Some businesses just pluck one at random, while others may spend hours agonizing over which one they want to use. Choosing the correct font(s) for your business in our humble opinion is really important, and something that will need a lot of consideration. The font represents your brand both online and offline – it could be a funky font, which might evoke some emotions surrounding being fun and carefree, or at the edge of modern tech. The font could be handwritten, which may give a feeling of organic or homemade, depending on the business type. The font could also be far too modern for your business, giving mixed messages, or likewise a font that is viewed as old fashioned, questionning is the business old-fashioned also?
There is a well known statistic that says people make up their mind about who they meet within 7 seconds – it’s the same to be said for brands and businesses too. The font is a great opportunity to show off your business personality or values, without even realising it.
There’s also the consideration of font consistency, which comes down to branding. We’ll probably rattle on about this for years to come, but in a nutshell (for today’s blog) – using too many fonts across your business and in your marketing will give the wrong impression. Even if the fonts are ones you love, using too many font types just sends out a mixed message. It’s confusing, it lacks focus, and ultimately won’t let people recognise your business and your brand. Am I lying? No. Apple have only ever used 2 fonts since they launched. And the second replaced the first.
The different font categories:
Serif: Fonts with feet, but ones you will likely recognise as they are used most common in print. They came into fashion in the 15th century (with the print machines) and were very popular for a couple of centuries. Because they’ve been around so long they’re often considered rather serious and traditional.
Sans Serif: Fonts with no feet (sans meaning without), and as such generelly look more rounded and clean (modern too!). They came into popularity in the 20s and 30s, although are seeing a resurgence now too.
Script: Or handwriting style fonts. They can be very fancy or just plain good old handwriting.
Display/Decorative: Most likely seen on a poster or somewhere to grab your attention, and usually oozing character. Not very effective as part of a brand though..!
How to choose a font
It can be a minefield but you need to think about your business before your start looking at and choosing fonts. What type of business do you have? Who are the target audience? What personality do you want to show?
Example 1: you’re creating products using honey from a hive of your own! (How fun!). So the business is organic, family friendly, targetting those who like to purchase items for the kitchen or home – we’re thinking bee wax candles and soaps. So the font you’ll be looking for would likely be a script style font, friendly and organic, down to earth, not too modern or print based.
Example 2: you’re a website design business targetting small businesses. Your values are friendliness and honesty. So as a tech business you want something clean and modern, nothing traditional (because those fonts belong on paper), but also a font that is rounded and friendly – this will give your brand a friendly vibe. Nothing too stark or straight lined, so you’ll be looking for a new sans serif font.
Other Considerations
- Make sure the font can be used easily across your marketing, and that it won’t limit what you want to do
- Try and choose a font that can be versitile – that is, a font that comes with options for different weights and italic.
- Ask a few friends or colleagues how easy to read the font it, perhaps consider the contrast of your website or paper marketing
- You can change your text spacing and height, so play around with these settings to get the perfect feel and fit for your font
- If you are starting from scratch with a new brand, we’d recommend looking for Google fonts as this will make your life much easier when it comes to websites!
- Don’t focus on one font, consider having two – one for your headings (and logo) and one for your content. In marketing materials you could go for a third, but we’d recommend playing around with different styles of your brand fonts first.