When we think of creativity in emails, we often think of imagery as the go-to for eye-catching designs, but there's also a way to get creative with copy, taking advantage of typography. Typography is the style of written content and includes things like typeface, weight, size, color, or letter spacing. Well-thought-out typography can be so impactful that the need for imagery is reduced. Many brands today grab subscribers' attention and get their message across with well-styled copy and little to no images. Also find out how you can make an impact, by browsing: Different typefaces Creative ways to style fonts Tips for typography in emails Email Typography Examples What is a typeface? A typeface is the design of a set of characters including letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and symbols. There is a plethora of fonts that can be used to style email copy.
This can make the task a bit daunting, especially if you're not bound by brand guidelines. But there are some general guidelines you can follow to help you with your selection. Classification of typefaces There are five basic classifications of typefaces: serif, sans serif, script, monospace, and display. examples of serif, sans serif, monospaced, script, and display font appearance Serif fonts are recognizable by the decorative stroke at the end of the letters, Image Masking Service also often described as feet. Sans serif , which means "without serif" in French, has sharp and precise ends to each letter. Monospaced fonts have characters that each occupy the same horizontal space . Fonts that are not fixed-pitch are variable-width fonts, with letters and spacing of different widths. Script , or cursive fonts, are often flowing, joined letters, similar to handwriting. Display fonts , or fancy fonts, are decorative and creative typefaces, intended for use in large format or in logo design.
Serif and sans-serif are the most commonly used typefaces, especially for body text. Indeed, they are the most readable and therefore accessible. They look good when scaled down and at lower weights. Script and display fonts are often too complex for body text. This means they can be hard to read and even harder to scan. They are therefore usually reserved for headlines. Monospaced fonts are also less commonly used as body text. Instead, they are privileged in the technical resources of programming languages to distinguish code from natural language. Polices Web To use a font in an email, it must be a web font. This is a numeric font that can be called in your code. There are many free web fonts as well as those that can be purchased. First, let's look at the two types of digital fonts you can call into your email: web-safe fonts and web-based fonts. Web safe fonts These are fonts that are installed on most operating systems, which means calling these fonts in your email code will result in consistent rendering across email clients, devices, and operating systems. Here are the best supported web safe fonts on Windows and Mac devices: