Why Can’t Every Piece of Text in My Design Just Share the Same Text Style?
Odd Questions on Design and Typography
Sometimes asking an oddly obvious question helps clarify things for me. Here is one: why can’t every piece of text in my design just share the same text style?
As one text style will look exceptionally clean, as well as being an easy system to maintain, it fails to provide visual hierarchy and contrast to our design. The visual hierarchy gives user guidance to where to look first, helps them make sense of a complex user interface quickly. Contrast provides the scene with dynamics and flow, adding that stylish aesthetics that every design needs.
It may be confusing at times what the differences are between visual hierarchy and contrast. Aren’t they the same thing?
Contrast, in my terms, is how different two styles are from each other. By having contrast, it means we have established a pool of styles that are distinguishably different from each other. Some designer like to use very contrasty styles such as vibrant color and large font size; others choose to use monotoned typeface and type settings for a subdued, plain look and feel. The way a designer plays with contrast, through their choice of sizing, color, texture or even motion, defines their design aesthetics. However, having a pool of different styles doesn’t grant visual hierarchy automatically, but provides a stepping stone.
Unlike contrast, visual hierarchy is purely about function and not about aesthetic styles. Visual hierarchy is achieved by deploying contrasty styles in a particular order; whereas contrast itself can exist for purely aesthetic purposes.
With clear thoughts on why new text styles are introduced to design system, avoid supplementing text styles that don’t contribute to forming contrast and visual hierarchy, and pick new styles that do.
