A user interface is only as good as its text. If the user struggles to read your content, your design has failed—no matter how beautiful your layout is. Follow these seven critical rules to master typography in your UI/UX projects.

1. Prioritize Readability Above All Else

This is the golden rule. A font that looks unique but requires the user to strain their eyes is a critical UX error.

  • Actionable Tip: Stick to established, proven fonts like Inter, Roboto, or system fonts for body text. Avoid overly decorative or complex fonts in long-form copy, as they severely hinder comprehension.
  • Context Matters: Test the font at the smallest text size it will be used (e.g., mobile captions) and ensure it remains legible.

2. Create Contrast and Hierarchy

Typography should be the primary tool you use to guide the user's eye and establish visual importance.

  • Actionable Tip: Use a combination of font weights, sizes, and styles to differentiate elements. For instance, use a bold, large heading, a medium-weight body text, and a light-weight caption. This contrast directs the user immediately to the most important content.

3. Maintain Consistency (Limit Your Palette)

Visual chaos occurs when you have too many competing typefaces. Consistency builds trust and familiarity.

  • Actionable Tip: Select a limited set of fonts—ideally one primary font family for the entire design, or at most, one sans-serif and one serif for pairing. Stick to this limited selection across every screen, button, and piece of documentation.

4. Align with Branding and Tone

Your font choice is a direct reflection of your brand's personality. A financial app should not use a playful, handwritten font.

  • Actionable Tip: Ensure the chosen font conveys the intended message and emotion. Is the brand sophisticated (serif)? Modern and clean (geometric sans-serif)? Friendly and approachable (humanist sans-serif)? Let the font do the heavy lifting in communicating your identity.

5. Ensure Compatibility

A beautiful font that doesn't load correctly on a user's device is unusable.

  • Actionable Tip: Choose fonts that are web-safe or widely supported (like Google Fonts) to ensure consistent rendering across different devices, operating systems, and browsers. Test on multiple platforms before finalizing your selection.

6. Focus on Accessibility

Accessibility is non-negotiable. Your design must be readable by users with visual impairments.

  • Actionable Tip: Always maintain sufficient contrast between the text and background colors (WCAG 2.1 standards). Also, opt for fonts with clear differentiation between visually similar characters (like 'I', 'l', and '1' or '0' and 'O').

7. Consider Scalability

Your design will live on screens ranging from small watch faces to large desktop monitors. Your font needs to perform on all of them.

  • Actionable Tip: Select fonts that scale well across different resolutions and sizes. They should remain clear and crisp on both mobile and high-density desktop displays without distortion or becoming blurry.

By applying these rules, you move from just decorating text to strategically designing content, ensuring your interface is not only beautiful but functionally superior.