How to Choose Fonts For The Headlines of Your Catalog

Choosing the right fonts for your catalog's headlines is more important than you might think simply because most consumers "browse" through most catalogs. A browsing consumer skims through the catalog, glancing at the headlines and stopping on those messages and images that interest them. Therefore, making your headline fonts readable and intriguing is one of the vital aspects of a successful catalog. Here are a few tips for effective headline fonts.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Think Contrast:
   Headlines need to stand out easily from the rest of your text. Create contrast using one or more of these techniques: bold your headlines, use a different color, and use a sans serif font for the headline and a serif font for the body text. Remember, sans serif is without flags while serif fonts contain flags on the tips of letters. Also, make sure that when you use color for headlines to choose a color that not only contrasts with the body text but also the background of the catalog page.

2. Eliminate Clutter: Too many different font types and formats will create a cluttered look, which defeats the purpose of headlines. Keep your catalog looking organized by limiting your fonts to only two or three different types and formats (bold, italics, color, etc). This rule includes all of your text - headlines, subtitles, and body.

3. Be Consistent: Further enhance an ordered look by using the same fonts in similar places. For instance, use one font variation for the headlines of your products, another for the headlines of boxes, and possibly another for the headlines of sections.

4. Create Choice: More than likely, your catalog design program comes with only a handful of font choices. With a catalog, you want to create a unique image that your customers recognize, even in the fonts you use. This is why you may decide it's necessary to search for more unique fonts than what your software provides. Several viable options are available: hire a designer to create a one-of-a-kind font, buy a pre-made font, or use one of the thousands of free fonts located online.

Tips & Warnings

• use a larger size than body text so that your headlines easily catch the eye - often 32pt. or more.
• choose fonts that capture the tone of your catalog, such as humorous, childish, or serious.
• use kerning to make spaces between letters even.
• squish the letters together to make them fit in the location your headline needs to be.
• use all caps as this signifies shouting and is also considered unprofessional.
• overdo decorative fonts since they can be hard to read.

Resources

• Catalog Printing
• Choosing Fonts