5 Benefits of Choosing Intentional Colors and Fonts for Your Website
If you’re new to creating your own visuals to represent your business or blog, you may not yet understand why your color and font choices matter. You may randomly choose colors and fonts that seem “cool” or colors that you think you should be using because of the type of business or blog that you have. However, I’m here to let you know that the color and font choices that you use for your business or blog matter and choosing them should not be done haphazardly. They can make the difference between your business or blog appealing to your target audience or running your target audience away.
Here are the five reasons why your color and font choices matter for your website design and brand.
1. Colors communicate specific meanings and choosing the right ones can help draw in your target audience.
Whether we realize it or not, colors are communicating meanings to us all the time. Have you ever noticed that most restaurants incorporate red into their logos? Or have you ever noticed that yoga studios or health-related brands always seem to use green? This is because red colors create a sense of hunger in people and green colors create a sense of calmness. When you choose the colors that you’re going to use on your website, consider who your target audience is, what your business or blog is all about, and how you want to make people feel when they see your website. You don’t want to choose colors that create the wrong impression and you also want to refrain from using too many colors at once. When you choose too many colors, they can start to clash.
2. Fonts also communicate meanings through the styles of the fonts. Good font choices help to communicate your message more clearly.
Not all fonts are created equally. Some fonts have a more traditional feeling, some have a modern feeling, and some even have a childish feeling. Fonts should all be chosen purposely because you want to avoid choosing a font that conveys a childish meaning, when you’re targeting career women. Or you want to avoid having an old school type of font, when you’re trying to create a brand that’s young and modern. Serif fonts (the fonts with the little “tails” on the ends of the letters) have an old, traditional feeling to them. Sans serif fonts (the fonts without the little “tails” on the ends of the letters) are usually more clean and modern. And script fonts usually resemble cursive or handwriting, so they’re perceived as feminine. Be sure you choose wisely when selecting fonts and do not use too many fonts at once. You need no more than two fonts on your website, three at the most.
3. Good color and font choices will make your website appear more polished and professional.
When you choose colors and fonts that fit together well and that explain your brand well, visually, your website will be much more polished. This will create a sense of professionalism that will be much more appealing when someone new arrives on your website. Think about it like this: when you meet someone new for the first time, there’s a first impression being made based on the appearance before the conversation starts. It’s the same way on the web, except on the web, you only have about 7 seconds to capture someone’s attention before they’re on to the next thing.
“You only have about 7 seconds to capture someone’s attention on your website.”
4. Being intentional about the colors and fonts that you’re using will create a signature brand image that others start to recognize.
Having your own signature brand image is the key to standing out online. In the online space, there’s a lot of noise and it’s easy to get shuffled in with all of the other websites, especially when your fonts and colors are all over the place. Choosing fonts and colors with intention helps your brand to have its own identity that makes it recognizable to others. This helps to increase your credibility, as well.
Related: 4 Steps to Branding Your Business or Blog
5. Having designated colors and fonts that you use for your blog or business helps you to be consistent across all platforms…your website, business cards, social media, etc.
Choosing specific colors and fonts helps you to create consistency across all mediums of communication—your website, your social media profiles, your business cards, brochures, etc. When you don’t take the time to choose specific and intentional fonts and colors to represent your brand, it’s easy to just choose ANYthing and that will lead to you having materials that don’t fit together and that don’t represent your brand in the way that you really want them to.
Overall, your brand fonts and colors subconsciously give people a “preview” of what they can expect from your blog or business before they even dig into your products, services, or content. It’s worth the time and the effort to be sure those colors and fonts are chosen with intention and to be sure they represent you and your brand in the best light. You WILL start seeing people respond to your work much differently when you do so. What has helped you to create good branding for your blog or business? Share in the comments below.
