Type, menus and HUDs for games
JungleLanternDoodl
The review board is open

The Letters Players Read Before They Play

A font that fails mid-fight costs players a life, a round or their patience. We look at how studios design type, menus and HUDs that stay readable on a 6-inch handheld, a living-room TV and everything between.

Explore the Type
Dark game studio desk at night with a single monitor glowing with an interface mockup
Lead brief

Where a Typeface Turns Into a Button Prompt

Game typography is the craft of choosing, drawing and setting letters so that players can read them while something else demands their attention. It covers the logo on the title screen, the settings menu, the ammo counter, the subtitle at the bottom of a cutscene and the tiny glyph that tells you which button opens a door.

This desk is written for UI and UX designers, indie developers shipping their first build, localisation leads and players who care about why one game feels effortless to read and another makes them squint. Every page judges one question: does it read in play?

See how studios work
Printed type specimen sheet lit by a single desk lamp in a dark room
Open sketchbook with pencil wireframes of a game menu under low light

Inside the Studios

Interface studios sit between art direction and engineering. They build type specimens, greybox menus in Figma, then rebuild them in Unity UI Toolkit or Unreal's UMG and test them on real hardware. The good ones playtest legibility the way others playtest difficulty.

From moodboard to shipped build →
Monitor showing a game HUD mockup with health bars, high contrast in a dark studio

Menus, HUDs and Subtitles

A pause menu is read at rest; a HUD is read in a glance; a subtitle is read while listening. Each needs a different size, contrast and placement strategy. We compare diegetic, minimal and overlay HUDs and break down menus built for controllers first.

Reading at sixty frames a second →
Menus you never think about →
Game controller resting on a desk in low light with deep shadows

Players Ask

What is the smallest safe text size on a TV? Why do some games swap confirm and cancel buttons? Is a pixel font ever a good idea for subtitles? Short, straight answers live in our FAQ.

Straight answers on game type →

Brief the Desk

Spotted a menu that reads beautifully, or a HUD that falls apart on a handheld? Building something and want us to look at a type choice? Open a ticket and we will read it.

Open a ticket