In the ever-evolving landscape of the Internet, typography has undergone significant transformations in its journey from traditional mediums to the digital realm. Despite these changes, the design of mobile apps represents a relatively recent wave in this evolution.

This article diverges from discussing broad typography concepts applicable in both print and digital environments. Instead, the focus will be on specific nuances and hacks tailored for typography in mobile app design.

Given the intimate connection between app development and operating system features, frequent references will be made to the Material Design guidelines for Android and the Human Interface Guidelines for iOS.

Let's delve into the details.

Top 7 Tips For Designing Better Mobile Apps Typography

Minimum Font size

Discover the essential considerations for mobile app typography. Given the dynamic nature of mobile usage, factors such as on-the-go scenarios, screen limitations, sun glare, and diverse visual impairments need careful attention. Additionally, varying smartphone screen qualities contribute to the primary guideline determining the minimum size for body text.

In accordance with Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, the recommended minimum size for Body text is 17pt. On the other hand, Google's Material Design guidelines suggest a minimum size of 16sp (equivalent to 16pt in iOS) for Body text.

It's crucial to note that these recommendations are specific to the default fonts of each system, namely, Roboto for Android, and San Francisco/New York for iOS. Keep in mind that other typefaces may require adjustments based on their unique characteristics; for instance, fonts with thin strokes often necessitate larger sizes for body text.

Adhering to accessibility standards, WCAG 2.0 recommends a minimum font size of 18pt and 14pt for Bold text. Stay informed to ensure optimal readability and user experience in your mobile app design.

The exception may be the various smaller Captions. But keep in mind that if the user cannot read them, it should not greatly affect the user’s interface comprehensibility.

Recommendations

Don’t use a font size less than 16pt for the Body text in your app design. A good size for the body text will be in the range from 16pt to 18pt

🤓 Pro-Tip

To make the typography of your app more accessible in iOs, you can apply Dynamic Type Sizes. Using this technology inside your app will allow users who set an increased or decreased font size in the system settings to see the interface of your app according to these settings.

Typography — Visual Design — iOS — Human Interface Guidelines — Apple Developer San Francisco (SF) is the system typeface in iOS. The fonts of this typeface are optimized to give your text unmatched…

Developer.apple.com

Headline size

Over the past few years, the trend of employing prominent headings in digital typography has gained significant popularity. These headings create a visual contrast with the main text, serving as anchor elements on the page.

However, caution is essential when incorporating large headers in mobile apps. Frequently, opting for an oversized heading in mobile apps leads to a situation where a headline extends across 3–4 lines, each containing only 1 or 2 words. Such headers appear cluttered and pose readability challenges.

Recommendations

Choose a headline size both contrasting with the body text and fitting on average 2–3 lines.

🤓 Pro-Tip

In some cases, you can use an eyebrow headline to shorten your header.

How You Can Aid User Scanning by Using Eyebrow Headlines

Are you writing your marketing headlines the way users read online? An eye-tracking study found that most users don’t…

uxmovement.com

Contrast

The contrast ratio between your background and text is a crucial parameter, particularly when considering the distinctive aspects of using mobile apps. This ratio refers to the difference in brightness or color intensity between the background and the text displayed on the screen. Achieving an appropriate contrast ratio is vital for ensuring readability and visual accessibility within the mobile app interface. Proper contrast enhances legibility, making it easier for users to discern and engage with the content, thereby contributing to a more user-friendly and inclusive design.

Recommendations

Follow WCAG 2.0 Contrast Standards

Make sure that the text you place over images has a sufficient contrast

Provide two options for placing text on a light and a dark background

🤓 Pro-Tip

Use the Stark plugin (or other same plugins) for Sketch, Adobe XD and Figma or online contrast testing tools to check your text contrast.

System Fonts

Presently, on iOS, you have the option to utilize two system fonts: San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, Roboto serves as the system font for Android.

Incorporating system fonts contributes to a design that aligns seamlessly with the respective operating system. However, relying solely on system fonts may limit your ability to achieve a distinctive and unique appearance for your app.

Recommendations

The simplest and widely adopted method to infuse accents and provide a distinctive flair to the typography of your mobile app is by employing a system font for body text and various controls, paired with a non-default font for headings. This blend ensures a consistently engaging and novel visual appeal.

You can use one of these services below to choose interesting fonts pairs.

Generate font pairing using neural nets Fontjoy helps designers choose the best font combinations. Mix and match different fonts for the perfect pairing.

fontjoy.com

FontPair helps you pair Google Fonts together. Font Pair helps designers pair Google Fonts together. Beautiful Google Font combinations and pairs.

fontpair.co

Fonts In Use — Type at work in the real world. A searchable archive of typographic design, indexed by typeface, format, and topic.

