There are a myriad of design choices to be made when creating an app – from navigation and buttons to colors and layout. App designers and developers dance a delicate ballet mixing all of these elements together to create the perfect app, and oftentimes taking the time to find the perfect font to make their app stand out is lost in the shuffle.
Imagining typefaces on smaller screens can be challenging. Between desktop monitors, phone and tablet screens, and other display devices, there are so many different sizes and resolutions that it’s very difficult to take a one-typeface-fits-all approach.
To help mobile app developers understand the true impact type choice has on the success of an app, Monotype has created a new eBook, “Type for Mobile Apps: A Primer,” that delves into the nuts and bolts of choosing typefaces for your app and how it can affect everything from the design process to maintaining brand consistency.
The eBook discusses how your choice of typeface impacts a consistent user experience – one that will perform well and impress users regardless of platform. You’ll learn how the best typefaces for screens utilize letterforms that are inherently durable, so they stay sharp in different digital environments. Nearly every aspect of type can either degrade or enhance legibility – line weight, text color, font size, even color contrast.
You may not be aware that most open source fonts contain only a partial glyph set that can result in missing or “black box” characters – which means your users may see black squares instead of letters. And when encountering problems in the development process, you could find that open source font you are using may not offer full licensing or development support. In addition, “open source” doesn’t always mean it’s free, which could possibly lead to hefty legal fees in the long run.
The eBook discusses the impact of fonts on localization. Character-based languages, such as Chinese and Arabic, demand more complex coding than Latin-based fonts like English. Some characters overlap, and some characters can change retroactively based on new characters. Many open source fonts simply can’t offer the coding support to make them useable in the short and long term.
One advantage of using a consistent and high quality typeface is that that it can be instantly recognized as a fundamental part of your app (and brand). No matter how you change the app’s functionality, your users will be more familiar with your app if the typeface they have seen in the past is there to guide them through the new version. Monotype offers a huge variety of typefaces, so you’ll have no problem finding the one to carry your app for years to come.
Reading Monotype’s new eBook will provide you with some serious food for thought on how typefaces affect your app’s design, adoption and user experience. It is available as a free download at the link below.