Tips for Choosing the Best Web Fonts for Your Website

Typography is one of the most powerful tools in web design. The right font can subtly guide your user’s journey, convey brand personality, and improve readability. The wrong one? It can confuse users, slow down load times, and dilute your message.

With thousands of fonts available, how do you choose the right ones? As one of the leading web design agencies in Melbourne, Chromatix knows that effective web design is about both form and function. With that, here are our top tips for choosing the best web fonts for your website.

1) Start with Your Brand Personality

Your font should reflect your brand identity, just like your logo and colour palette do. Fonts communicate emotion: bold, structured fonts can signal strength and reliability, while script fonts might evoke elegance or creativity.

Ask yourself:

• Is your brand corporate or casual?
• Should it feel traditional or modern?
• Are you speaking to which audience demographic?
• Are you aiming for a high-end aesthetic, or something more approachable and fun?

Still not sure what font to use for your websites? Here are some examples:

• A financial services firm might lean toward fonts like Roboto Slab or Merriweather, which feel formal and trustworthy.
• A wellness brand might favour something soft and contemporary, like Lato or Nunito.
• A creative agency could explore expressive options like Playfair Display paired with Work Sans.

Just like with fashion, the wrong typography can make the right message fall flat. So make sure to choose one “wisely”.

2) Prioritise Readability and Legibility

Even the most beautiful website will fail if people struggle to read its content. Readability and legibility should never be compromised for aesthetics.

Basically, readability refers to how easily large blocks of text can be scanned and absorbed. Meanwhile, legibility is about how quickly individual letters can be recognised. While they are not the same, these two work hand in hand to help deliver the message of your website.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• Use a base font size of 16px or larger for body text.
• Maintain 1.5 to 1.6 line-height for comfortable reading.
• Avoid fonts with overly tight spacing or thin strokes for body text.
• Make sure there’s enough contrast between text and background (dark grey on white is ideal).

In short: Don’t make your readers work harder than they need to. Clear, comfortable text encourages longer visits and better engagement.

3) Choose Web-Safe and Web-Optimised Fonts

Not all fonts are made for the web. Some were created for print and don’t render well on screens, especially on lower resolutions.

Instead, opt for fonts from reliable sources like:

• Google Fonts – Free and performance-optimised.
• Adobe Fonts – Great selection with easy integration.
• Font Squirrel – High-quality fonts with commercial licenses.

These fonts are built to load quickly and display consistently across browsers and devices.

Also, always define fallback fonts in your CSS. For example:

font-family: ‘Lato’, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, sans-serif;

This ensures that if the primary font fails to load, users still see something clean and readable.

4) Stick to a Simple Font Palette

As a general rule, use no more than two or three fonts across your website. This maintains visual consistency and helps create a clear content hierarchy.

Here’s a reliable structure:

• Primary font – For body text
• Secondary font – For headings or pull quotes
• Accent font (optional) – For branding elements like callouts or buttons

Using multiple weights (regular, bold, semibold) within one font family is a smarter way to create contrast without adding complexity.

5) Make Sure Fonts Work on All Devices

Your website needs to look polished and readable on every screen—from a 27-inch desktop monitor to a 5-inch smartphone. That’s why it’s crucial to choose fonts that scale responsively and render consistently across different platforms. 

Test your site on both iOS and Android devices, and across all major browsers including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. Pay close attention to details like spacing, line breaks, and character clarity. A font that appears crisp and elegant on a designer’s high-resolution Mac might look distorted or poorly spaced on a budget Android phone. 

To avoid issues, test your typography broadly, early, and often to ensure a smooth reading experience for every user.

6) Pair Fonts with Purpose

Good font pairings on your website should complement each other without competing for attention. Thoughtful pairings enhance your brand’s tone and visual structure to make your web content more engaging to read.

A common and effective strategy is to pair a serif font for headings with a clean sans-serif for body text, or vice versa. This contrast helps establish hierarchy and improves readability. 

However, it’s important that the fonts share similar proportions, such as matching x-heights and stroke weights, to ensure they feel cohesive together. 

Here are some font pairing examples to consider:

• Playfair Display & Source Sans Pro: Great for brands that want a sophisticated headline with a clean, readable body text
• Lora & Roboto: Lora’s slightly traditional feel pairs well with Roboto’s versatility which is suitable for corporate or editorial sites
• Montserrat & Open Sans: A popular combination for tech companies or startups aiming for a fresh, approachable look
• Merriweather & Lato: Classic with a modern twist. Merriweather provides a readable serif for body content, while Lato adds clarity and warmth to headings

7) Make Accessibility a Priority

Accessible typography is a nice-to-have and also a responsibility. So make sure to consider users with dyslexia, visual impairments, or colour blindness to ensure your website is inclusive and easy to navigate for everyone.

Below are some accessibility tips to consider:

• Avoid low contrast text (e.g., light grey on white)
• Steer clear of overly decorative fonts in body content
• Use sentence case instead of all caps where possible (easier to scan)
• Look into dyslexia-friendly fonts like OpenDyslexic or Lexend

8) Test, Learn, and Improve

Once your fonts are live, keep monitoring their performance. Analytics tools and heatmaps can help you understand how users interact with content.

Things to test:

• Do users stay longer with larger text?
• Do bounce rates drop when fonts are more readable?
• Do CTA buttons with bold typography convert better?

Typography should never be “set and forget.” Like all design elements, it should evolve based on user behaviour and business goals.

Bottom Line

Typography may seem like a small detail in web design, but it plays a massive role in how users interact with your content.  

The fonts you choose tell a story, set a tone, and shape your audience’s entire experience on your site. From expressing your brand’s personality to making sure every user feels welcome, the right fonts can elevate your website in ways you might not have imagined. 

Remember, the right fonts not only enhance aesthetics. They also improve functionality, user engagement, and inclusivity on your website.