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Typography

Typography can help create clear hierarchies, organize information, and guide users through a product or experience.

Fonts

Source Sans Pro - 700

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz012345678910
Usage:For headings

Source Sans Pro - 400

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz012345678910
Usage:For body copy, descriptions, navigation

Font Stack

A font stack includes fallback system fonts for when the main font does not get loaded fast enough.

Heading Font

Body Font

Usage

Style Use for Color Weight Style Size Mobile Size Desktop
H1Hero headings, post titlesBlack700Normal26px2.1em
H2Section headings, content headingsBlack700Normal20px33px
pArticle content, post description, etc.Black400Normal16px18.5px

Formatting

Style Use for
Bold Use strong to emphasize text.
Italics Use em to italicize text.
Link Use when you are linking just a few words of text, or when a link is standalone.
1. Ordered List Use ordered lists to group items in a pre-determined order.
• Unordered List Use unordered lists to group related items.
Blockquote Use with a quotation that is typically longer than a few lines.

Line Length

Set the reading environment to suit the reader. Wide lines of text are difficult to read and make it harder for people to focus. While there is no right way to measure the perfect width for text, a good goal is to aim for between 60 and 100 characters per line including spacing. Setting an optimal line length will break up content into easily digestible information.

Please increase your window size to view line length example.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris nunc pulvinar nibh aliquet. Integer congue velit, nisi, et orci. Pretium praesent viverra convallis duis augue sodales dolor. Morbi vitae turpis elit, arcu in phasellus cursus. Elit amet lectus et commodo, et libero aenean. In et tincidunt mauris ut at erat. Diam integer metus arcu dui senectus nunc nibh ultricies. Facilisis vitae purus mauris aenean ultrices tellus eget. Nec vel nunc, eget urna tristique lorem. Eu tempus faucibus sed nunc non semper amet. Sit non feugiat non adipiscing.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris nunc pulvinar nibh aliquet. Integer congue velit, nisi, et orci. Pretium praesent viverra convallis duis augue sodales dolor. Morbi vitae turpis elit, arcu in phasellus cursus. Elit amet lectus et commodo, et libero aenean. In et tincidunt mauris ut at erat. Diam integer metus arcu dui senectus nunc nibh ultricies. Facilisis vitae purus mauris aenean ultrices tellus eget. Nec vel nunc, eget urna tristique lorem.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris nunc pulvinar nibh aliquet. Integer congue velit, nisi, et orci. Pretium praesent viverra convallis duis augue sodales dolor. Morbi vitae turpis elit, arcu in phasellus cursus.

Line Heights

Ensure an appropriate line height is set, to improve the reading experience. A line-height of 1.5 to 1.6 is the sweet spot for most cases, but may change depending on the typeface, and the line length.

An example of the ideal line height

Typography Crimes

Don't

Use unapproved font families.

More Best Practices

  • Make sure your typography has sufficient color contrast. See accessibility for more info.
  • When sizing elements, its recommended to use REM units. These allow elements to scale based on a users brower font size.
  • The base font size for typography is 16px, which is equal to 1rem. All elements on the page scale based on this root font-size.
  • Try to stick to quarter units to simplify spacing values, font-sizes etc. ie. 0.25rem, 0.5rem, 0.75rem, 1rem.
  • Please limit the use of web fonts if possible, to help with site speed. Use no more than 2 font families.
  • Please ensure headings and copy have appropriate kerning set.