Choosing an accessible font sounds simple until you realize there’s no official ADA-approved font listand not every sans serif font is automatically accessible.
Accessible typography is about readability and usability, not just style. While fonts like Arial, Verdana and Calibri are commonly recommended, the most accessible choice often depends on factors such as letter clarity, spacing, font weight, contrast and where the content will be viewed.
The confusion is understandable. Neither the ADA nor WCAG endorses specific fonts, so designers and content creators are left to evaluate fonts based on how well they support real-world readability. A font that works well for a website may not be the best choice for a PDF, presentation, infographic, or report.
This guide cuts through the confusion by explaining what actually makes a font accessible, which fonts are generally the safest choices, and how to use typography more effectively across different formats. You’ll learn:
- What makes a font accessible
- Which fonts work best for websites, PDFs, presentations, and visual content
- What WCAG and ADA requirements do—and don’t—say about fonts
- How dyslexia-friendly fonts fit into accessibility
- Practical typography tips that improve readability for more users
By the end, you’ll know which fonts are typically the safest choices, which common mistakes to avoid, and how to create more accessible content regardless of the platform or design tool you’re using.
Creating an accessible design means ensuring your content is as consumable as possible for people with blindness, visual impairments, neurodiversity or other issues.
Quick answer: what are the best accessible fonts?
If you’re looking for a quick recommendation, start with fonts that prioritize clarity and readability.
- Best overall accessible fonts: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica and Calibri
- Best accessibility-focused font: Atkinson Hyperlegible
- Best for headings: Carefully chosen slab serif or display fonts used sparingly and at larger sizes
- Not automatically accessible: Any font used in a thin weight, low-contrast color combination, small size or dense block of text
The most accessible font isn’t necessarily the one with the most accessibility claims, it’s the one that remains easy to read across different devices, screen sizes, and user needs.
Compliance note: There is no official ADA-approved font list. Accessibility depends on both font choice and implementation, including size, spacing, contrast and readability.
What makes a font accessible?
Accessible fonts make text easier to read for a wide range of users, including people with visual impairments, dyslexia and age-related vision changes.
In general, accessible fonts have:
- Clear, distinguishable letterforms
- Consistent stroke widths
- Adequate spacing between characters
- Good readability at different sizes
However, accessibility isn’t determined by the font alone. Font size, contrast, spacing and layout all play an important role in how easy content is to read.
What are accessible fonts?
Accessible fonts are fonts that are easy to see, read and understand for all people.
While the need to make your visual content accessible to all focuses largely around those with disabilities, the truth is that accessible fonts apply to everyone. Certain fonts are hard for many people to read, even if they aren’t dealing with an issue like low vision or dyslexia.
Accessible fonts shouldn’t make content more difficult to read, slow the reader down, make it hard to distinguish one letter from another or include unnecessary visual flourishes that detract from the utility of the font.
Quick decision framework: Is this font accessible?
Before choosing a font, ask these questions:
- Are the letterforms distinct?
- Can you easily tell apart uppercase I, lowercase l, and the number 1?
- Is rn clearly distinguishable from m?
- Is the stroke width readable?
- Are the strokes thick enough to remain visible at smaller sizes?
- Does the font avoid overly decorative or ultra-thin elements?
- Is there adequate spacing?
- Do letters, words, and lines have enough space to prevent crowding?
- Does it provide strong contrast?
- Will the text remain easy to read against its intended background?
- Does it scale well?
- Is the font legible on mobile devices, large screens, and when zoomed in up to 200% or more?
- Is it appropriate for the content type?
- Does it work well for long-form body text, or is it better suited for headings and short labels?
If you answer “yes” to most of these questions, the font is more likely to support accessibility. However, accessibility depends on implementation too. Font size, line spacing, color contrast, and layout can have just as much impact on readability as the font itself.
That said, it’s important to note that a font family alone is not automatically accessible. Font size, spacing, contrast, formatting and overall implementation all play a major role in readability and accessibility.
This infographic uses accessible fonts. The font is legible, has distinct letters and doesn’t contain unnecessary visual clutter that detracts from comprehension.
Related: How to Create Accessible Infographics With Venngage
Pro-tip: Want to double-check your final PDF for accessibility? Try this free PDF accessibility checker tool from Venngage.
Are serif or sans serif fonts better for accessibility?
