Web typography for SMEs: 5 mistakes that hurt legibility

Typography is 80% of perceived site design but it's the first thing SMEs get wrong. Fonts picked for aesthetics not readability, too small sizes, tight line-height. Here are 5 mistakes costing readability and conversions.

1. Body text under 16px

Body font size under 16px on mobile: readability crashes, scroll increases, abandonment +40%. 2026 standard: 16-18px body desktop, 16px min mobile. H1 at 32-48px, H2 at 24-32px.

2. Tight line-height

Body text with line-height 1.0 or 1.2 looks crushed and is hard to read. Standard: 1.5-1.7 for body, 1.2-1.3 for headings. A 1,000-word article with line-height 1.6 reads in 5 min, with 1.2 takes 8 (frustrated).

3. Too many font families

3+ fonts on a site = chaos. Sweet spot: 2 fonts (1 serif heading + 1 sans body) or 2 weights of same family. More than 2 = slow loading, amateur perception.

4. Non-optimised web fonts

Importing 6 weights of a Google font = +400KB download. Import only 2-3 weights you actually use (e.g. Regular 400 + Bold 700). Use font-display: swap to avoid invisible text flash.

5. Insufficient contrast

Light grey #999 on white = WCAG fail, illegible for people with vision issues (15% of population). Min body text #444 on white. Tester: contrast-ratio.com

Combined, these 5 fixes improve average time on site by 25-40% without changing content. Included in the Foundation package.

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