Fontsinuse.com

🤓 Pro-Tip

Note that the Apple system fonts can only be used in Apple ecosystem products (iOs, macOS, etc). Google's Roboto font can be used in any operating system. Keep it in mind when designing one app for both platforms.

Commercial Fonts

At some point in their career, numerous designers realize that system or free fonts may not meet the requirements of a specific project. This realization prompts the need to consider commercial fonts, a decision often accompanied by significant challenges.

The pricing distinction between a font intended for app usage and a license for desktop or web can be quite surprising, particularly if you haven't previously acquired such a license. To illustrate, a license for a single font style like FF DIN for desktop or web is priced at $95, whereas it costs $950 for app usage 😱 (price sourced from myfonts.com).

Recommendations

If you decide to integrate a custom font into the design of your app, you need to consider the following:

• Learn all the nuances of a license. Font distribution conditions may vary greatly
• Learn all the technical nuances of a font, such as its readability in small sizes
• Think about how your product will scale in the future. For example, it may turn out that a selected font doesn’t support Cyrillic
• Learn whether a typeface has a sufficient number of weights or styles.

🤓 Pro-Tip

Search Type Foundries sites directly for fonts for your app. So you can save a large amount on a license and find more interesting styles.

Below, as an example, I give some links of my favourite Type Foundries

Swiss Typefaces

We take a look beyond our own work & honor type made by others Read the story 29lt.com sangbleu.com

www.swisstypefaces.com

Commercial Type

Trademarks and trade names shown are the property of their respective owners and no endorsement or derogation is…

commercialtype.com

TypeTogether | High quality fonts and custom type design

Unique, high-quality retail typefaces and custom fonts. Our international team of professionals specializes in…

www.type-together.com

Free fonts

In the present day, an increasing number of high-quality free fonts rival their commercial counterparts. By being discerning in your selection of free fonts, you have the potential to safeguard your project from unnecessary expenses, all while maintaining both quality and uniqueness in design.

Recommendations

When choosing a free font, you need to take into account the same nuances as when buying a commercial one. 👆

Below, as an example, I give some links of my favorite free fonts sites and typefaces

Google Fonts

Making the web more beautiful, fast, and open through great typography

fonts.google.com

Inter font family

Inter started out in late 2016 as an experiment to build a perfectly pixel-fitting font at a specific small size…

rsms.me

Fonts — Fontfabric™

Fontfabric a digital type foundry crafting retail fonts and custom typography for various brands.

www.fontfabric.com

Baseline

In many instances, a common scenario unfolds where the visual margins between text blocks and other interface elements may vary due to differences in text rendering within design tools and mobile operating systems.

To mitigate this issue, it's advisable to assess all margins relative to the baseline. This strategic approach ensures optimal alignment between your layouts and their implementation in the app.

It's important to note that Android presently lacks comprehensive support methods for baseline spacings. Consider this aspect when fine-tuning your mobile app design for consistent visual appeal.

Recommendations

Most likely, using the baseline for all text elements of your interface will be difficult and costly to develop. Therefore, I recommend using this approach for elements where precise accuracy is especially important.

Whitespace and margins

Given the restricted screen size of mobile devices, optimizing text presentation to accommodate as much content as possible within a single visible screen is crucial.

It's essential to avoid compromising whitespace by minimizing margins between text blocks. Doing so could disrupt the hierarchical structure between various text styles and blocks, resulting in decreased readability. Striking a balance that maintains sufficient whitespace is key to preserving a clear and user-friendly text layout on mobile screens.

Recommendations

Compose the layout so that part of the content was above the fold, thereby showing the user that there is more content and encouraging them to scroll.

Take away

This comprehensive guide on mobile app typography emphasizes the evolving nature of typography from traditional to digital mediums, with a specific focus on mobile app design. It delves into key considerations, such as minimum font size, headline size, contrast ratio, system fonts, and the use of commercial and free fonts.

The guide stresses the importance of adhering to guidelines from platforms like Apple's Human Interface Guidelines and Google's Material Design. It provides practical recommendations for font sizes, contrast standards, and font combinations, along with pro tips and tools for implementation.

Additionally, the guide addresses challenges and considerations related to commercial fonts, emphasizing the need for understanding licenses, technical nuances, and scalability. It also highlights the increasing quality of free fonts as a cost-effective alternative.

In typography the importance of baseline spacings and maintaining whitespace for optimal readability on mobile screens is discussed, along with practical recommendations for layout composition. The guide concludes with a reminder to stay informed for an optimal user experience in mobile app design.

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