As we've seen in this lesson, using too many different font types in the same design can look amateurish and distracting. But there are still lots of ways to add emphasis and variety to your layouts, even if you stick to only one font. Most font packages come with many font weights, which alter the look of a font by making it bold, italic, light, or condensed. Using different font weights in your designs can help you focus you viewer's attention on certain words or ideas, or give a unique voice or personality to a block of text, without cluttering up the page with too many different font faces.

These six examples are all part of the same font family. But the different weights and styles, such as bold, italic, light, condensed, or extra bold, add flexibility and personality to each block of text.

Remember that you can combine text weights and styles for even more options: for example, you can make a light text italic, or make a condensed font bold.

If those are not enough options for you, you can also experiment with letter case. Your choice of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or combinations of both can have a big impact on your work. Something written in all caps can seem loud and important, almost as if you're shouting. Words written in all lowercase letters can seem understated or poetic. The use of small caps (where all letters are in uppercase, but capital letters are bigger) can give your words a professional formal look. And mixing uppercase and lowercase letters in the same word creates a wild, jumbled effect.

Upper case is good for big, bold content. Use lower case to give a thoughtful, poetic feel. Title case is good for headlines, while sentence case is for more conventional typography. Small caps creates a formal, professional look, while mixed case does just the opposite.