How To Choose The Best Typeface To Create A Brand
Although less striking than a logo or color palette, choosing a consistent font to create a brand is the glue that unifies the entire corporate identity. A font is capable of telling a story and adding a voice and personality to your brand. Whether online or in print, good typography can engage your audience, while bad type can drive them away.
If you've already
designed a logo , you may already have a chosen font that matches its
aesthetic. But your work doesn't end here. You will also need a
secondary font for headings and a clear, legible font for longer texts.
As you begin this search
process, the sheer
number of available sources can
seem overwhelming. But if you follow these basic guidelines, you can find
the typefaces that work best to create a brand.
The personality of each font
Even before a customer reads
the message you want to convey, the source is already communicating
something. Each typeface offers a different message and has different
strengths and weaknesses.
Serif Fonts
Serif fonts are the oldest and
most classic. A serif is
a small decorative line located at the ends of typefaces.
The most popular and ubiquitous
example is Times New Roman, the default font for a generation of people using
Microsoft Word. Serif fonts are elegant,
literary, and high-end . They are always a
good option for long paragraphs such as textbooks, brochures, and different
prints, because they are very legible and our eyes are used to their shape.
Sans Serif Fonts
Sans Serif fonts, as the name
suggests, do not have the little feet that finish off the ends of Serif
letters. They have good readability and work very well on printed documents. They also have
the added benefit of looking good at lower resolutions making them perfect
for digital uses , including websites and
e-books. They give a clean modern
look to any project they are
in.
Slab Fonts
Slab fonts have large,
thick serifs that can be rounded or
square and are very eye-catching for large headlines, logos or headers, rather
than long text.
Script Fonts
In recent years, the
availability of script fonts has exploded as people search for a unique
way to represent their brand . As
with handwriting, there are a wide variety of script fonts. They are
decorative and therefore not suitable for long paragraphs of text, but they can
add a delicate femininity to any place they appear.
Decorative fountains
These are highly stylized fonts
that evoke very particular feelings in the reader. Care should always be
taken when using decorative fonts but they should not be avoided
entirely. In small doses they are perfect ,
especially for craft projects.
Whichever font you choose, be
careful of one using it because it is in fashion. The decision you make to
create a brand must be consistent and without an expiration date.
Successful font combinations
and hierarchy
Fonts are most powerful when
used in opposition to other fonts, especially when creating contrast.
There are two basic ways to do
this: you can use two complementary fonts from two of the previous categories, or you can mix two
styles from the same family . For
example: Sans Serifs work wonderfully as a secondary font for section headings,
especially if the body is written with a Serif. On the other hand, the use
of a single font with different styles, (bold or italic) for each section of
the text also creates a pleasant contrast.
Whichever method you choose,
make sure your fonts have a proper hierarchy .
Typographic hierarchy is the
art of ordering fonts to better communicate the information you need the reader
to understand.
What font should you use to
create a brand?
You have to learn to trust
your instincts and know what works best
with your brand style.
For example, if you have a
financial company, it might not be appropriate to use a very decorative font
that suggests craftsmanship and not seriousness. If you have a wedding
photography business you could use a script font, which can be more romantic.
Free vs paid fonts
There are many free fonts
available online that can help you build a brand. Select them and evaluate
them carefully. As mentioned above, you may need various styles (bold,
semi-bold, italic, etc.) that free fonts often don't have; or a character
or symbol that is not included. Many free fonts do not have extended
characters for foreign languages and currencies; others don't even have
apostrophes and hyphens.
The most important rule of
thumb is to choose fonts that are legible and clear , that won't strain your eyes after a long reading.
To create a brand, choose fonts
that seem timeless and classic ,
and above all avoid copying other businesses.
Now that you have a better idea
of what fonts might work best for your business, you can start building your
brand.
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