Fonts

Guidelines for prompting users to select a font.

There are two ways that apps can prompt users to select a font:

  • Open Canva's built-in font picker with the requestFontSelection method.
  • Get a list of fonts with the findFonts method and render a custom user interface.

Each option has its own set of design considerations.

Apps can use Canva's own, built-in font picker. This is a dialog that offers the most consistent and familiar user experience, with support for search, filtering, font previews, and more.

  • Do use the built-in font picker unless a custom user interface is absolutely necessary.
  • Do use a secondary Button component to open the font picker.
  • Do use the selectedFontRef property to remember the state of the user's selection.

Sometimes, the built-in font picker isn't the right option. In these cases, apps can provide their own custom, user interface for selecting a font.

  • Do render long lists of fonts in an appropriate component, such as a Select dropdown.
  • Do show the user a preview of each font (or at least the selected font).
  • Do allow the user to select from a list of supported font weights.
  • Do allow the user to select from a list of supported font styles.
  • Don't allow the user to select unsupported font weights or styles.
  • Don't enable font weight or style selection if only one option is available.