Developer, you are surrounded by fonts!

Fonts are everywhere, no matter where you look. Even right now you are looking at one (Noto Serif, in case you wondered).

My goal in this post is to pass on my geekiness and get you excited about fonts. Thinking about WHY a font was chosen for a sign, a website or an app was a real eye opener for me. That was one of my a-ha moments leading to further reading and learning of the affects design decisions has on our lives.

Oh, and there a movie recommendation at the end.

Why Fonts Matter

Here are some reasons why it might interest you:

1. Understanding fonts and thinking about the user experience makes you a better programmer

Good software developers care about the code that they are writing, optimizing algorithms, adding comments, caring about different parts in the application like the database.

Great developers care also about the product they are working on, expressing their opinion on the user interface, user experience, and the design. Fonts are part of that bigger picture.

2. The real world is full of fonts

Our daily lives in the real world are full with fonts. Not paying attention to them is like walking in the woods without enjoying the beauty of the trees themselves.

The same word written in a different font can send a different message. Just like in speech you can say the same word in different tones, in a way it will have a different meaning.

By choosing a different font, readers could have a different feeling and opinion about the product they are looking at. The fun thing about it, that it’s an experiment we can do right here.

3. The development world is full of fonts

As a software developer, especially if you are dealing with GUI, you are defining these fonts. In story reviews, you see them, and sometimes there’s a discussion about them. Don’t you want to have the ability to have a better talk with your UI designer friends?

Fonts in the real world – many examples ahead

Experiment time! Which coffee shop would you choose?

Close you eyes and think of coffee. Say with me: “I need coffee”. Again. “I need coffee…”. Again! that’s enough.

Now open your eyes. You are looking at two coffee shops, which one would you go?
Both Cafes are real and exist 20 meters apart in Koh Phangan island, that is were I live at the moment 🙂

First, Mimi’s Cafe:

Second, A different place, let’s call it Coffee Cafe

Consider the following questions about the two places above (judging only by the entrance sign):

1. Where do you expect to have a better quality coffee?
2. Which one is be more expensive?
3. How is the wi-fi signal in each one?
4. Which one has a faster service?
5. In which one you could sit down with the owner and speak about life?
6. Which one has soy milk / gluten free cookies?

You get the idea.

The fonts and logo design create the first impression. This impression will intuitively, sometimes in a not-aware way, help you decide which one to go.

Your font is part of your brand’s identity

When I wandered around taking pictures for this post, I noticed that some of the places choose their fonts by using a famous font, that someone else already attached the meaning for it.

For example, if I have a rock bar, and I want people to understand it in a glimpses, I might use something like this:

Looks familiar? That’s because this is the font is very similar to the one used by Metallica.

I will definitely expect some good old rock when I’ll enter their place.

Each business has its own identity, style, feel. Choosing the right font can help convey the message. Where do you think this one got inspired from?

If you are not from outer space, you probably recognized the Disney style.

I think this font helps conveying the feeling that this place is positive, happy, calm maybe, has coffee for princesses?

Last one – what about this?

I thought this one is from Friends (the 90’s series), but it’s not. If you have a guess, please write in the comments and you will have glory until the end of times.

Should we do A\B testing on fonts?

A word about A\B testing

A\B Testing is the process of having 2 alternatives for something (the location of a cart button on a website for example) and finding out which alternative performs better. For more information about A\B testing, read this post by Neil Patel.

A\B testing for the affect of fonts on our users

Is selecting a specific font (for a website, a street sign, video captions, etc) can make it perform better and sell more?

I don’t know if this kind of A\B test has been made focusing solely on fonts (if you know please comment :)). However, it’s not such a bad idea.

Real world fonts A\B testing

Here’s an example from the real world. This hotel has two street signs, each one facing to a different direction on the road.

One of the signs has a stylish modern logo, with a soothing, relaxing, wave-like font.

The other one, on the the opposite direction, has an old style, rusty, happy, wild wild west, bar saloon kind of font and design:

Which one do you think attracts more visitors? Is this a good enough reason to update their logo?

I don’t think the hotel measures this, but it could be fascinating.

Conclusions and a movie

Fonts are here to stay, you simply cannot write or type anything with a font. As software developers we come across them in our development environment and in the products we create.

You can go on with your work without paying attention to them, but that will be a waste. The design decisions, including the one about selecting a font for your product, are crucial to product’s branding and identity.

And, a movie recommendation!

Helvetica – a great documentary about fonts and typography. Really opened my eyes about typography. It used to be on Netflix, now it’s only on amazon VOD.

Trailer:

Thanks for joining me in this post, I would be very happy to hear your comments and ideas.