Typography

Typography supports clarity, hierarchy, and consistency in Government Project Delivery communications.

Well-chosen typography supports accessibility, improves readability, and reinforces our visual identity.

This guidance should be applied to all Government Project Delivery communications and digital products.

Barlow is the primary type face for all Government Project Delivery communications. As an open-source font, Barlow is available from Google Fonts. Use Barlow Regular 400 for most text.

You can use Arial if Barlow is unavailable.

Use the same hierarchy and sizes as Barlow. For online products, apply the following font stack: fallback-Arial, Arial, sans-serif.

The default body text size content should be 18px for desktop screens, 16px on mobile screens and 14pt for printed documents.

The minimum font size for print is 12pt, following clear print standards. Consider using 16pt or larger to avoid creating separate large-print versions.

Headings and subheadings should follow the Golden Ratio Typography Scale, starting from a base size of 18px. If you adjust heading sizes, recalculate other text sizes using the same ration. Use the table at the end of this page for reference.

Use sentence case for all text and headings, capitalising only the first word and proper nouns. Do not end headings with a full stop.

All content should be left-aligned for maximum legibility.

Set line height to at least 120% of the font size, increasing to 160% for body content. Extra space between lines improves readability and reduces eye strain, especially for users with visual or cognitive impairments.

Add 30px of space below headings and 20px below paragraphs. Keep text at least 15px away from the edge of the viewport.

Aim for 45–75 characters per line, with a maximum of 90 characters at 100% zoom.