Keep Reading to Learn:

• Why picking the right font matters for your business
• The different categories of fonts
• How to choose the right font

Learn How to Choose the Right Font in This Quick Guide to Typography!

Why should you choose a specific font for your business? Doesn’t the one provided by the website builder work well enough? That might be the case for some companies, but not all of them. 

It’s always better to find out which font works for your company than rely on a generic one. Learning how to choose the right font will improve your brand image. It can also help current and future customers understand what your company is all about. It sounds crazy that choosing a font can do that, but it’s true!

In this blog, we’ll take a closer look into why fonts matter for your business. You’ll also learn the different kinds of fonts and what they’re used for and how to choose the right font for your business! Let’s get started.

Why Does Choosing the Right Font Matter?

Fonts are incredibly important in conveying emotion. For example, think about the fonts universities use on degrees and the fonts Coca-Cola and Disney use on their products! The former fonts express feelings of sophistication and tradition while the latter convey feelings of happiness and wonder. So, while the text itself is providing a message, so is your font choice. 

We are psychologically primed to react a certain way to fonts. So, choosing the wrong font in your graphic design can have a drastic effect on your design’s message. It’s important to choose a font that conveys the message you’re trying to provide. By choosing the right fonts for your brand, you can give your customers an idea of who you are and which type of brand you are. 

What are the Definitions of Font and Related Terms?

You may have heard of typography, font and typeface and think that they’re all the same thing. In truth, each term is separate but works together. Let’s take a closer look at the definitions of typography, typeface and font. 

What is Typography? 

Typography is arranging letters to make them look legible and pleasing to the eye. It involves font style, appearance and structure, which aim to elicit certain emotions and convey specific messages.

What is a Typeface?

A typeface, or font family, is a group of fonts sharing characters of the same design. These characters include letters, numbers, punctuation, marks and symbols.  You might be familiar with typefaces such as Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica or Futura. 

What is a Font?

A font is a specific form of typeface, including style, weight and size. For example, within the typeface Futura, there is a Futura Bold Italic 14pt font and a Futura Extra Bold 25pt font. 

What Are the Different Kinds of Fonts?

There are so many kinds of fonts and typefaces, but most of them can be put into four categories: Serif, Sans Serif, Script and Display. We’ll go into the definition of each of these terms and look at their common uses. 

Serif: Traditional and Reliable

Serif was the first typeface ever created. Serifs are the little feet at the tops and bottoms of letters. These little additions make it easier for the reader to differentiate one character from the next, which also makes them more legible.

Since serif fonts have been around the longest, they are a universal and safe option. These fonts have a more mature and sophisticated look. They convey a sense of authority, trust and respect. Some more associations with serif are:

• Sophistication
• Elegance
• Tradition
• Reliability
• Formality

Serif fonts are ideal for financial companies, law firms, insurance companies and consultants. Some major brands that use serif fonts in their logos are T-Mobile, Sony and Honda. Businesses often use serif fonts for prints, short titles and long pages of content. 

Sans Serif: Modern and Clean

Sans serif means “without serif.” These fonts lack the feet or small designs on the tops and bottoms of letters, which gives them a clean, modern and tech-focused feel. As a result, sans serif fonts look more contemporary than serif fonts. Some other feelings associated with sans serif fonts include:

• Straightforward
• Trust
• Sophisticated
• Cutting-edge
• Clear
• Efficient

The types of businesses that most frequently use sans serif fonts are tech companies, fashion brands and start-ups. You may have also noticed that major tech companies Google and Microsoft switched their brand fonts from serif to sans serif.

Usually, businesses use sans serif fonts for body paragraphs, logos and headlines. While they are hard to read on print materials, they tend to work well on digital media.

Script: Creative and Playful

Script fonts are cursive, handwriting-based fonts with pronounced flourishes and swirls. The letters in script fonts can be connected, semi-connected or disjointed completely. Being decorative, these are often less readable and only used in select circumstances. Typically, businesses restrict their use of these fonts to logos and headlines.

Because they are an extension of handwriting, people see script fonts as friendly, personable or creative. Think of companies like Disney, Barbie or Chick-Fil-A. They all convey a personable and welcoming feeling in their branding by using script fonts. Other feelings associated with this typeface include:

• Elegance
• Sophistication
• Fanciness
• Tradition
• Whimsy

The industries that benefit most from using these fonts include food and beverage brands, fashion brands and children-focused brands.

Display: Large and Decorative

Display or decorative fonts have no specific structure and are typically designed for a particular theme or purpose. Additionally, these typefaces will often have more eccentric and variable designs than simple typefaces like serif and sans serif. Companies don’t use display fonts for body text but for custom logos or headlines.

Display fonts are used to match a particular theme or feeling, but only for large size types. Some feelings associated with display fonts are:

• Casual
• Creative
• Original
• Reliable
• Flexible

Some examples of display fonts in use include The New York Times, university diplomas and sport team fonts.

How Do I Choose the Right Font?

Choosing the perfect style of typeface for your business may seem daunting. But the good news is there are simple steps you can follow to simplify the process! 

Here are five simple steps your business can follow when choosing a font:

Step 1: Look for Inspiration

Find companies like yours or your favorite companies and see what kind of fonts they use for their logo and on their website. See how they use fonts and what message they’re trying to convey.

Step 2: Use Only 2-3 Fonts

Using more than three different fonts can make your brand or website look unstructured and unprofessional. So, be sure to limit your choice to 2-3 fonts that work well together.

Step 3: Pick Contrasting Fonts

You can do this by choosing from different classifications, widths and heights, or fonts within the same font family. If you need inspiration, then check out these twenty examples of using contrasting fonts from Canva.

Step 4: Avoid Cliche Fonts

Fonts like Comic Sans and Papyrus are used too much and in too many different situations. So, it’s best to avoid them.

Step 5: Match the Mood

Find a font that matches your company’s mood. If you want to come off as more traditional and trustworthy, you might want to use serif. Conversely, if you want to be modern and straightforward, go for sans serif fonts. 

Picking the right color is also important when matching the mood. So, be sure to pick warmer colors if you’re trying to convey feelings of excitement and cooler colors if you want to inspire calmness or trust. 

Need Help Choosing the Right Font for Your Brand?

It can take time to figure out which fonts work for your brand. Frontier Marketing has helped many businesses in the Chicagoland region create amazing branding. We would love to help you, as well! Give us a call at (847) 254-0837 or message us on Facebook to discover what we can do for you!