letter spacing • word spacing • line length can significantly reduce reading effort. This is one reason why variable fonts like Roboto Flex are exciting: they allow designers to adjust typography dynamically. 5️⃣ There may not be one “perfect” font Some fonts were specifically designed for dyslexia, like OpenDyslexic. But research results are mixed. In several studies, common fonts such as Roboto or Times New Roman performed just as well or even better for reading speed and comprehension. Which leads to an important takeaway: different people read differently. Accessibility often means giving users control rather than forcing a single design choice. Here are some practical recommendations: • Use a clear sans-serif font • Keep body text around 16px or larger • Use line height around 1.5 • Limit line length to 45–75 characters • Avoid justified text • Allow users to adjust size and spacing Accessible typography is about designing text so as many people as possible can read it comfortably. Which font you prefer to use in order to provide high level of web accessibility? #WebAccessibility #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #UXDesign #Typography #UXWriting #DesignSystems #DigitalAccessibility

Typography is more than just picking fonts—it can shape how people read, understand, and feel about your content. Great typography creates hierarchy, clarity, and emotion—but here’s the twist: Sometimes breaking the rules leads to powerful, impactful designs. Here are the typography rules designers should (usually) follow—and when breaking them can elevate your work: 1️⃣ Limit your typeface variety. Too many typefaces makes a design feel disjointed. It's better to stick with 2 to *occasionally* 3 fonts and, instead of additional typefaces, using font weight, size, and style to broaden your typographic hierarchy without losing cohesion. TIP: Pairing a serif with a sans-serif gives you a lot of potential for contrast. When needed, your third typeface should be a display font used sparingly for headlines. 2️⃣ Prioritize legibility. Ornate fonts might look cool, but you lose readability. If your audience has to squint or guess, then they probably won’t bother trying. Instead, focus on nailing down your line height, kerning, and contrast to maximize readability across devices. TIP: Be sure to test legibility on smaller screens—mobile users make up the majority of most audiences. 3️⃣ Build clear hierarchies. The idea behind typography is to guide the reader’s attention through the content in order of importance. By adjusting size, weight, and spacing, we can create areas of emphasis to highlight what’s important or create a flow. Headline > subhead > body: Each level distinct yet cohesive. NOTE: Your hierarchy needs to work even when someone scans the page in 5 seconds. All that said, here are some examples of when it's okay to break the rules: 1️⃣ Grabbing attention. • Bold, oversized headers or unexpected type choices are meant to stop users mid-scroll. • Exaggerated letter spacing or massive font sizes for a single word or phrase establishes a clear visual anchor. 2️⃣ To provoke or disrupt. • When the goal is to challenge conventions (e.g., brutalist or experimental design), bending or breaking the rules becomes part of the message. • Think of designs where text overlaps, breaks grids, or feels intentionally chaotic—it’s about creating emotion, not perfection. 3️⃣ Enhancing usability. • Breaking typography conventions is sometimes necessary to make a design accessible—like using larger fonts for users with low vision or higher contrast ratios to improve readability for all users. Typography isn’t just decoration—it’s communication. Before you break a rule, you should understand why it exists so you're breaking them with purpose, leading to greater impact. What’s one typography rule you always follow—or love to break? 🤔👇 #typography #designthinking #graphicdesign #uxdesign #creativity ---------------- 👋 Hi, I’m Dane—sharing daily design tools & tips. ❤️ Found this helpful? 'Like’ it to spread the word. 🔄 Share to help others (& to keep for later). ➕ Want more? Follow me for daily insights.

🪴 Golden Rules of Web Typography. Useful techniques to improve legibility — from font size, line spacing and line length to small-caps and ligatures, both on mobile and on desktop ↓ 🚫 Avoid centered text — at least for more than 3 lines of text. ✅ Desktop font size for large headings: 40px/2.5em — 64px/4em (max). ✅ Mobile font size for large headings: 32px/2em or smaller. ✅ Desktop font size for body: 16px/1em — 24px/1.5em (max). ✅ Mobile font-size for body: min 14px, at times 10% smaller than desktop. ✅ Desktop: 50–75 chars per line (25–37.5rem), line height 1.5–1.6. ✅ Mobile: 40–50 chars per line (20–25rem), line height 1.3–1.45. ✅ If you have to use one line-height value for desktop/mobile, use 1.5. ✅ Larger headings work better with smaller line height — e.g. 1.1. ✅ Ideally, make the line height fluid and locked to the column width. ✅ Always reduce font weight for text on dark backgrounds. ✅ When using uppercase, always add letter-spacing up to 5%. ✅ If possible, use lowercase/old-style figures for numbers. ✅ Apply small-caps to acronyms and abbreviations. ✅ Use tabular, not proportional, figures for numbers in data tables. In typography, font size, line height and line length are always tightly connected. Once you adjust one, you will probably have to adjust the others as well. Change typefaces, the type scale and the background of where the type will be set, and chances are high that the rest will need to be adjusted as well. Probably the most common issue that makes text difficult to read is text lines that span over 100 characters and have a small line height. Limit length to 75 characters, and increase line height to 1.45, and legibility goes up dramatically. Getting typography right isn’t easy. But the fine details listed above can go a long way to dramatically improve legibility — potentially with just 5 mins of work. ✤ Useful resources: What’s The Right Font Size For the Web?, by Oliver Schöndorfer https://lnkd.in/e6GqEbPn Ideal Line Height and Line Length, by Oliver Schöndorfer https://lnkd.in/e8pgqZaQ Practical Techniques For Remarkably Better Typography, by Matej Latin ↳ https://lnkd.in/eVTbMKwV ↳ https://lnkd.in/et8SW5qm Effective Ways To Combine Typefaces (+ Cheatsheets) https://lnkd.in/egHq5ZyA Golden Rules of Typography on The Web, by Richard Rutter https://noti.st/rar/BgtJDk --- ✤ Useful tools: ⦿ Good Line-Height Calculator: https://lnkd.in/dW3KJ-f7 ⦿ Proportional scales: https://proportio.app ⦿ Fluid Type Editor: https://lnkd.in/epGn3FuA ⦿ Utopia: https://lnkd.in/eqHmy8zC ⦿ Typographic Scales (Figma, Adobe XD): https://typescale.io/ ⦿ Typography Variables Starter Kit (Figma): https://lnkd.in/degSAKBU #ux #design

