The modern professional world is more competitive than ever. With hundreds of millions of users on LinkedIn, people need to do everything they can to stand out from the crowd. Your picture is important, your experience is important, and your connections are important, but there's one subtle detail that can make all the difference: the text styling you use within your profile
When I first experimented with subtle font changes on my own LinkedIn profile several years ago, I was petrified
Would it make me look unprofessional? Would recruiters judge me? Would my colleagues think I was trying too hard? I was surprised by the positive response I got. In the weeks that followed, I noticed an uptick in profile views, and one recruiter even told me that my headline caught her eye amidst the sea of generic LinkedIn headlines
I became fascinated with the power of subtle stylization on LinkedIn, and I dove into my research
The most important thing I learned? Nuance
While LinkedIn allows you to use many of the same stylization options as social media sites like Instagram and TikTok, the best options are often more subtle and professional
Typography on LinkedIn should be bold enough to grab attention but not so attention-grabbing that it seems unprofessional
The Case for Subtle Styling on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a professional medium, which means that its users have different expectations than on other social media sites
People on LinkedIn aren't looking to meet new people or make spontaneous plans. Instead, they're looking to find new opportunities, research companies, and network strategically. This means that typographic stylization needs to be subtle enough to be professional but still unique enough to catch the eye of recruiters and gatekeepers
The most successful LinkedIn profiles are able to balance professionalism and uniqueness in order to appear interesting without appearing unprofessional
Think about a recruiter browsing through LinkedIn. They're seeing hundreds of profiles a day, potentially thousands. These are people that they need to quickly form an opinion on in order to determine if they're a good fit for an open position. A slightly stylized name or headline can be enough to grab attention and make someone pause for a second to read your headline or summary. In a competitive job market, this can be the difference between getting hired and moving on to the next candidate
What works and what doesn't work on LinkedIn
While LinkedIn allows you to use Unicode characters, there are some important considerations when it comes to stylizing your LinkedIn profile
First and foremost, remember that LinkedIn is a professional space, which means that some stylization options are ill-advised for your professional image
Script text, bubble text, and heavily stylized text can be fun to use, but they're ill-suited for a professional environment. If you're going to use special formatting on your LinkedIn profile, it should be subtle enough to fit a professional setting
Another consideration is searchability
Typing unusual special characters can sometimes cause issues for LinkedIn's search engine. For the most part, special characters should be fine as long as you're not using them in skills or other fields that need to be searched
With that said, the best special characters will usually make your profile more appealing without sacrificing searchability
How to style your LinkedIn headline
Your headline is one of the most important parts of your LinkedIn profile, and it's one of the few parts that appears outside of your profile. Because of this, it's a high-impact area that needs to grab attention while still looking professional
One easy way to do this is to use a special character in a bolded headline, like this:
𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿
This stylization makes the headline stand out while still looking professional. This special character stylization works particularly well in headlines because it conveys confidence and boldness, which are desirable traits among executives and managers
Another option is to use small caps to stylize your headline
𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁
This approach is less bold than the previous option but still manages to make a nice visual impact. It works particularly well within creative industries like marketing, design, and architecture
On the other hand, avoid overly decorative special characters in your headlines
𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿
looks nice, but it's probably too much for a professional headline. Save heavily stylized text for your personal creative industries
How to style the About section of your LinkedIn profile
The About section of your LinkedIn profile (or Summary) is where you can show off who you are as a professional. It's a chance to share personal anecdotes and share your professional journey with potential recruiters
For the most part, you should use the same typographic principles as elsewhere in your LinkedIn profile. If you're using a bolded headline, you can use special characters to emphasize a particular point in your summary. One approach is to use bolded text for section headers and normal text for the body of the summary, like so
𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿
𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝘁
This approach helps to break up a long summary while still emphasizing important section headers
You can also use simple special characters to break up long paragraphs and emphasize important phrases. Avoid standard special characters like hyphens, triangles, and bullets, and opt for fancier characters like ▪ and ▸
How to stylize your experience
The experience section of your profile tells a potential employer about your professional journey. It's a chance to highlight your skills, but it's also a place to share unique stories and lessons learned
With that said, you should be relatively conservative with typographic stylization in your experience section
While bolding important phrases and achievements will make your experience section more scannable for recruiters
Too much stylization can hurt the professionalism of your experience section. One approach is to use special characters to break up paragraphs and emphasize important achievements
For example, if you're sharing details about a product launch that went wildly successful, you can bold the name of the product or the amount of revenue generated
