Typography has found a natural home on the internet. The limitations of paper, like its size, how ink interacts with the page and the costs, are practically non-existent online. For that reason, website typography has become more experimental and incredibly creative.
Like free form poetry, typography without predetermined limits needs to demonstrate such a mastery of the rules of design that the rules can be broken to a thrilling effect. Generally, the best typographical designs keep the number of elements involved to a minimum: using only one or two typefaces or a single colour will keep the design unified. Emphasis can be added by changing the size of the text or by bolding or italicising the font.
Great typography looks closely at two areas: microtypography and macrotypography. Microtypography is concerned with legibility and is essentially the design of the letters and words. Macrotypography, by contrast, is concerned with readability and is the overall look of the paragraph, block of text or page. These are especially important when using typography in website design, as readability and legibility are closely aligned with a great user experience, the main aim of good web design.
Moreover, great typography can influence a user’s emotional and physical responses to a website. By allowing the content of the text to directly shape the typographical design, the designer can create a text-based image that literally draws a picture that sticks in the user’s mind. This can increase the number of people who remember – and return – to a site.
The examples below beautifully illustrate how the best typography can create a lasting impact on the viewer.
Earth Hour
Amazee Labs
Team Fanny Pack
Hull Digital Live
Miiks
Ryan Kieser
Polar Gold
Tic Talk
Josh Hemsley
XIXI No Banho
Find Me By IP
DIBI Conference
Nike Jumpman
Lyudmil Shoshorov
Berger & Fohr
Planet Propoganda
Analog
Kidd81
Indubitablee
Bellstrike
Am I Missing Anything?
It is not possible to find out the best websites with great typography from the millions out there. If you have seen any such great website do let us know in the comments section. We would try and include them in the above list.
This is a guest post contributed by Julie Pena. She writes on behalf of www.printerinks.com. Julie is a designer from the UK who enjoys blogging and sharing her knowledge of graphic design. To find out more follow her on Twitter.
Juleit Pena – who has written 1 posts on Artatm – Creative Art Magazine.
Really nice sharing.Typography plays a vital role in web designing.Everybody loves a nice bit of typography.There are many different styles that are used nowadays when it comes to typography in web design.Thanks for sharing such a beautiful collection.
Absolutely LOVED some of them. Others, didn’t like them so much…lol (like XIXI No Banho). Thanks for the article though.
I like typography so much!
But there are so many mistakes in typo designs! We should learn to use typo in a smart way!
By the way, cool collection!
Inspirational stuff and you’ve shown some great examples of quality typography. I’m used to it in the print business but not so much on my website. This article has given me the push I need to do something about it. Thanks!
Well I must say really a great selection! Typography in website design must be carefully researched and used in a manner so as to it improves the readability of the website. I’m pretty sure it plays an important part in increasing the bounce ratio too.
Thanks for the Showcase.
Thanks for the list of beautiful examples. Ryan Keiser & Kidd81 have created really fun looking sites that use big colourful typography to draw you in. The use of typography in web design has become really exciting with HTML5 and CSS3 bringing even more possibilities of what can be done with type on the web.
The value of a well designed typographical site is often over looked. I really want web designers around to start focusing on typography more now!