Using typography in your brand is more like laying brick to make a foundation. It will help build communication to your clients. It can help hold your brand structure, and define what kind of company you are.
Now, you are probably thinking “You’re telling me A’s, T’s and G’s have some kind of impact? You’re crazy, Mr. Blog Man.”
But think about it— consider the Rolling Stone’s magazine title. Most people can quickly visualize the unique type they use for their branding.
Another example with a very distinguished type face is Marlboro. You can’t really think of it right away like the Rolling Stone cover, but if you saw a sign, you could quickly recognize their brand and who they are.
Here’s an example by David Carson, who shows 2 doors, both with the same information: “No parking.” But only one of these doesn’t come off as a weird serial killer who will jump out and steal you and your car.
Typography can really carry your message, sometimes in a bad way.
“Bad” Type
So Mr. Blogger Guy, what makes a bad typeface? Well, I’ll tell you.
A lot of people think typomaniacs look at type and can deem it bad or good. But all type has a purpose. Sometimes, characters can be hideous and illegible, but what makes type “bad” is how it’s used and how it communicates.
Using goofy Comic Sans on your government forms: bad.
Using hard-to-read Papyrus in your subtitles: bad.
Using boring, straightforward Helvetica when you’re looking for personality: bad.
Most type was created for a reason and to serve a purpose. In the end, it’s really about what you want the type to say about you and your company.
Fixing your Fonts
Usingserif fontslets your audience know you’re more human and personal.San Serifsare more straightforward, and are usually used to bring loud information forward.
Also,san serifs are useful for screens. San serifs, with their straight-edged pixels, are able to make more accurate weights with less distortion.
These are just umbrella rules for the two more popular type styles. These rules can be broken, depending on what you want to say.
Finding something unique and uncommon could help get you in front of your competitors. Thanks to the Internet, type is so easy to find, and threre’s so much of it (300,000 fonts and counting).
Nowadays, we are kind of uptight about our fonts. People begin to lose sight of the fact that every time you buy a font, you’re paying someone’s bills. Typographers spend on average a day on each character, and there are 40,000+ known characters.
So break away from the default fonts in Word and Google fonts. Look into sites like www.myfonts.com, www.fontshops.com, or type kit. All of these services keep typographers employed, and you can find your brand voice through their uniquely crafted characters.
What does your company’s font say about you?
FAQs
Failure to meet the purpose: Fonts used in comic books and movie posters aren't ideal for company letter head, for instance. Poor spacing: Poor spacing is a telltale sign of bad typography. Not only does it compromise readability, but it can also make your brand look ill-conceived and underdeveloped.
What is a digital typeface? ›
Digital type
Digital fonts store the image of each character either as a bitmap in a bitmap font, or by mathematical description of lines and curves in an outline font, also called a vector font. Bitmap fonts were more commonly used in the earlier stages of digital type, and are rarely used today.
What makes a font more readable? ›
Typefaces with some contrast are generally easier to read because that variation in stroke width helps the reader distinguish between letters that have common shapes.
How does changes to the type characteristics and spacing influence the readability of a typeface? ›
Larger type sizes, such as headlines, use tighter letter-spacing to improve readability and reduce space between letters. For smaller type sizes, looser letter spacing can improve readability as more space between letters increases contrast between each letter shape.
How do I fix my fonts? ›
Check for damaged fonts with the Fonts folder:
- Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel.
- Double-click the Fonts icon.
- Double-click each font.
- If the sample text for the font doesn't appear, remove and reinstall the font.
Some of the worst fonts include Comic Sans, which will ensure your designs look unprofessional, Arial, which comes across as boring and unimaginative, and Curlz, which can appear childish and gaudy.
What makes a typeface? ›
Each font is a unique set of letters with various weights, widths, and styles. However, some fonts share similarities in these attributes and therefore make up a typeface, a family of related fonts.
What is the difference between a typeface and a font? ›
While a typeface describes a particular style of lettering, a font refers to variations of a typeface, like its size and weight. The simplest way to understand this difference is that a typeface is a set of fonts with common aesthetic qualities. Let's break this down even further.
What is an example of a typeface? ›
—basically anything that distinguishes one set of letters from any other set of letters in the world. Even if you don't use the word “typeface,” you know them! Common typefaces include Arial, Times New Roman, Roboto, and Helvetica.
How to make a font readable? ›
For optimal readability:
- Use visual and semantic space. ...
- Provide the right amount of space between lines of text. ...
- Use clean typography. ...
- Avoid using all caps. ...
- Don't underline text. ...
- Use left-aligned text. ...
- Support text resizing.
Fonts that are very elaborate or ornate can be difficult to read or see clearly. Even if you're using them sparingly as headings. This is because the letter shapes are not well-defined or regular in shape and size. These irregularities mean we have to pause to examine and process the characters.
How to increase font quality? ›
Click Start, type Display in the Search box, and then click Display. Click Change display settings. Click the drop-down list next to Resolution. Move the slider to the resolution that you want, and then click Apply.
What fonts should be avoided for accessibility? ›
Fonts to avoid
Avoid fonts featuring “imposter letter shapes” that are designed to be very similar to other letter shapes as part of their visual style, such uppercase Is, the number 1, and lowercase Ls.
What are 4 factors that contribute to a typeface legibility? ›
"The legibility of a typeface is related to the characteristics inherent in its design … which relate to the ability to distinguish one letter from the other." Aspects of type design that affect legibility include "x-height, character shapes, stroke contrast, the size of its counters, serifs or lack thereof, and weight ...
What makes a font legible? ›
When the spacing between characters in a font is more open, it will be more legible, because that reduces crowding. You can add more space with tracking, and small optical sizes have more spacing and other optimizations built-in to increase their legibility.
What fonts should you avoid and why? ›
Overused fonts
Some fonts are so overused they've become generic. Some famous examples include Copperplate Gothic, Brush Script and Souvenir. Brush Script was hugely popular from the 1940s to the 1960s, to the point that it still feels stale and overused today.
How do I know if a font is good? ›
Readability is arguably the most important feature of a typeface. Since type is used to communicate a message, if that message can't be read, the typeface has failed its job. Readability and legibility aren't exactly the same. Legibility refers to how easy it is to distinguish letterforms within a font.
What font is unprofessional? ›
Comic sans
It's the brunt of a lot of jokes for good reason. It tries to be casual, but just comes off as sloppy, not to mention horrendously dated.
Why is Times New Roman a bad font? ›
One reason why Times New Roman may give an archaic vibe is that it is a serif font. All letters (or other characters) come with decorative lines, which range from very subtle to indeed something you would see in an 18th-century newspaper.