One important thing to note about the experience section is that it's one of the few places on your LinkedIn profile where you can use Unicode characters
This means that you can make your experience section feel more interesting by adding Unicode characters to otherwise bland paragraphs
However, be careful not to overdo it; stylization in the experience section should be relatively subtle compared to other parts of your LinkedIn profile
How to stylize your LinkedIn posts
If you're going to post publicly on LinkedIn, it's important to know how to stylize your posts so they get seen
One of the easiest ways to do this is to use bold text at the beginning of your posts
This way, someone skimming through their LinkedIn feed will see something that stands out from the crowd of standard text posts
For example, someone browsing through their LinkedIn feed might see a post that begins with 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗜 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗕𝗦𝗖 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻... and pause for a second to read the post
Another way to make your LinkedIn posts stand out from the crowd is to stylize your post with special characters. This can help to format your posts and emphasize important phrases, but it shouldn't be used excessively
One thing to remember about stylizing LinkedIn posts is that it's much easier to make them interesting with a bit of special character stylization than it is to make a boring post interesting
For longer posts, you should format them so they're easy to skim, and you can do this by emphasizing key phrases and section headers
Finally, remember that special character stylization makes it easy to emphasize key phrases in your post, especially at the end of a post when you're asking people to take some sort of action. This can help reinforce your call to action and get more people to engage with your post
Industry-specific considerations
Different industries have different standards for self-promotion, which means that there are some industries where subtlety is key and others where boldness is encouraged. It's important to research what's appropriate for your industry before experimenting with bold stylizations
Creative industries like design, marketing, and entertainment can afford to be a bit bolder with stylization because it's expected within the industry
Traditional industries like law, finance, and medicine should be more conservative in their stylization because heavy stylization can be seen as unprofessional
Finally, technical industries like tech and startups fall somewhere in the middle. Being a tech company means that you need to be innovative, but being innovative doesn't mean you should stylize every single word in your LinkedIn headlines in bubble letters
Avoiding common mistakes
In your research, you've probably seen a lot of bad examples of LinkedIn stylization. The good news is that most of these mistakes can easily be avoided
One of the worst mistakes you can make is going overboard with stylization
When everything in your LinkedIn profile is bolded or underlined or italicized, nothing stands out
Instead, pick a few key areas in your LinkedIn profile to stylize, and leave the rest alone
Another mistake is using fonts that clash with your professional brand
If you're a finance executive but your headline says 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 in bubble letters, it's going to put people off
Finally, make sure your stylization doesn't look bad on mobile. Some stylized fonts look great on a computer but get cut off on a phone, so it's always a good idea to double-check how everything looks on a phone
Getting found on LinkedIn
Many LinkedIn users are trying to get discovered by the right people, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to make subtle changes to your LinkedIn stylization
By adjusting your headline, you can make subtle changes that increase your discoverability on LinkedIn
One thing to consider is that some fonts might affect the way others search for you
Some stylized fonts might not be searchable, which means that people looking for you won't be able to find you
Another way to increase your discoverability is to make subtle changes to your About section
Having a compelling About section can help get you noticed by the people who matter most to you
Building your brand
Stylizing your LinkedIn profile is just one part of a larger effort to build a professional brand on LinkedIn
By using subtle stylization to make your profile stand out, you're already doing more than most, but there are a few other things you can do to ensure that your brand building efforts are working
One way to build your brand is to ensure that everything is consistent
If you're using special characters in your headline, try using them throughout your LinkedIn profile. This helps to create a sense of cohesion that makes your profile more appealing
Another way to strengthen your brand is to ensure that your typographic choices match the branding choices you're making elsewhere
If you're actively building a personal brand, you should ensure that your LinkedIn stylization matches the branding on your website and personal portfolio
Finally, make sure that your brand is evolving as you evolve as a professional
As you move from an entry-level position to a more senior position, subtle changes to your LinkedIn stylization can help to reinforce your rising level of professionalism
Getting started
If you're new to stylizing your LinkedIn profile, it's a good idea to start with small changes and see how they affect the way people respond to your profile
You don't need to go all out right away; instead, consider making small changes to your headline and watching the way people react
It's also a good idea to ask for advice from trusted colleagues and industry insiders
Before making any big changes to your LinkedIn stylization, ask people whose opinions you respect
Finally, make sure you're aware of the impact that your changes have
If you're trying to increase your profile views or boost your discoverability on LinkedIn, you should monitor these metrics closely to see if your efforts are paying off
Stay up to date on new developments
As mentioned above, stylizing your LinkedIn profile is a way to grab attention and stand out from the competition
However, it's always a good idea to stay up to date on emerging trends in typographic stylization on LinkedIn
After all, what works today might not work tomorrow, and it's important to stay ahead of the curve
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