The Power of Typography in Branding and Design

One of the most important branding aspects for your business is your logo. But aside from the symbol, icon, or colour, your font choice greatly matters too.

Believe it or not, your choice of font can make or break your logo design. Depending on the font you use, you can make your logo look more casual and friendly, or stern and professional. This is where the best logo maker will come in handy!

But how would you know if you are using the right font for your logo and your brand? Let’s dive in to find out more.

How to Choose A Font For Your Brand

Before you go and choose a font to use, think of these things first:

Your brand identity - Brand identity, brand image, brand personality, whatever you want to call it. Essentially, this is the image that you want to depict to your audience.

Do you want to be seen as approachable? Modern? Techy? Knowing your brand identity is the first step in your font search since you’ll want your font to reflect your identity.

Your audience - Your target audience will also dictate your brand’s font. After all, your font choice should appeal to your target audience. Think about kids vs adults. Kids will have a different design preference compared to outdoorsy adults, right?

Overall branding - While this article mainly looks at fonts from a logo design perspective, you also need to consider those fonts will be used throughout your whole branding.

Meaning, that you won’t just be using a font for your logo only, but in your business cards, websites, posters, or social media posts as well. Of course, you can use a different font for your logo, and use another font for your other materials. But the two fonts should at least be relevant or work in harmony with each other.

Design basics - Fonts are not the only graphical element that will affect your typography. The colour, weight, size, spacing between the letters, alignment, and layout can also affect the overall look. Make sure you brush up on your design basics to ensure that you’ll create an aesthetically appealing one.

What Font Should I Use For My Brand?

Each font has a different personality or characteristics associated with it. Some fonts can give a more luxurious vibe, some skew playful, while some can look edgier. This is why you should consider which font can depict the image that you want your brand to portray.

So before you head on to a logo maker and create your logo, you need to know first the 6 basic font types and the image that they convey. This way, you’ll be sure to create a great logo that accurately represents your brand identity.

A.  Serif

Serif fonts are the oldest typeface. They are characterized by having a small line or stroke towards the end of the letter. These strokes are called “serif”, hence the name. In print, serif fonts are commonly utilized for body text such as articles due to their perceived superior readability compared to sans-serif fonts.

Serif font's roots can be traced back to antique Roman prints. This is why this font evokes a classical, formal, and sophisticated feeling, making it a top choice for luxury brands. Corporate brands and more “formal” businesses such as law firms, insurance companies, and government agencies can also benefit from using serif fonts for their branding.

Common serif fonts: Times New Roman, Georgia, Garamond

Popular brands using serif fonts: Rolex, Giorgio Armani, Tiffany & Co, Mercedes-Benz

B.  Sans-serif

Sans-serif fonts are characterized by not having the stroke or the serif in the letters, hence why it’s called sans-serif. Sans-serif fonts are easier to read on smaller screens, which is why they are commonly used for computers, mobile phones, and other digital screens. This is because the details in serif fonts can appear too large or might disappear if seen on lower resolution or smaller screens, so sans-serif fonts are used instead.

Sans-serif fonts are associated with a clean, simple, and minimalist look. This is why they are the top choice for modern brands that want to jump onto the minimalist trend. Sans-serif fonts also come across as more approachable and friendlier compared to serif fonts, so if you have a younger audience, this might be a good font choice for you.

Common sans-serif fonts: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial

Popular brands using sans-serif fonts: Google, Facebook, Spotify, WhatsApp, Buzzfeed

C.  Slab

Slab-serif fonts are a subcategory of serif fonts. They are characterized by having a thicker or chunkier stroke, especially at the bottom of the letters.

As a result, slab-serif fonts are more eye-catching and have more impact compared to serif fonts. These are used by brands that want to emphasize their boldness.

Common slab-serif fonts: Kompakt, Rockwell, Roboto Slab

Popular brands using slab-serif fonts: Honda, Sony

D.  Script

Script fonts are designed to mimic traditional cursive handwriting or calligraphy. Script fonts are fancier and are often used in wedding invitations and book covers. However, the details in the font can cause readability issues, so it's best to stick to using this font for headers or titles only instead of on huge blocks of text.

Script fonts can be classified as either formal scripts or casual scripts. Formal scripts are neater, flowier, and look more elegant. These are commonly used by luxury brands. Casual scripts are more imperfect and carefree, so it is used by a wider range of industries. If you want to add more flair to your brand, consider using script fonts.

Common script fonts: Liesel, Amarone, Bayano

Popular brands using script fonts: Cartier, Cadillac, Johnson & Johnson

E.  Handwritten

Handwritten fonts are similar to script fonts, except that they are not necessarily in cursive form. They could come in print form as well. They tend to mimic real-life handwriting as if the font were written using a pen or a marker.

Handwritten fonts can come as thick and blocky, thin and elegant, or stylistic and rough. One thing is for certain though, they give a more personal and authentic touch to your branding. Small businesses and eco-friendly products usually prefer handwritten fonts, since they want to look homier and more authentic.

Common handwritten fonts: Brusher, Grape Nuts

Popular brands using handwritten fonts: Ray-Ban, Virgin Cola, Sharpie, Oscar de la Renta

F.   Display

Display fonts are meant to be used for display or decorative purposes, instead of on body text. These are meant to catch attention and be easily read, making them a good choice for a logo design, headline, or title.

Display fonts can be sans-serif, serif, script, etc. The difference is that display fonts add more stylistic elements to the fonts, such as shadowing, engraving, inline, or distressing. Display fonts have a more unique and abstract feel to them, so if that’s the vibe that you want your brand to embody, consider using a display font for your logo design.

Common display fonts: Modak, Bromley, Kontesa

Popular brands using display fonts: SEGA, Walt Disney, IBM, NASA

The power of typography and fonts can’t be underestimated. Your font choice can have a huge impact on your brand identity, your visual presence, and your audience’s connection with your brand.

Because of this, choosing the right font for your brand might seem like a huge task. But it doesn’t have to be. By knowing the basic font types and their differences, you already have a starting point. From there, you can consider other typography elements such as colour, spacing, and size to create a stunning yet brand-appropriate logo.

Author’s Bio

Janella Malapad - Janella is an outreach specialist at BrandCrowd, an online marketplace that specializes in facilitating the buying and selling of logos and domains through their logo maker platform.