Your font style can make or break your brand. It is very important to choose the right font style for your brand. You should know your brand aesthetic. If you don't know what your brand aesthetic is, I will post another blog article to help you define your brand aesthetic. But let us talk about fronts first, did you know fonts have their own personality too? Like Times New Romans feels very traditional while Impact Font is more in your face and bold and Comic Sans feels immature and playful. So yes, what font you use in your brand really matters. The Font Traits Your font style will be the one delivering your message to your audience and they have their own specific personality traits. Your font styles will each have a job to do to help you convey your brand's message.
1. Serif vs Serif Sans vs Slab Serif Serif: traditional, classy, high end - When you want your brand to be sophisticated, rich, high end and old school. Serif Sans: modern, clean and chic - When you want your brand to be proper yet outgoing and fashionable Slab Serif: friendly, bold, creative - When you want your brand to be fun, outgoing and creative 2. Italic vs Oblique Italic: Mostly used to highlight text and change the tone of what you are reading. When used with Serif Fonts it conveys a sense of politeness and pleasantness this is because it has the same features as writing in cursive. Oblique: Same as Italics but with a more modern and geometric feel to it. When used with Serif Fonts it conveys a feeling of speed and urgency. 3. Light vs Regular vs Bold Light: It can not be used for attention grabbing headings, it is too delicate a font. But, it can be used as paragraph text to convey a more light yet modern overall feel to it especially when pairing it to a bold font as a heading. Regular: Mostly used as paragraph text. This is the most reader friendly weight. Bold: These are designed to be attention grabbing and it emphasizes your text. It used to in logo's and other headings to make it feel more powerful. 4. High Contrast vs Low Contrast This is a variation of thick and thin strokes. High Contrast: Best used as display fonts. Example: headings and call to actions. They convey a feeling of boldness, creativity and uniqueness. Low Contrast: Best used for heading but if used with a smaller font then it can be read easily. A word of caution: when used as bold and has smaller font size, it can be blocky and loose definition. Low Contrast fonts are simple, modern and neutral. 5. Character Width The spacing and width of characters in a font plays a vital role in readability and overall feel. Regular: Best and most recommended in paragraph texts. The easiest to read and flows the best too. Condensed: Tightly spaced and often narrow fonts that are used when you fit texts of any length into small spaces. They have a more modern and funky feel to it. Best to use this sporadically for headings with fewer letters because they can be difficult to read. They are best paired with vintage retro style fonts. Extended: Wider in shape and can be spaced apart. It can feel much more horizontal. They have the tendency to be read slowly and can be memorable. It gives you a feeling of maturity, lightness and cleanliness Lowecase vs Uppercase Lowercase: Feels less intimidating and more playful. It can be used to add warmth to a brand or website and can feel a bit informal. Uppercase: In contrast, using Uppercase feels more mature yet classic. It stands out more. The Font Styles 1. Serif Fonts Serif Fonts have little bracketed feet at the end of them. They vary alot in thickness, ligature styles and typeface families (bold, italic , etc). They are interesting in shape and style. Used largely on magazines, fashion brands and newspapers because they are much easier to read. Serif Fonts are often used to give a feel of sophistication. Often paired with other typefaces. It is best to use this kind of font with Sans Serif to give it a more mordern vibe or with Script to give the text a more feminine vibe. It is NOT recommended to use it together with fonts that are similar to them such as Slab Serif. 2. Sans Serif Often used in mobile apps such as Facebook because it is easiest to read. They can be used as both paragraph and heading text as long as you create contrast between them (bold, italic). They have a much modern feel and can easiky make a difference in a brand when using all Sans Serif Fonts vs mixing then with other font styles. This is by far the easiest to work with since it can go from super modern and clean brand to a creative and classic brand. 3. Script The idea of this font is that letters are connected and flow together in a fluid motion. The Script Fonts can be very broad as it can include cursive, calligraphy, hand writing, hand lettering and brush script. Script Fonts tend to give you a feeling of femininity, delicate, relaxed and informal. When you use Script on introducing your brand it is to add warmth and a sense of personality. To make it feel more modern you can pair it with Sans Serif Fonts or if you want to make it more luxurious you can pair it with Serif Fonts. Do not use Script Fonts for paragraph texts or long sentences since it is more difficult to read. 4. Slab Serif This font has the same square or blocked feet as the Serif Fonts and has the body of Sans Serif Fonts. This font is often used as "stamp" fonts, on factory floors, hand tools and steakhouses. They give your audience a bit more bold and natural vibe but there are some Slab Serif Fonts that have rounded characteristics and make the audience feel warm and natural. This font works well with increased or decreased sizes. ----‐----‐-----‐-------------------------------------------------- Now that you have an understanding of the different emotions, traits and various typography styles I recommend that you take some time to analyze your brand and what you stand for and slowly go through your brand aesthetic and compile the fonts that would speak to your audience. If you're ready with your brand aesthetic, please drop us a line at contact@manubranding.com so that we could help you with the step by step branding process.