Whether an audience is conscious of it or not, typography is one of the first components that will help set the overall tone of your brand. Along with good imagery, within the first minute of a user scrolling through your online site, mobile app, or visiting a shop seeing your products in-person, they’re likely to have some judgment, feeling, or emotion connected to your brand. The importance of typography should not be underestimated. This means understanding which are the best fonts for online use as well as the upcoming trends for your business to take advantage of this form of branding and design in 2021.
5 Best Fonts For Mobile, Website, and App Design
People are shopping online more than ever so it’s crucial your company puts time and effort into the typography used for the brand. As for body text, this font should always be eligible no matter the size, screen, or platform it’s being read on. Universally, here are the 5 most popular fonts used with readability success:
- Open Sans
- Roboto
- Helvetica
- Montserrat
- Avenir
Depending on what approach your brand is looking to follow, whether it be minimal and modern, or confident and bold, will determine which out of the 5 fonts fits your goals and your brand identity best.
10 Typography Trends 2021
Although typography is a large part of what defines a brand, what actually defines typography is the social trends present at the time. Over the past year, society has shifted in favor of topics such as technology advances and sustainable products; meaning graphic design trends 2021 predictions will likely be creating cohesive typography not only to a brand’s standards but what is desired by consumers.
As for your own company wanting to meet design standards and expectations, below is a list of 2021 typography trends for inspiration for the year to come:
1. Delicate Serifs: A growing number of companies focused on women are turning to organic ingredients for the makeup of their products. From this trend, the use of delicate serifs helps portray their brand as a clean and natural option for skincare, haircare, and wellness products. Fonts such as Garamond, Ogg, and ITC Clearface are great options for your wellness, beauty brand.
2. Type Heroes: In a time where politics seem to be making huge leaps of change, typography is following the wave with bold fonts taking center stage in graphic designs. A hybrid between minimalistic and bold, these types of hero fonts are a radical change from any typical font used in designs. Companies that choose to use this form of typography are brands wanting to make a bold statement that will resonate with their audience, they want their consumers to feel something when looking at their company’s branding. Madewithover has pulled together a list of these fonts for inspiration.
3. Outlined Fonts: Outlined bold fonts are currently being favored by athletic, sports-focused companies such as Nike and Adidas. The reasoning behind this typography approach is to have consumers perceive their brand as strong, yet allowing imagery to be seen through the text, allowing both aspects to work together to create an effective message.
4. Rounded Serifs: Rounded serifs are becoming a popular choice for brands that want to build trust and positivity with their audiences. Paired with bold colors, rounded serifs can be a fun option for brands but need to be picked wisely in order to make sure the designs don’t look childish. Specifically, the travel and hospitality company Airbnb has been known to use this typography to create a trusting space for its customers.
5. Swiss Style: Used by architecture companies, science-related products, and services, Swiss-style typography has been a growing trend. This type of font is thought of as simple, readable, and objective, making it a great option for complex topics, products, and services a company may be offering. By using Swiss-style fonts brands’ hope to bring audiences’ minds to ease and take the complexity out of their consumer experiences. Swiss Typefaces exclusively offers a range of swiss inspired fonts.
6. Pixelated Fonts: Once popular in the 70s, pixelated fonts are making a comeback with all sorts of companies. The font generally represents fun, freedom, and possibilities making it a great option for any brand trying to accomplish this belief.
7. Minimalistic Fonts: The font type that may never lose its popularity is minimalistic typography. It’s clear, concise, and almost always works well with white space giving brands an updated, modern feel. Although undoubtedly common, here is a list of minimalist fonts that’ll always help create clear messages for your company.
8. Handwritten Typography: Handwritten typography is a nice option to combine with serif and sans serif fonts, as it brings a relaxed and welcoming touch to a brand’s appearance. Be careful when using handwritten typography as it can become hard to read if used for body text.
9. Customized Typography: What better way your company could help itself stand out amongst the rest other than customized typography. This font form may need extra attention from a graphic designer but creating a signature logo with a font no other brand will have, helps your company be unique and separate from the competition.
10. Folksy/Hipster: Companies that pride themselves on “craft” products have been finding great use for folksy typography. Through these fonts, it ensures that their audience knows what they are producing is authentic, personal, and one of a kind. Elegant Themes offers a large range of hipster-ish fonts perfect for a brewery, farm, or cafe logos.
Some fonts stem from typography trends of 2020, the upcoming year will likely see similar trends that have already been developed just with an improved and updated touch. For companies on a budget, free fonts for commercial use in 2021 can be found on sites such as Google Fonts, Dribble, Font Squirrel, Behance, and Neogray.
Looking for a way to make your website more appealing and interactive by implementing any of the trends in your web projects? Reach out to us here to stay ahead of the game.
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