How to Choose the Right Fonts for Your Brand
Fonts are a vital part of your business’s visual identity and can significantly impact how customers perceive your brand.
They do more than just act as a carrier for the messaging you’re putting out on your website, emails, advertising or print materials. The right font choices can enhance your organization’s image by communicating your brand’s personality and creating a memorable and consistent experience for customers.
Type (aka font) designers put a lot of thought into the exact shape, spacing and proportions of each letterform to make the text we read clear, legible and beautiful. With over 200,000 fonts in existence though, it can feel overwhelming to choose which one(s) to use in your branding.
In this post, we’ll cover some of the basics of typography to give you a better understanding of what makes up a font and how to hone in on the ones that are right for your brand.
The Basics
For the typography nerds out there like us, there are two big, historical milestones that really gave fonts a meaningful significance and still influence the way we talk about typography today.
Bi Sheng invented movable type in China in 1040 CE, and
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440, which led to the mass production of documents.
We share this to make the point — fonts have been around a reallyyyyyyy long time, and there’s tons of reasons behind why and how they’ve evolved to the many fonts we have and use now. As society progressed through different historical and artistic movements, typeface styles changed over time with them. As you’ll see, the history of typography has also impacted the names of type families as well, which explains some of the crazy names you’ve likely come across!
Type Family vs. Typeface vs. Font: What’s the Difference?
Let’s start with some basic lingo.
People often use these words interchangeably, which usually isn’t a problem. But technically they mean different things, so when it comes time to work with a graphic designer on your new branding, knowing the differences can be really helpful!
Here’s the rundown:
Type family: A group of typefaces with related designs
Example: Helvetica
Typeface: A particular set of glyphs (letters, numbers, punctuation, etc.) that share a common design.
Example: Helvetica Condensed
Font: The specific weight, size, and style of a typeface
Example: Helvetica Condensed Light
Typeface Categories
Typefaces can be categorized into six main classifications, each with a wide variety of fonts within them. The two main categories you’ll see the most are Serif and Sans Serif.
Serif
A serif refers to the small, decorative lines or strokes added to the ends of characters. These fonts were some of the first designed for the printing press and therefore evoke a sense of trust, authority and formality due to their historical usage.
They’re often used for body copy since they’ve been known to be quicker and easier for the eye to read. Although, this fact has been debated and some research has found little to no difference in legibility compared to sans serif fonts!
In recent years, we’ve noticed a trend of serif fonts being used more often as headlines.
Image source: https://typetype.org/blog/serif-and-sans-serif-font-differences/
Within the Serif category, there are a few main styles to know:
Old Style: Originating in the 1500s, these are the most traditional feeling serifs. They have angled elements and a more organic shape, which can also make them feel more humanistic.
Examples: Garamond, Goudy Old Style, Palatino, Minion
Transitional: These came around in the 1700s and are more upright than their predecessors. They have moderate thick and thin strokes and more refined serifs. They can evoke a sense of authority and intellect.
Examples: Times New Roman, Baskerville, PT Serif, Georgia
Modern: The 1800s brought the popularization of what’s known as Modern typefaces, which feature extreme thick and thin strokes within their letterforms and little to no curves in their serifs. These attributes create a feeling of sophistication and elegance.
Examples: Bodoni, Didot
Slab Serif: Sometimes listed as their own category, Slab Serifs are a variation on the Modern style with little or no contrast in the letterform’s strokes. They work best for headlines and titles when you want to create a confident, quirky, or structured look and feel.
Examples: Rockwell, Clarendon, Archer
Sans Serif
Sans serif typefaces came about in the early 20th century with the Modernism ethos of simple form and function. As the name implies, they are typefaces without serifs and tend to evoke a cleaner, bolder, more modern feel.
Image Source: https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/the-rise-of-the-sans-serif--cms-33548
Here are the main Sans Serif styles to know:
Grotesque or Gothic: As the earliest sans serif fonts, these typefaces were named for their rejection of the more “elegant” serif design elements. They often have a slightly angular appearance and less uniform stroke width, giving them a bit more of a funky personality than other sans serif fonts.
Examples: News Gothic, Franklin Gothic, Brandon Grotesque
Neo-grotesque: With a focus on futurism and minimalism, Neo-grotesque fonts were created to be more uniform in appearance, with consistent stroke widths, evoking a straightforward, neutral style. Created to have high legibility, these are often a favorite of designers.
