How do you match web typography with your industry's design standards?

Don’t be afraid to use fonts that aren’t within your industry. Sometimes going a little outside the box will set your brand apart. Be careful not to go too far though, as consumers may want the “safe” industry look. Know your demographic.

When choosing a corporate font (typeface) for your brand identity, don’t choose one that isn’t available for web. Also make sure the typeface you pick is both available in the Adobe Creative Cloud font library as well as available separately from the original font foundry. Try to pick a typeface for body copy that isn’t too much of a departure from what you would expect to see on the web. Chances are, you will need to specify fallback typefaces in your CSS style sheets and you don’t want to make it too obvious when you have to fallback to Arial or a Sans Serif if your primary font isn’t available. Headline fonts should always be on brand and a web font that matches the typeface used in other marketing materials is a must!

Don't worry about fitting into the standard, you could research dozens of websites, but how do you know they made the right choice? How do you know the font or typeface is effective or will be good for your website? Why would you want to look exactly like you competitors? Select a typeface that reflects your brand's mission or story and the emotion you want your audience to feel when reading or viewing.

When you do find your fonts, or create them from scratch... remember to save them offline, on a flash/hard drive if possible, don't rely on the web, software or platform you are using to keep licensing it year after year.

Typefaces are a critical part of an identity. They need to compliment the brand personality of the enterprise. A primary / headline typeface, and a secondary / info-text typeface is a proven, strategic way to proceed. Also be sure that these typefaces have a good range of styles (ex: light, regular, bold, italic, etc.) which will help with the flexibility of various designs.

I typically aim to have 2-3 brand fonts for variety. A display font as your main font is great for showing your brand's personality, but they don't always have the best legibility and readability. For example, a flowy script font might look great and fit your aesthetic, but it can be hard to read cursive especially as newer generations aren't even taught it in school. These type of fonts work great for short headlines or for highlighting words. An alternate headline font is always great to have when you need to work in longer formats or at smaller sizes. And then of course, make sure you have a body copy font that can be used for longer copy. Also consider fonts that have lots of varying weights along with condensed or wide options.

If you are having difficulty understanding hierarchy, web principles, or guidelines and laws you must abide by, it's time to find an experienced web designer or agency.

A slower loading website is sometimes unavoidable. They are only frowned upon by viewers if there's a blank screen or something that looks like spam, be sure to include an on brand or entertaining "preloader screen". However, once the initial load is done, the website better be blazing fast.

Please understand the difference between web font, font and typefaces before you begin. When selecting, (especially if you are in the design industry) keep in mind your printed collateral, even invoices, should use these same fonts if you want to be taken seriously... choose wisely!