Typography
The main font of the Government of Iceland is FiraGo from BboxType. The font is used in headings, titles, and body text.
- For body text, the basic rule is to use the "Book" version of the font.
- For headings, use the "Light" and "Semi-Bold" versions as appropriate, either both in the same heading or individually.
On the Government of Iceland's website, the font Fira Sans is used.
About the font
The main font of the ministry is FiraGo, designed by Ralph du Carrois, in collaboration with Erik Spiekermann and further developed by numerous designers.
The font is suitable for both screen and print media. It is easy to read, warm, not too formal, and accessible to all under the SIL Open Font License. FiraGo includes many alphabets, such as Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Thai. It supports 59 languages and a wide range of symbols of all kinds. A list of supported languages is available.
Font installation
The font is installed on all work computers of the Government of Iceland. If it needs to be installed on a computer, it can be downloaded from github.com.
Fallback fonts
FiraGo should always be installed on computers used for creating materials for the Government of Iceland. The font is free, easy to install, and supports a consistent overall look for all materials from the Government.
When FiraGo is not available, fallback fonts should be used. Here is a list of fonts and fallback fonts, in the correct order of priority:
- FiraGo
- Fira Sans
- Helvetica
- Arial
Note that when fallback fonts are used, text layout may be disrupted as templates are set up and designed based on FiraGo.
Written material
All text from the Government of Iceland should be in good Icelandic, without unnecessary verbosity, clear, and in plain language.
Layout
When setting up materials, readability and neat presentation should be considered.
Text should be left-aligned. If text is justified, there is a risk of creating unnaturally large spaces between words, reducing readability.
Headings
- Headings should be concise, descriptive, and prominent on front pages.
- A heading can be in both FiraGo light and FiraGo semi-bold.
- Semi-bold can be used to highlight individual words in the heading for emphasis.
- Different versions of the font can be used to distinguish between main and subheadings.
- Headings on front pages should align visually with the Icelandic coat of arms (see examples below).
- The first line of the heading should align with the logo (see examples below).