💡Golden rules for typography in UI design (+ tools) In typography, font size, line height, and line length are always closely connected. When you change one variable, you have to adjust two others. Font size: ✔ Headings: A good rule of thumb is to start with 32-40px (2em to 2.5em) for H1 and scale down for H2-H6. Mobile interfaces might require smaller sizes, starting around 18-20px for H1. ✔ Body text: For body text, 16px (1em) is often considered the minimum for readability on desktop, with 14px acceptable for mobile screens. ✔ Captions and small text: Small text, such as captions and legal information, shouldn't go below 12px for legibility's sake. Font weight: ✔ Headings: Headings often use bolder weights to stand out. A weight of 600-700 is commonly used for headings to create a visual hierarchy without compromising readability. ✔ Body text: The standard weight for body text is the normal weight (400 or regular). It offers optimal readability. ✔ Emphasis: For emphasizing certain text within body content, using a medium weight (500) or italics can be effective without overwhelming the main content. Line height: ✔ Headings: Headings can have a tighter line height compared to body text, ranging from 1.1 to 1.3 times the font size. This helps maintain visual impact and keeps multi-line headings compact. ✔ Body text: The ideal line height for body text ranges from 1.4 to 1.6 times the font size. This spacing ensures that the text is breathable and easy to follow. For example, for 16px text, a line height of 22px to 26px is recommended. Line length: ✔ Optimal line length for desktop is between 50 to 75 characters, including spaces ✔ Optimal line length for mobile is between 40 to 50 characters Practical tips to remember:  ✔ Larger headings work best with smaller line height  ✔ Always add 5–12% extra letter spacing to text in ALL CAPS ✔ For abbreviations and acronyms in the midst of normal text, use spaced small caps 🔨 Tools: ✔ Typescale generator for Figma (by Marvin Bruns)  https://lnkd.in/dvH8wG6Z ✔ Optimal line height calculator (by Fran Pérez)  https://lnkd.in/dWs_6Xwa 🖼 Font size and line height by Tech Altum

 Stop losing readers to bad typography Long paragraphs. Tiny text Users skim or leave  Centered text kills flow ↳ Weird line breaks ↳ Reading slows ↳ Frustration rises  Perfect your text layout • Headings: Desktop 40–64px | Mobile ~32px • Body: Desktop 16–24px | Mobile min 14px • Line length: Desktop 50–75 chars | Mobile 40–50 • Line height: ~1.5 Small Details, Big Impact • Lighter fonts on dark backgrounds • Letter spacing for uppercase text • Tabular figures in tables 5 minutes tweaking these → huge readability boost Someone here needs this tip today Take 5 minutes Adjust your fonts, lines, and spacing Your users will thank you

𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀. Typography is more than just style, it's how your learners absorb information. I’ve compiled key guidelines for designing clear, accessible, and learner friendly elearning slides, because your font choices impact understanding. 📘 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗣𝗗𝗙, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱: ✔️ Best fonts for readability ✔️ Recommended sizes for headings, paragraphs, quotes, buttons ✔️ WCAG compliant spacing and visual hierarchy ✔️ Bonus: Export fonts from Storyline with my Story FontFinder plugin I hope this helps our amazing Instructional Design & eLearning development community! #instructionaldesign #elearningdevelopement #elearning #instructionaldesigner #elearningdeveloper #storyline360 #articultestoryline #nrzmalik #WCAG #accessibletypograpgy #fontsize

A11Y: Key Principles of Accessible Typography 1️⃣ Text Size: At Least 16px 2️⃣ Line Height: 1.5x the Font Size 3️⃣ Paragraph Spacing: 2x the Font Size 4️⃣ Letter Spacing: 0.12x the Font Size 5️⃣ Word Spacing: 0.16x the Font Size 6️⃣ Line Length: 60-80 Characters Per Line Ensuring Character Differentiation Certain characters can appear similar, making text harder to read. Use fonts that distinguish between: ✅ Uppercase "I" (I), lowercase "l" (l), and number "1" (1) to avoid confusion. ✅ Letters "C" & "O" should be clearly distinct to prevent misinterpretation. ✅ Letters "e", "s", and "o" should have unique shapes for better differentiation. Who Benefits from Accessible Typography? Accessible typography improves readability for everyone, but it is particularly beneficial for: 👓 Users with Low Vision 🎨 Users with Color Vision Deficiency 🧠 Users with Dyslexia 🌫️ Users with Low Contrast Sensitivity So keeping that in mind, let’s build a web that everyone can enjoy! 💡✨ #a11y #ui #ux