Do Not Use Too Many Fonts

In graphic design, right and wrong do not exist . There is only effective and non-effective communication.

Be consistent in the use of fonts. A different font for every headline, for instance, is confusing and can give your design a cluttered look. You can usually get away with more fonts in longer documents with many different design elements where only two to three different fonts appear on any one page spread.

Select a font for body copy and another for headlines. Use bold, italics, and different sizes of those fonts for captions, subheadings, decks, and other design elements. Depending on the design you might use a third font for initial caps, pull-quotes, or other selected items. You might add a fourth font for page numbers or as a secondary body font for sidebars, but usually two or three are sufficient.

Do not use more than four fonts in any one graphic design publication. As a general rule, when designing a publication I never use more than four fonts. Realistically, how many do you need? For a newsletter layout, you could use one font for headings, one for body text (which could also be used in italics or bold for captions) and one for subheadings. You may not even need that fourth one.

It is also wise to not make sudden font changes within a paragraph. Use the same font for body copy, using only bold or italics to add small amounts of emphasis, if necessary. If greater emphasis is required . create a pull-quote, set that copy in the margin, or create a sidebar using a different font to really set the information apart.

No hard and fast rule says you can't use five, six, or even twenty different fonts in one document. However, consistency and readability are important to good design and too many font changes can distract and confuse the reader. Make your font choices carefully and consider how many font will be seen together. Longer, multi-page publications, such as magazines, can often tolerate a greater variety of typefaces. For brochures, ads, and other short documents, limit fonts to one, two, or three.