Text readability: Design for legibility with color

When it comes to design, typography should combine form and function. Pairing typography with color not only elevates aesthetics but also enhances readability, transforming text into an engaging experience.

In this guide, we’ll delve into the fundamentals of using color with typography, offering actionable tips and showcasing real-world examples to help you create visually stunning and accessible designs.

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Color and text readability

Text readability is all about how easy or hard it is for someone to read and understand your content. It comes down to a mix of how the text is presented visually and the actual words and sentences you’re using. Both play a role in ensuring your message is clear and easy to digest.

Important visual elements you need to consider to ensure readability are font choice, spacing, and color. Text color is a vital component of design that affects readability that we're going to focus on in this guide.

The fundamentals of typography and color

Typography and color work together to grab attention while ensuring clarity. Here’s how to pair fonts and colors effectively:

1. Prioritize contrast for readability

Contrast is important for ensuring text is easy to read. High-contrast pairings, like black text on a white background, and vice versa, are timeless for a reason. When using color in text for digital designs, leverage tools like Coolors - a free-to-use color contrast checker.

2. Harmonize font styles and color palettes

When selecting fonts and color palettes, it's essential to ensure they complement each other as well as reflect the design style or brand image you're trying to convey.

For example, serif fonts and decorative fonts are often associated with tradition, elegance, and sophistication. They tend to pair well with muted, understated colors such as deep greens, soft grays, or beige, reinforcing a classic, timeless aesthetic. This combination would suit a brand that wants to evoke feelings of luxury, heritage, or "old money" style, such as a high-end marketing agencies, law firms, and luxury retail brands.

On the other hand, sans-serif fonts convey a more modern, clean, and minimalist look. These fonts work beautifully with bolder, more vibrant color palettes for a contemporary, forward-thinking brand. Alternatively, they achieve a luxurious and modern look with muted yet rich color palettes - think blacks, deep blues, charcoal, or deep reds.

3. Avoid mismatched combinations

Some font and color combinations can undermine a brand's desired image. For instance, using bold sans-serif fonts with bright, neon colors would clash with an "old money" aesthetic, which typically calls for more traditional elements. This type of combination, with its bold, flashy nature, would be more appropriate for a cutting-edge tech startup or a youth-focused brand, not a luxury goods company. Conversely, using delicate serif fonts with a bright, playful color palette could confuse the brand messaging, especially for companies seeking to appear modern and innovative.

Below (left) is an example of the sophisticated, luxurious brand design from above, but with tech brand colors applied to it (right). With this change of color palette, we can see the brand's image completely alters and misaligns.

3. Use accent colors for emphasis

Accent colors are powerful tools for guiding the reader’s attention to key information and establishing visual hierarchy in a design. By strategically using bold, contrasting colors in specific areas, such as headings or calls to action, you can direct focus while keeping the overall design balanced.

For example, using bold, bright, or saturated colors for headings and calls-to-action (CTAs) alongside muted body text creates a clear contrast that naturally leads the viewer's eye from the most important information to supporting details. This contrast not only enhances readability but also ensures that critical elements stand out without overwhelming the entire design.

Accent colors should be used sparingly and thoughtfully, ensuring they complement the primary color palette while adding emphasis. Overusing accent colors can cause visual clutter, but when used strategically, they reinforce the design's hierarchy and keep the viewer engaged with the content.

Here's an example of accent colors used thoughtfully in a promotional post. Notice how the accent colors complement and balance the overall design. Beside it, you'll see the same design with poorly used accent colors, which overwhelm the layout, create imbalance, and fail to guide the viewer's eye effectively.

4. Balance simplicity and complexity

Achieving a polished and professional design requires balancing simplicity and complexity. Limiting your design to two or three fonts and a cohesive color palette ensures visual harmony, preventing clutter or overwhelming elements. This approach keeps your design focused and clean.

Too many fonts or colors can create a chaotic look, diluting the design's impact and confusing the viewer. By keeping fonts and colors minimal, you establish a natural visual flow that emphasizes the key aspects of your design.

For example, using one font for headlines and another for body text adds variety without clutter. Similarly, choosing two or three complementary colors enhances versatility while maintaining unity, ensuring the design feels cohesive and professional.

