Font Choice for Launch (Signika)

As a user,

I like to see websites with coherent fonts on many devices

So that my body feels at home there.

I also value page fast load speed (sub 500ms) over typographic perfection.

As an author,

I want predictable line breaks on all devices

So that I can prevent rivers and other typo glitches.

As a ecobytes,

we prefer FOSS over commercial software

So that everyone can reproduce our choices without needing to pay (or any other artificial barriers)

As a designer,

I want fonts that are a bit quirky but also very legible

So that I can rely on them in headings and body copy

---

Current situation

We are using Kava which is quirky and cute.

Disadvantages:

• Not FOSS
• A bit too narrow in small sizes
• Some letter shapes could be more refined

Proposal

We found that Signika has the following advantages:

• Is FOSS
• looks ok (much warmer than the likes of Open Sans, Roboto, Inter, Titillium)
• has some character (not as much as Kava but enough to add flair to a heading)
• is more legible than Kava at medium and small sizes because it's less compressed
• is variable, meaning we can specify any weight

The disadvantage is that Signika has no italics. We can use the old workaround: spaced-out ("gesperrt" in german).

-> More on Signika at Docs/Notes/Fonts

Scope

For the launch, I'll just load Signika for everything and then we can discuss and refine the choice of fonts.

Implementation

• Deliver Signika (as asset in public/ or base64 encoded in html)
• Set all fonts to Signika