7 fresh ways to emphasize text (text styling for designers)

Key points

We can go beyond simple bolded, highlighted or italicized text by combining, remixing, and/or altering common text styling
In today's post, I share: the fading highlight, stroke-only text, gradient text, typeface combos, inline icons, and circled text
Prioritize clarity, then creativity
Make sure whatever style you use aligns with the visual identity of the overall layout (the intended message)
Maintain internal consistency
Be careful with underlined text (clickability affordance)

Elevate your typography beyond simple bolded or highlighted text styling. Here are 7 fresh ways of emphasizing text to grab attention. Useful for highlighting keywords or just amplifying your words in general.

We can go beyond simple bolded or highlighted text. Let’s have some fun with text styling.

The fading highlight

Relume executed this flawlessly. See it in action.

Stroke-only text

Emphasize with a gradient

Apple often makes use of this on their website.

Use a radial gradient

Beautifully executed on the Tella homepage.

Combine typefaces

The flow.ninja website makes use of this throughout all of their headings.

Inline icons

The hand-drawn circle

Text emphasis pro tips

Prioritize clarity. Your text needs to remain discernible and readable
Make sure the text emphasis style aligns with the visual identity of the layout. Think about mood lines here – Rounded lines might feel more playful and casual, while straight lines might feel more stern or authoritative
Be careful with stacking text styles
Maintain internal consistency. If your layout uses a certain type of text emphasis, stick with it throughout
Be careful with underlined text as it is typically viewed as a a clickable element (underlines convey a strong affordance of clickability)