See the examples below: The left infographic uses complementary font styles and a minimal color palette for a clean, focused design. On the right, too many font styles - decorative, bold, and serif - clutter the design. Additionally, while the colors complement each other, there are too many, creating a cluttered look that fails to guide attention effectively.

Leveraging contrast, emphasis, balance, and hierarchy

Colors in text and typography help us structure and enhance designs. Here’s how:

Contrast

High contrast improves readability, while subtle contrasts can create a sophisticated look, provided they don’t compromise legibility.

Emphasis

Highlight headings or calls to action with higher saturated, bold colors. For example, a red header against neutral body text immediately draws attention.

Balance

Proportionally distribute colors to avoid chaos. Ensure primary text colors dominate while accents are used sparingly.

Hierarchy

Use color to guide readers through your content. For example:

• Primary headers: Bold, large, and in striking colors that immediately catch the eye.
• Subheaders: Medium weight in complementary tones to your primary header.
• Body text: Because this text is smaller, you want to use neutral hues to make sure it legible while still complimenting your overall design. This could be with blacks, greys, whites, or darker shades of your primary header or subheader.

Typography and color for digital and print media

Web typography tips

• Do: Use easily legible, web-safe fonts and ensure accessible color contrast.
• Don’t: Overuse decorative fonts or reduce legibility for aesthetic purposes.

Print typography tips

• Large Posters: Use bold, legible fonts with high-contrast colors for visibility. Avoid overcrowding the design. If you use decorative fonts, consider the impact this will have on legibility. To ensure it's readable, you may want a font that's less intricate than other decorative fonts. Alternatively, maybe aesthetics is your main goal and legibility isn't as much of a concern. With either design choice, the color you select for your text will be a powerful aid to help ensure better readability.
• Infographics and marketing/sales materials: With customer-facing materials such as infographics and sales one-pagers, legibility and user experience (UX) should be your top priority. Employ clean fonts in neutral hues that are easy to read. Additionally, you'll want style headers to stand out - with bold fonts or bold colors that catch the eye. This will help readers navigate the page. Avoid excessive decorative elements.

Aligning typography and color with brand identity

Typography and color are integral to your brand’s personality. Together, they create a cohesive story that resonates with your audience. In this section, we’ll explore how to align your typography and color choices with your image and brand’s message, ensuring that every design decision supports your overall vision.

1. Define your brand personality

Your brand’s personality should guide every design decision, including font and color choices. The key is ensuring that every design element aligns with the brand’s personality. Using fonts or colors that contradict the intended style can confuse your audience and weaken your image. Whether refined or fun, your choices should consistently reflect who your brand is and what it stands for.

2. Choose colors strategically

Consider color psychology. For example, blue conveys trust, while red suggests energy. Align your choices with your brand’s values and target audience. Read our brand building guide for more tips for choosing brand colors.

3. Create a style guide

Document typography and color guidelines to ensure consistency across platforms, from social media to website design to marketing materials. Once you've nailed down your ideal color palette, saving it in your brand kit is a huge time-saver! No more recreating your palette from scratch or worrying about inconsistent designs - saving your colors ensures accuracy and keeps your brand image sharp and professional.

In Kittl, you can go a step further by saving not just your colors, but also your font styles and design elements in your brand kit. This means you can store everything from typography to specific design styles and even non-text elements like shapes or icons in your brand’s chosen colors. Having your entire brand identity readily accessible allows you to create cohesive, on-brand designs effortlessly every time.

Design challenge

Step away from the corporate side of design and take inspiration from the bold use of color in street art and graffiti. These artworks tend to use vivid, clashing colors to make a statement. 

Challenge: Experiment with applying graffiti-inspired color schemes and styles to professional marketing designs. Layer contrasting bright colors, graffiti-style textures, and abstract shapes to create a sense of movement and excitement. This challenge will help you break free from conventional color schemes and embrace an edgier, more expressive design approach.

Key takeaway

Typography and color are powerful tools that, when used correctly, enhance both readability and visual appeal. Whether designing for print or web, prioritize contrast, balance, and alignment with your brand’s identity.

Mastering the interactions of type and color in design, and you'll have the skill vital for all professional designers - capturing attention.