You’ll often hear that sans serif fonts are more accessible, but the answer isn’t quite that simple.
Sans serif fonts are usually a safe choice for websites, apps, and other digital content because their clean, simple shapes tend to stay clear on screens. That’s why fonts like Arial, Verdana and Calibri are commonly used in digital design.
That said, serif fonts can be accessible too. Many serif fonts are easy to read in longer documents, books, and printed materials. A well-designed serif font with clear letterforms and good spacing can be just as readable as a sans serif font.
The bigger question isn’t whether a font is serif or sans serif, it’s whether people can read it easily. Things like character clarity, spacing, size, and contrast have a bigger impact on accessibility than the presence (or absence) of serifs.
It’s also worth noting that not every sans-serif font is automatically accessible. Thin, condensed, or decorative sans serif fonts can be difficult to read, especially at smaller sizes.
Instead of focusing on serif versus sans serif, choose a font that stays clear and readable for your audience across different devices, screen sizes, and viewing conditions.
If you still confuse serif and sans serif fonts, here’s a quick tip: sans serif are the ones without the little “serifs”— the embellishments at the top and bottom of letters (hence the “sans” in its name):
Because serif fonts include additional flourishes, depending on the type’s size, these fonts can be difficult to read. Letters may run together, even touching each other in smaller sizes. For this reason, serif fonts are more commonly used for headings due to the larger font size, like in this template:
Here are a few tips for picking the best font for your visual communications. Keep these in mind when selecting an accessible font, whether you choose a serif or sans serif.
Best accessible fonts by use case
The best accessible font depends on where people will read it. A font that works well on a website may not be the best choice for a presentation or infographic.
For websites: Fonts like Verdana, Open Sans, Arial and Atkinson Hyperlegible are strong choices for websites because they remain readable across different screen sizes and devices.
For PDFs and reports: Calibri, Arial, Georgia and Open Sans work well for reports and longer documents. Georgia is a good option if you prefer a serif font without sacrificing readability.
For presentations and slides: Helvetica, Arial, Calibri and Tahoma are commonly used in presentations because they stay legible from a distance and work well at larger sizes.
For infographics and social graphics: Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica and Atkinson Hyperlegible are effective for data visualizations and graphics. If you’re using multiple text sizes and visual elements, prioritize fonts with clear letterforms and strong readability.
| Font | Best For | Strengths | Watchouts | Better for Body Text or Headings? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arial | Websites, reports, presentations | Widely available, familiar, and easy to read at most sizes | Can feel generic and lacks distinctive character shapes compared to newer accessibility-focused fonts | Both |
| Verdana | Websites and digital content | Large x-height, generous spacing, and excellent screen readability | Takes up more horizontal space than many other fonts | Body text |
| Tahoma | User interfaces and presentations | Compact, clear, and readable at smaller sizes | Less comfortable for long-form reading than Verdana or Open Sans | Both |
| Helvetica | Presentations, branding, websites | Clean, professional appearance with strong readability | Can appear cramped at smaller sizes if spacing isn’t adjusted | Headings and short body text |
| Calibri | Reports, documents, presentations | Designed for digital reading with balanced spacing | Less distinctive than some accessibility-focused fonts | Body text |
| Georgia | Reports, articles, PDFs | Readable serif font designed for screens and long-form reading | Not ideal when space is limited | Body text |
| Atkinson Hyperlegible | Accessibility-focused content | Designed to reduce confusion between similar-looking characters | Less widely available by default than system fonts | Body text |
| Open Sans | Websites, infographics, reports | Open letterforms, excellent readability, and versatile use cases | Can feel plain in highly branded designs | Both |
| Raleway | Headings, graphics, branding | Stylish and modern appearance | Lighter weights and elegant letterforms can reduce readability in longer passages | Headings |
No single font is the most accessible in every situation. Focus on clear letterforms, appropriate sizing, spacing, contrast and always test your content in the environment where people will actually read it.
Related: 20+ Best Google Font Pairs for 2021 [FREE DOWNLOAD]
If you’ll be using data or financial information in your accessible designs, such as for presentations or annual reports, it’s a good idea to pull key points out and display them in large, visually pleasing ways like in this example.
When using icons for your accessible designs, they should remain on the simpler side rather than being highly detailed. Often, these details can become a distraction for readers, and if your audience has impairments that make it difficult for them to process visual materials, they may be turned off.