Examples: Helvetica, Akzidenz-Grotesk, Roboto, Nimbus Sans
Geometric: Pushing the futuristic look even further, these typefaces are characterized by their geometric shapes and structures, such as perfect circles and straight lines, creating a clean, modern aesthetic.
Examples: Futura, Poppins, Raleway
Humanist: In the other direction, humanist sans serifs were inspired by traditional handwritten letterforms and have more organic, flowing shapes. They provide a warmer, friendlier appearance and can be used to create a welcoming and approachable look and feel.
Examples: Gill Sans, Freight Sans, Optima, Calibri
Additional Typeface Categories
Some other typeface categories are Blackletter, Script, Display and Monospaced. The typefaces in these categories are generally not as functional and should be used more sparingly for large headlines or illustrations.
Blackletter: The oldest of the typefaces dating back to the 1400s and meant to mimic calligraphy. Now they have historic or edgy connotations.
Script: Resembles cursive handwriting and calligraphy with fancy and elegant lines and strokes that create a more feminine feel.
Display/Decorative: Playful and decorative, these can be hard to read and should be used minimally.
Monospaced: Defined by each letter taking up the exact same amount of space of horizontal space, these typefaces can come in serif and sans serif varieties. They’re often associated with technology and coding.
Image Source: https://slidemodel.com/best-font-for-powerpoint/
Choosing Your Fonts
Typefaces tend to take on traits and personality based on the time and place they were created because they were influenced by the art and architecture of the time. Having a basic understanding of these categories can help with choosing the right font to represent your brand.
Here are a five other important aspects to consider when choosing fonts for your brand:
1. Brand Values, Voice + Tone
Understanding your brand's personality, values, and voice based on the target audience you want to reach is an important first step before defining any brand elements, including your fonts. Choose fonts that align with these aspects of your business to create a cohesive and authentic brand image.
2. Readability
Some typefaces have a LOT of personality but don’t actually work that well for delivering your message. Ensure that the fonts you choose are easy to read, especially for longer text. Avoid overly decorative or complex fonts that can strain the eyes.
3. Hierarchy
When diving into the design of your branded pieces, you’re going to want to use different font styles and weights to prioritize where viewers look first, second and third. Consider the number of variations a typeface has when choosing which one will represent your brand.
That being said, while it's important to have variety, using too many different typefaces can create a chaotic and unprofessional appearance without consistency.
Pro Tip: Stick to 1–3 typefaces for a clean and cohesive brand.
4. Cultural Context
Keep in mind the cultural context and connotations of different fonts. If your target audience has seen the same font used over and over in a certain way, that font may take on a particular meaning or association.
5. Usage
Where is your brand primarily showing up? Is it online or in printed materials? Font availability, pricing, and rights can vary based on where and how they’re used. Although many fonts can be used across apps and websites today, the CSS web-safe fonts listed below are fonts that are assumed to be on the vast majority of users' devices, with no need for a web font to be downloaded.
Arial (sans-serif)
Verdana (sans-serif)
Tahoma (sans-serif)
Trebuchet MS (sans-serif)
Times New Roman (serif)
Georgia (serif)
Garamond (serif)
Courier New (monospace)
Brush Script MT (cursive)
If you’re not using one of these fonts as your primary brand font, your brand guidelines should include one or two as your secondary (aka backup) typeface in case the brand font is not available. Choose whichever font is closest to matching your primary typeface.
Pro Tip: This is particularly important for your email marketing platform. It’s better to use a font listed above that you know will show up as intended in your subscriber's inbox.
Where to Find Good Fonts
A word to the wise: Be careful about where you get fonts online. Many are not well-designed and may not include different weights (among other hassles and issues that can happen).
Some of our favorite reputable sites include:
Free
Purchasing by font
Paid subscription:
You’ve just equipped yourself with Typography for Brands 101. Get out there and have fun perusing fonts!
And if you’d prefer to leave the strategy and analysis of font pairings for your business to an expert team, we got you.
Type is just one aspect of your brand. Schedule a Free Call, and we’ll help you hone in on your organization’s look and feel with our branding and marketing services.
More soon,
alyssa
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
P.S.
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