Cosmetic Surgery Website Basics: Typeface

Typeface is an important element of website design — and your own plastic surgery marketing campaign — but it’s often overlooked. In an attempt to create a visual punch, many designers lose site of the fact that the text must remain readable for the user.

There are tens of thousands of typefaces available, and many of them are capable of exuding their own character. The right typeface can not only ensure easy readability for your visitors, but can also add to the overall appearance of your site’s design. With so many choices, however, it can be difficult to choose the one that’s right for your site. The following are tips to help you choose an appropriate typeface for your plastic surgery website:

• Support your design. The typeface that you select should support your site design and content. As mentioned above, typefaces are capable of exuding their own character. They can appear bubbly, formal or casual, child-like, bold or even ethnic, and so on. For your plastic surgery website, you want to avoid the more gimmicky or fun typefaces and probably stick with the more traditional ones.
• Avoid all CAPS. Don’t use all capitalized letters throughout your entire site. This comes across as very unprofessional and actually discourages visitors from reading the material. Only capitalize important text that you want to emphasize, such as titles and headings.
• Choose an appropriate size. The typeface should be neither too large nor too small. The standard font size is 12 to 14. Overly large fonts can detract from the overall design, while very small fonts can prove impossible to read.
• Limit your typefaces. Ideally, no more than three different typefaces should be used in your design. When too many fonts are used, your site can appear chaotic and messy.

Generally speaking, if you keep the concept of readability in mind when choosing your typefaces, you’re already one step ahead. Just remember that your choice of typeface is one element of your overall design, but visitor comprehension must also be another element.