What are dyslexia-friendly fonts?
Dyslexia-friendly fonts are designed to make text easier to read by improving character recognition and reducing confusion between similar-looking letters.
Some common characteristics include:
- Clear, distinct letterforms
- Consistent stroke widths
- Generous spacing between letters and words
- Easy-to-distinguish characters
This project by Daniel Britton recreates the feeling of reading with dyslexia for a non-dyslexic person:
It’s important to note that specialized dyslexia fonts are not universally proven to improve reading speed or comprehension for all people with dyslexia. Research findings are mixed, and reading preferences can vary significantly from person to person.
In practice, many readers with dyslexia prefer:
- Clear sans serif fonts
- Well-spaced text
- Distinct letterforms
- Consistent typography
Accessibility-focused fonts such as Atkinson Hyperlegible and Lexend are popular options because they were designed with readability in mind. While many users report positive experiences with these fonts, their effectiveness can vary depending on the reader and the reading context.
Note that researchers haven’t found evidence of dyslexia fonts actually making dyslexic people read faster — however, lots of people with dyslexia like the added features of these fonts and find them helpful.
The key takeaway is that readability depends on more than the font itself. When possible:
- Prioritize clear typography and adequate spacing
- Test content with real users
- Offer font and text-size customization options
- Consider reader preference alongside accessibility guidelines
If you don’t have dyslexia-friendly fonts on your website, use traditional sans serif fonts can work. Research shows that sans serif, monospaced and roman font types increase the reading performance among people with dyslexia, while italic fonts decrease readability.
Some good fonts for people with dyslexia are Helvetica, Courier, Arial, Verdana and CMU (Computer Modern Unicode).
How to make text more accessible?
You can’t change a font’s properties, but increasing text size can often help make a font accessible. By making the text itself larger, it’s sometimes possible to make the letters appear more distinct from one another, which is important in choosing accessible fonts.
Choosing an accessible font is only part of the equation. How you format and display text can have an even bigger impact on readability.
Use this checklist to make your text easier for more people to read:
✓ Accessible text checklist
☐ Use regular or medium font weights instead of thin or light styles.
☐ Avoid all caps in long passages.
☐ Avoid italics for body text where possible.
☐ Avoid justified text.
☐ Maintain readable line height.
☐ Maintain readable letter spacing.
☐ Use strong contrast between text and background colors.
☐ Limit font pairings to reduce visual clutter.
☐ Test the text on mobile devices.
☐ Allow 200% zoom or resizing without loss of content or function.
☐ Use relative units like rem or em for web text.
☐ Test responsive readability across different screen sizes.
☐ Avoid decorative, handwritten, or script fonts for long blocks of text.
Be cautious with decorative, handwritten, or script fonts. While they can work for logos, headings or short design elements, they are often difficult to read in longer blocks of text and can create accessibility challenges for many users.
Accessibility Tips for Web Text
If you’re designing for the web, a few additional best practices can improve readability:
- Use relative units such as rem or em instead of fixed pixel sizes so text can scale more easily.
- Test readability across different screen sizes, from mobile phones to large desktop monitors.
- Check how your content behaves when users increase browser zoom or adjust their default text size settings.
- Review layouts on responsive breakpoints to ensure text remains readable and doesn’t become cramped or difficult to navigate.
Remember: even the most accessible font can become difficult to read if it’s too small, too light, poorly spaced, or displayed with insufficient contrast.
Here’s an example. This infographic illustrates how the design itself can enhance accessibility by using clear icons and a color scheme that represents the key points of the information.
If your design calls for information to run in vertical rather than horizontal sections, consider adding lines (as this example does) or other dividers to make it easy for readers to understand where related information stops.
Creating content for your social media posts? Here’s an example of how you can use simple icons to illustrate your Instagram carousel content while still ensuring you’re using accessible fonts.
Is there an ADA-compliant font size?
Not exactly. The ADA does not publish an official list of approved font sizes, nor does it specify a minimum font size that automatically makes content compliant.
Instead, accessibility is typically evaluated based on whether people with disabilities can access and use the content effectively.
ADA vs. WCAG vs. readability best practices
It’s helpful to separate three related but different concepts:
ADA (legal compliance):
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires organizations to provide accessible experiences, but it does not prescribe specific font sizes for websites, reports, presentations or marketing materials.
