There are thousands of fonts out there. A staggering variety of methods to present text, set mood, and create a striking identity. But you wouldn't know it by browsing the web. Going by what you see on business sites, online publications, and trendy apps, you'd be forgiven for thinking there were only a dozen or so usable fonts out there.

This is a shame. Sticking with the same fonts over and over again ignores their potential to create a memorable and distinctive profile for your business.

Why are some fonts way more popular than others? You could say it was a mix of factors, a good dose of practicality, a dash of follow-the-leader, and of course, fear (the secret ingredient of most human ventures). 

Some fonts cost money, others do not. The fonts that don't cost money are going to be more popular for obvious reasons (most people balk at the idea of paying for a fancy new way to write Aa, Bb, Cc...). But, that doesn't tell the whole story.

There are over 700 free fonts available through Google. Not all of them are great, a good number of them are (more than the ten or so fonts you see repeated over and over anyway). Some could be great, but lack options like italics and bolding and that tends to turn designers off. Others might be okay but suffer from terrible kerning, the variable space between different letters (if kerning sounds like something only a vegetarian would obsess over, just do a quick Google search for "kerning disasters” to see why it matters). 

Even with these factors in mind, you have to wonder why we don't see more of them being used. That leads us to the next element, follow-the-leader.

Before people invest time, money, and effort into something, they generally take the reasonable step of seeing what works for other people. An understandable and wise move. When it comes to building a website, they'll poke another other sites, see something they like and say "yeah, let's get one that looks like that.” Totally understandable, but it leads to a positive feedback loop. The more sites run a particular font (say the ubiquitous Brandon Grotesque) the more successful a choice it appears. "Well, if all these sites use it, it must be great!” and another drone joins the collective.

The other element is fear. People don't want to make a wrong choice so instead they'll stick with the proven safe options. They'll search up the most popular fonts out there, choose one of the top ten, and call it a day, secure in the knowledge that they've done nothing to make themselves stand out or taken a risk.

Now, this isn't to say that the most popular fonts are somehow lottery winners that are the lucky beneficiaries of an endless upward spiral of success. The most popular fonts have great foundations. Brandon Grotesque is a genuinely clean design with great page presence, good spacing, and a look that strikes a balance between old-fashion and modern ("vintage-future?” "retro-present?”). Gotham looks impressive and stark on a page, it's easy to see why it works for headlines and product names. Futura screams professionalism, a crisp slightly-deco look that tells everyone "I am a serious person” at a glance. These are legitimately great fonts.

But they shouldn't be the automatic choices.

 

You have the ability to make a distinctive impression with your font choice. To set the "voice” of your site, to make your site unique. Ideally, you want a visitor to be able to identify your brand just by looking at the typeset. Not forget it in a haze of identical banner ads, presidential nomination posters, and NYT Best-Seller covers.

Don't take this as license to use something insane. Distinctive interesting is good. Distinctive maniac is not. Don't select some abstract font that is as readable as Microsoft Webdings unless you love failure. Communication is still the goal, you're just looking to add a little personal style, not bring back the hieroglyphic.

Try something subtle. If you're looking at one of the more popular typefaces, try something similar but a little bit different. Add some mustard to that pitch. Of your could try to create a unique look by mixing and matching different typefaces, a different one for headlines from body text or what have you (it would be wise to consult a designer for feedback on this, you want complimentary sets, not a site that looks like a ransom letter made from letters cut out of different magazines).

There are thousands of free fonts out there, explore your options and create a distinct visual profile for your site that visitors will come to recognize.

And remember, only hipsters use Helvetica. (Full disclosure: I have used Helvetica.)