In Episode 5 of Discussing Stupid, host Virgil Carroll and co-hosts Chad Heinle and Cole Schlotthauer from High Monkey explore the often-overlooked mistakes organizations make with typography and the significant impact it can have on user experience and performance. From excessive font usage to unreadable design choices, this episode dives into the dos and don’ts of effective typography.

The team discusses:

- Why using too many fonts on a website creates confusion and slows down performance.
- The importance of keeping fonts readable and how font size and weight affect usability.
- Real-world examples of font mistakes, including when and where decorative fonts can work—and when they don’t.
- How poor typography choices can kill website performance, particularly through improper font loading.

To wrap up, they discuss actionable best practices, including limiting font selections, optimizing font files for performance, and always keeping your audience in mind when choosing typography.

By the end of this episode, you’ll gain practical insights to help your website achieve both aesthetic appeal and functional clarity—without sacrificing performance.

This marks the final episode of 2024, and we want to thank all of you for joining us this year! We’ll be taking a short break for the holidays but will return in 2025 with more episodes, more “stupid,” and more expert advice to help you avoid common digital mistakes.

Until then, like, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and visit www.discussingstupid.com for updates and resources.

Happy holidays, and see you in the new year!

(0:00) - Intro & holiday spirit
(1:44) - Welcome back, Chad
(2:20) - Too many fonts = chaos
(4:05) - Learning from print design
(5:25) - Typography as Art vs. Function
(6:23) - The hidden cost of fancy fonts
(8:04) - Should some fonts be banned?
(10:11) - Know your audience and the context
(12:06) - With fonts, less is more 
(14:28) - Outro & happy holidays!


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Font mistakes that are costing you big time

Discussing Stupid returns to the airwaves to transform digital facepalms into teachable moments—all in the time it takes to enjoy your coffee break! Sponsored by High Monkey, this podcast dives into ‘stupid’ practices across websites and Microsoft collaboration tools, among other digital realms. 

Our "byte-sized" bi-weekly episodes are packed with expert insights and a healthy dose of humor. Discussions focus on five key areas: Business Process & Collaboration, UX/IA, Inclusive Design, Content & Search, and Performance & SEO. 

Join us and let’s start making the digital world a bit less stupid, one episode at a time.