The Rapid Elearning Blog

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - become a font pro when building online training courses

None of us have time to get caught up in wonky font talk. But the reality is that when building your online training courses you’ll need to select a font to use.

In a previous post we looked at simple ways to create font pairs when building elearning courses. But that still requires some time on your part. In today’s post we’ll look at a time-saving tip when pairing fonts for course design.

For the budget-minded you can always use Google’s web fonts. They’re free and easy to download. One of the features I like best about Google web fonts is that they already do some font pairing for me. That’s a big time-saver.

Create Font Pairs in Google Web Fonts

The first step when trying to pair fonts with Google web fonts is to filter them. You can filter by four types: serif, sans serif, display, and handwriting. Once you have a type selected you can filter by thickness, slant, and width.

  • Start with the title font. Most likely the easiest place to start is with a heading or title font. They tend to have the most personality and contextual representation of the online course subject.
  • Pop out the font. At the bottom of each font line is a pop out icon. This lets you isolate the font and look at the entire character set.

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - example of Google web fonts pop out

  • Select the Pairings tab. Google pairs the selected font with other fonts so you can see how they look. If they look good and follow the simple rules, then make that font pair a keeper.

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - Google web fonts pairing tab to pair fonts for online training

Here’s a tutorial that shows how to locate and pair fonts in Google web fonts.

Create Theme Fonts in PowerPoint and Storyline

Once the font pair is identified, download the fonts and them to PowerPoint or Storyline’s design tab as a theme font. Then you always have quick access to the font pair which will save tons of time.

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - create custom theme fonts in PowerPoint and Articulate Storyline

When building your elearning course, you know you’ll use fonts. And you know that you’ll need to pick the right fonts. Now you know that you can do this a lot easier and with no cost using Google web fonts.

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Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.

Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs

Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills

Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.

Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.

Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.



10 responses to “Become a Font Pro with This Time-Saving Tip”

thanks for the helpful article. I’m going to follow this blog and your articles.

Wow! Thanks so much! I had no idea!

July 19th, 2013

Dude! You’re stuff is the schnizel fitzizzle! Seriously appreciate all of your ideas.

July 19th, 2013

To tell you the truth I never thought much about fonts, but your demos and posts have really helped quite a bit. When are you coming to Indiana?

July 19th, 2013

Are the google fonts free and can I use them in my courses?

July 19th, 2013

Thanks. Great post. Like the others, I really appreciate what you share.

Never thought about the design fonts, good idea.

@Sally: Have your local ASTD group contact me about presenting. I’m always open.

@all: thanks for the kind words

@Freda: yes, the fonts are free and available for your use