Typography

Typography is a fundamental aspect of design that involves the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and visually appealing. It plays a crucial role in user interface design by guiding users through content, establishing a visual hierarchy, and enhancing the overall user experience.

Effective typography ensures that text is not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing, contributing to the clarity and usability of the interface.
Typography is at the core of great user interface design. Users digest content and accomplish tasks primarily through text. That's why Watson Design System provides a constrained, purposeful set of typographic styles to present interfaces in predictable and efficient way to our users.


Typeface

Inter is our user interface typeface. It’s used on every element of the UI, from headings and body text to navigation, lists and form elements. Inter is optimized for the screen, it’s very legible and has a great contrast. It’s a neutral typeface that brings clarity to our UI.

Sample

Description

Token

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

InterVariable, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif

Inter is the default UI font family utilized by all our applications.

--w-font-family-body


Font sizes

We use following scale to provide visual hierarchy and predictable sizing for headers and text content.

Desktop

Sample

Description

Token

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(12 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Caption

--w-font-size-caption

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(14 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Body

--w-font-size-body

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(14 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Sub-Section Heading

--w-font-size-sub-section-heading

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(16 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Section Heading

--w-font-size-section-heading

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(24 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Display Heading

--w-font-size-display-heading

Mobile

Sample

Description

Token

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(14 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Caption

--w-font-size-caption-mobile

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(16 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Body

--w-font-size-body-mobile

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(16 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Sub-Section Heading

--w-font-size-sub-section-heading-mobile

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(18 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Section Heading

--w-font-size-section-heading-mobile

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

calc(24 / var(--w-base-rem) * 1rem)

Display Heading

--w-font-size-display-heading-mobile


Font Weight

We use font weight to create hierarchy and distinction between different blocks of texts.

Sample

Description

Token

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

450

Body

Default font weight for body and captions

--w-font-weight-body

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

600

Heading

Default font weight for headings

--w-font-weight-heading

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

550

Emphasis

It will serve as an emphasis style that can be used to drive attention or priority to certain text elements. Perfect use for button states and active tabs.

--w-font-weight-emphasis


Line Height

To comply with WCAG guidelines our default line height for paragraphs is equal to 1.5 font-size

Sample

Description

Token

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

1.5

Body

Default line height for body and captions

--w-line-height-body

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

1.25

Heading

Default line height for headings

--w-line-height-heading

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

1.15

Condensed

Use this line height if you need text to take less space. Avoid using with multi-line paragraphs

--w-line-height-condensed


Typographic styles

Watson defines a set of typographic styles that target specific functions with the appropriate font size, weight and line-height combinations.

Ag
displayHeading
Use in code as
Syntax: Web
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Token set
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Ag
displayHeading
Use in code as
Syntax: Web
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Ag
sectionHeading
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Ag
sectionHeading
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Ag
subSectionHeading
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
subSectionHeading
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
body
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
body
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
body emphasis
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
body emphasis
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
caption
--w-font-size-caption
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
caption
--w-font-size-caption
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
caption emphasis
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
caption emphasis
Syntax: Web
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Collection
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Token set
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Ag
Link
Syntax: Web
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Token set
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Ag
Link
Syntax: Web
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Token set
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Display Heading

Top-level heading. Use it for main titles on the page.
Font Size: Display Heading
Font Weight: Heading
Line Height: Heading

Section Heading

Top-level title of the section. Use it as a title for i.e. Cards or Modal components.
Font Size: Section Heading
Font Weight: Heading
Line Height: Heading
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e.g. Sections on the settings page

Sub-section Heading

Use for titles when a section needs to be divided into other sub-sections.
Font Size: Sub-section Heading
Font Weight: Heading
Line Height: Heading

Body

Default body text for single-line content and labels.
Font Size: Body
Font Weight: Body
Line Height: Body

e.g. Labels in a list

Caption

Use it to add additional information in tight spaces. Do not use Caption headings to hide information from the user and for main text.
Font Size: Caption
Font Weight: Body
Line Height: Body