WCAG (accessibility guidance):
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) do not set a minimum font size either. However, they require that text can be resized up to 200% without loss of content or functionality, helping users with low vision customize text to their needs.
Readability best practices:
And while the ADA does not explicitly spell out font sizes it deems to be compliant, some accepted standards in web design have emerged in recent years to make sure content is accessible for all.
Many designers use 16px as a starting point for body text on websites because it is generally comfortable for most readers. For print materials, presentations, reports and infographics, the ideal size depends on the viewing distance, medium and audience.
The goal isn’t to hit a specific number, it’s to ensure that text remains readable for your audience.
This event poster template was designed for accessibility, you can tell that none of the text goes below the 12px mark. This is an excellent way to make sure that people with varying levels of visual acuity or disability feel your content was designed for them.
The same principle applies to reports and other long-form documents. Maintaining readable type sizes throughout the document is generally more important than fitting everything onto fewer pages.
A good rule of thumb is to test your content at different sizes, view it on multiple devices, and verify that users can zoom or resize text without losing information or functionality.
If that means you need to add pages in order to get all your content in, Venngage makes it easy to insert new pages and maximize the readability of your material, like in this annual report template.
Related: ADA Standards for Accessible Design: How to Be Compliant
What WCAG says about font size and resizing
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) don’t establish a minimum text size, though an informal standard of 16px and no smaller than 12px has emerged in recent years.
Where WCAG does make firm recommendations is ensuring that on websites, it’s possible for users to zoom in by 200% to make text larger.
These guidelines cover far more than font choice or size, including the use of colors, color contrast, the page’s structure and more. All of these factors play into how accessible your design will be.
However, font size is only one part of accessibility. Readable text also depends on factors such as:
- Sufficient color contrast between text and its background
- Adequate spacing between letters, words, lines, and paragraphs
- Responsive layouts that adapt to different screen sizes and zoom levels
- Using real text instead of images of text whenever possible
Related:
- Color Blind Design Guidelines: How to Convey Meaning to Everyone [With Examples & Templates]
- How to Use Color Blind Friendly Palettes to Make Your Charts Accessible
- Image Alt Text: Definition and Best Practices for Accessible Designs
Keeping font sizes large in your accessible visual communications also makes for much more engaging content for all readers, not just those with accessibility issues. Optimizing for accessibility is an excellent way to trim unnecessary words from your content.
This infographic on designing for diversity is another good example. It uses only sans serif fonts whose font size is large enough that readers don’t have difficulty reading, or even skimming:
As this employee orientation checklist illustrates, it’s possible to use smaller font size for the body text, so long as the fonts are accessible and you apply the principles of accessible design. In this case, color-coding, lines and checkboxes all help readers understand the information flow.
You’ll also notice that this template uses a sans serif font for both its heading and body text, as sans serif typefaces are generally easier to read:
Similarly, this orientation checklist uses an understated background and multi-shade color palette while remaining approachable and accessible for all.
How to choose accessible fonts with confidence
Choosing an accessible font doesn’t have to be complicated.
The first thing to remember is that there is no official list of approved or ADA-compliant fonts. Accessibility isn’t determined by a font name alone, it’s the result of both the font you choose and how you use it.
When evaluating a font, focus on readability:
- Choose fonts with clear, distinct letterforms.
- Use adequate font sizes, spacing, and contrast.
- Test readability across devices and screen sizes.
- Make sure text remains usable when resized or zoomed.
For body text, common and highly legible fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Open Sans, Calibri, and Atkinson Hyperlegible are often the safest choices because they prioritize clarity over style.
Decorative, script, or highly stylized fonts can still have a place in your designs, but they’re usually best reserved for headings, logos, or short callouts rather than long passages of text.
Before publishing your content:
- Review it against an accessibility checklist.
- Verify color contrast and text readability.
- Test PDF accessibility and document structure if you’re sharing downloadable files.
- Check how the design performs on different devices and at higher zoom levels.
By combining accessible font choices with thoughtful implementation, you can create content that’s easier for everyone to read and use. When you’re ready to put these best practices into action, explore Venngage’s accessible design tools to create reports, presentations, infographics and PDFs with accessibility in mind from the start.
