Typography
Typography has meaning. Good typography subtly communicates personality, feeling, and tone. Choose type that matches the message and tone you want to convey.
Serif typefaces
Serif faces look dependable, factual, and professional, and suggest the weight of history or experience.
Chronicle
Chronicle Display is good for headlines, subheads, and display type. KU uses it primarily in print but it can be used online with appropriate licensing.
Benefits of Chronicle
Flexibility – Chronicle Display is a large font family that includes three widths and six weights.
Emphasis – To create emphasis, pair two weights that are two steps apart (for example, roman and bold or light and semibold). To create texture without adding weight, use italic of the same weight (for example, light and light italic).
Optical sizes – Chronicle Hairline has very delicate details and is intended for use at very large sizes. Use Chronicle Display for headlines and Chronicle Deck for subheads.
Freight Pro
Freight Display Pro is good for headlines, subheads, and display type. Freight Text Pro is good for body copy. KU uses Freight Pro as the serif typeface online and in email, but it can also be used for body copy in print.
Benefits of Freight Pro
Flexibility – Freight Pro is a very large font superfamily. Each of the Freight Pro typefaces we use has a wide variety of weights to choose from.
Emphasis – To create emphasis, pair two weights that are two steps apart (for example, roman and bold or light and semibold). To create texture without adding weight, use italic of the same weight (for example, light and light italic).
Optical sizes – Freight Big Pro is intended for use at very large sizes. Use Freight Display Pro in headlines and subheads and Freight Pro Text for body copy.
Fallback Serifs
If Chronicle and Freight Pro are not available, use Palatino or Times New Roman. These system fonts are particularly helpful as part of your font stack in html email and in PowerPoint decks with many contributors.
Sans-serif typefaces
Sans-serif fonts look informal, approachable, forward thinking, and even youthful. Many sans-serif typefaces are easy to read even at small sizes. They are also legible at a distance and are often used on informational signage.
Gotham
Good for headlines, subheads, display type, and body text captions. Gotham is legible at small sizes. At KU, it is used primarily in print but it can be used online with appropriate licensing. A large family of weights and widths makes Gotham extremely flexible.
Benefits of Gotham
Flexibility – Each of the four widths in the Gotham family contains eight weights from thin to ultra, each in roman and italic.
Legibility – Gotham often appears larger than expected. It can be used at smaller point sizes and still be legible.
Number options – Gotham includes several types of numbers including lining figures and tabular figures. Lining figures are the default and will work for most cases. Use tabular figures in tables, financial charts, and other cases where numbers are stacked. Tabular figures maintain a fixed width from weight to weight, so that numbers can be emphasized in a bolder weight without disrupting the vertical alignment of numbers.
Halyard
Halyard is good for headlines, subheads, display type, body copy, and captions. KU uses Halyard as the sans-serif typeface online and in email, but it can also be used in print.
Benefits of Halyard
Flexibility – Halyard is a large superfamily that includes three optical sizes and eight weights.
Legibility – Halyard display is good for headlines, subheads, and display type. Halyard text is good for body copy and captions. Halyard micro is good for labels and other instances where type is very small.
Number options – Halyard includes several types of numbers including old style figures and tabular figures. Use tabular figures when numbers must be stacked (for example, tables or financial charts).
Fallback sans-serifs
If Gotham and Halyard are not available, use Arial or Helvetica. These system fonts are particularly helpful as part of your font stack in html email and in PowerPoint decks with many contributors.
Effective typography
Consider these guidelines when designing with type:
- Pair different typefaces to create emphasis, texture, and a visual hierarchy. Good typography helps the reader navigate the text.
- Use fonts, weights, color, and point size to tell a story.
- Use plenty of surrounding white space.
- Limit the number of styles and sizes to create consistency and support the visual hierarchy.
- For greatest legibility, use 9- to12-point fonts for print body copy and 12 to 16 pixels for web body copy.
- Use 14 to16 pixels for long-form digital copy
Avoid designs that impede readability, such as:
- Using all capitals in blocks of type of three lines or more.
- Condensing or expanding typefaces.
- Adding excess spacing between characters.
- Overusing emphases — if too many things are emphasized, nothing stands out.
- Using type with drop shadows.
- Using outline type.