What Is The Easiest Font To Read? Our top suggestions for 2021.
What Is The Easiest Font to Read?
If you have clicked on this article, you already know the importance of font for your website. It’s one of a few factors in website design that conveys your brand identity across your audience silently. So for a clear and strong message, the font you select should be easy to read.
With too many styles of fonts to choose from, people ignore the fact of readability. What’s the point in having a fancy font if people can’t even read the text? That is why we are discussing fonts that are easy to read so that every visitor who ends up on your website gets the best user experience.
But before getting into the list, let’s discuss what makes a font readable!
Qualities Of A Highly Readable Font
These are a few things that make a font readable:
Serifs: First off, let’s get serif vs. non-serif out of the way. Serif means a decorative stroke that finishes off the end of a letter’s stem. It’s a decoration in the form of a small line. As the name suggests, serif fonts have serifs while sans serif fonts don’t have serifs (sans means without). Most of the time, sans-serif fonts have better readability. However, some serif fonts are great to read, as you’ll see in the next section.
Spacing: In a particular font, spacing defines how close individual characters, words, and lines are to one another in a font. You can’t differentiate between the characters if the spacing is too tight.
Font size: This sounds obvious, but most people ignore the fact that increasing font size increases readability. However, some fonts adapt better to smaller sizes than others. So, for some reason, if you want to use smaller font size, pick a font that works well with smaller font sizes.
As a general rule of thumb, don’t use fancy or decorative fonts for text. You can use them for titles. But don’t use them for text, especially if the font size is smaller and the content is in the form of a block of text.
Finally, we have the font’s color. Make sure that the text and background have enough contrast to make it easier for everyone to read. One more thing to remember: dark-colored text on a light background is easier to read.
Best Fonts to Read (Top 6 Picks)
Select the right font for your website. Users are going to bounce off off your website if the text is not readable. So focus on readability as UX factors like website speed.
Here are our top picks so that your content is readable on every device and platform:
Georgia
Georgia is a serif font. Ignore the decorations, because it’s a good option for most websites. It was designed for Microsoft with low-resolution screens as a priority. So, no matter if your users are on desktop or mobile, it’ll serve everyone on every device.
Ariel
You think this might be boring, but there’s a reason Microsoft Word and Google Docs use it as their standard font. Its cleanliness separates this font from the crowd. And because of its popularity, you won’t find it hard to access it for your designs.
Helvetica
Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger developed it in 1957. This modern classic is also one of the easily readable fonts, both at a distance and on small printed material. It’s also a good option if you work in a very professional environment.
Futura
It’s an alternative to Helvetica. If you want to have a modern touch to your text, use Futura. As the name suggests, it gives a feel of the future (the reason why innovative brands use it). Futura is also a good option for writing attention-grabbing headlines.
Open Sans
This font is famous for giving a welcoming feel. You can use it with strong fonts like Futura. If most of your audience is on mobile devices, consider using this because of this font’s versatility.
Lato
Large companies use this font often. However, don’t shy away if you are a small business. It will give a serious look to your website.
To spice things up, you can use a serif font for headlines and Lato for body text. It will show your brand identity.
Bonus 1: Garamond
This font is great for posters. It’s the sophistication and elegance of this font that make it a great choice for print material.
Bonus 2: Century Gothic
For flyers, this font is a good option. It has a taller x-height that means its lowercase letters are taller than the other fonts. Besides offering good readability for flyers, it gives a modern look to the text.
Final Words On Easiest Font To Read
Have you been to a website where the font was too hard to read, and then you left the site? Well, it turns out you’re not alone: it happens to plenty of others.
Fonts improve the readability of a website. If the font has low readability, people will leave your website. So when it comes to your website’s design, choose a font that is easy to read.
Use today’s article to decide on a font for your website. We have also given you a couple of options for print, in case you were looking for fonts for your flyers and posters as well.
Which is the best to read in your opinion?
Or do you want us to guide you about choosing all design parameters for your website?
Do let me know in the comments below!
