Typography can make or break your app's user experience. The right font choices create visual hierarchy, improve readability, and give your app a polished, professional feel—while poor choices confuse users and hurt engagement.

One of the best ways to implement these typography best practices is by building with Adalo—a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps, one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. With complete control over fonts, weights, and styling, you can apply consistent typography across every screen while launching your MVP fast and reaching the widest possible audience through app store distribution.

Here are the essential tips for mastering fonts in your mobile and web apps.

Limit App Design to 2 Fonts

#1. Reminder: One font is fine! Lots of apps just have one and they use different weights to create hierarchy. If you’re going to use one, use the system default or a similar sans serif font.

#2. 1 font for the Header (high level type like titles) and 1 font for the Body (type for content like the copy of an article)

#3. Maintain a 90/10 ratio for body to headings font.

#4. [Pro Tip: you can use different weights & capitalization to get the full range of styles out of those two fonts.]

Maintain Legibility While Styling

#1. Header fonts can be decorative, serif or sans serif

#2. Leave plenty of margin space around components

#3. Make body copy, buttons, and overline a sans serif with low contrast

#4. Keep high contrast between text and background color

#5. [Pro Tip: Remember that while it may be tempting to think outside the box while designing your app, legibility and easy information transfer to your user should be the top priority. Keep it clean, accessible, and simple.]

Consider Hierarchy of Information

#1. List Headings should usually be bold and larger than the body font

#2. Body font medium, regular, or light

#3. [Pro Tip: beyond weight and point size, you can experiment with capitalization to distinguish hierarchy between various headings, subheadings, overlines, body copy, and captions]

Keep Font Sizes Consistent

#1. Body copy font size should be 14-18pt

#2. There should be 5-9 words per line of body copy

#3. Headlines should be 3-4 lines max with 1-2 words per line

#4. [Pro Tip: Limit levels of hierarchy on a screen and keep those levels consistent across similar screens.]

Set Rules for Your Font Colors

#1. Normally vibrant colored text means that it’s clickable.

#2. Make sure your font colors have enough contrast.

#3. Titles are normally black or a dark shade of gray while Subtitles are normally a lighter shade of gray.

#4. Don’t use too many colors.

#5. [Pro Tip: You can use color as a subtitle or a heading but do so with consistency and don’t mix that with button text of the same color on that screen.]

Consider Your Brand Voice and Audience

#1. Get inspiration from fonts used by other apps in your industry 

#2. To pair fonts use the suggested pairing feature from Google Fonts

#3. If your font isn’t available on the platform then find one that’s similar using resources such as Typewolf and Google 

#4. [Pro Tip: Going to freehand your font choices? Pairing a serif with a sans serif is a safe bet for creating a balanced design. You can also get inspiration by looking up your typefaces on FontsinUse]

Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. Need help with your app? You can work with any of our Adalo experts – they can help you with everything from 1:1 coaching, creating an app from scratch, to fixing those pesky bugs, and even giving your app a much-needed facelift! Find out how you can work with an Adalo expert.

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