Choosing Typefaces: How to Select a Font That Matches Your Brand

Whether it's a professional service enterprise sticking to Comic Sans or Papyrus or a kid's business selecting an outmoded chunky serif font, businesses have often been observed selecting fonts that aren't in sync with their brand values.

Picking a suitable typeface is a significant component of accomplished design, yet many enterprises – encompassing both retail and service businesses and tech firms – disregard this aspect or completely misjudge it.

There is a diverse range of typefaces - some are practical and uncomplicated, others exist with a respectable history of usage in press and periodicals. A different set of typefaces are chic and considerably expressive, while others yet are reliable and sicure.

The typeface you decide for your business branding has a tremendous impact not solely on the legibility of your signage and pamphlets – it further influences how people perceive your brand.

In the subsequent sections, we’ll discuss four strategies you can employ to select a typeface – or amalgamation of typefaces – that resonate with your brand’s principles, portray your business in the most favorable light and garner the right kind of attraction.

If you're indecisive, select a simple typeface

A common blunder by small business proprietors is the belief that their emblem has to employ a striking typeface. Consider the last 10 business logos that come to mind. How many of them employed an extraordinary or notable typeface?

Multinational corporations like Nike, Apple and Microsoft all rely on fairly simple typefaces for their branding. The rationale behind this is that simpler, “safe” typefaces are more universally attractive than unique and interesting typefaces.

If your enterprise offers a product or service that appeals to a diverse audience, pick a typeface that’s easy to read and is relatively simple. A typeface that appeals to a section of your audience may be off-putting to another, thereby reducing your overall brand value.

Adopt various similar typefaces to maintain consistency

For numerous firms, a single typeface doesn’t suffice. Given the average brochure or advertisement includes elements like title, sub-title, body and a call-to-action, it becomes necessary to use at least two distinct fonts to ensure readability.

If you're using multiple typefaces in an advertisement, assure that the chosen typefaces, although slightly contrasting, are similar enough to be easily grouped in order to simplify readability.

A geometric sans-serif font might be apt for titles, but it may not gel well with a slab serif font chosen for the body. Choose fonts from the same category to keep your content and heading as consistent and readable as possible.

Use contrast to distinguish between heading and copy

If your design is aimed to be more visual with minimal text, using two starkly contrasting fonts – such as, a contemporary sans serif font for the title and a classic serif font for the body – might work well.

This strategic use of contrast enhances both your heading and body by underlining their varying nature. This can make your signage, brochure or advertisement more visually striking and eye catching.

However, make sure that while they contrast, the chosen fonts don’t completely clash. Fonts that share an element like weight or spacing typically function better for creating contrast than fonts that bear no shared design attributes.

Avoid using fonts that impair readability

Some fonts, while stylish and unique, can be challenging to read and would best serve short titles or text snippets. Many businesses, particularly themed businesses, have been seen to excessively use these fonts in their marketing materials.

Fonts with large serifs or unusual letter design may look appealing in a short heading, but they can be a nightmare for readers when used in a large block of text, especially at smaller font sizes.

Do not hesitate to use distinctive fonts in headings, but steer clear of them for body text or dense copy. The content of your text is more vital than its style, and so, readability should be the primary consideration while choosing a typeface.