Typefaces Matter: Choosing fonts for your brand to tell your company’s story
Dec 11, 2023
The fonts used in your business’s brand affect how people perceive it. Like going to the grocery store, you’re more likely to notice products based on their packaging. Eye-catching imagery, bright colors, and slick designs attract you to specific products.
Your brand’s fonts do the same thing.
They can make your company look trustworthy and capable or give off an unprofessional vibe, causing people to ignore you.
So, let’s see how you can choose fonts for your brand that show it’s still professional, whether those fonts are more traditional or exciting in appearance.
What makes a font look professional?
There are a few definitions for the word “professional.” It’s typically associated with engaging in an activity or occupation that pays you or has business-like qualities.
The term is even more specific when the meaning extends to what people see. To have a “professional appearance” is to exude confidence, expertise, or skill.
Let’s take this further into what makes a nice business font. At a basic level, good business fonts are legible, readable, and flexible. But since we’re talking about how it relates to your brand, professional fonts distinctively represent it, even if you’re using the world’s most popular typeface, Helvetica.
Professional fonts don’t have to be dull. How you use them enables your brand to convey the competence and reliability you want it to be known for.
Choosing brand fonts with personality
Some fonts, like Fabiola from Sproviero Type, are playful, intricate, and luxurious. While others like type foundry, Lettersoup’s versatile Apparat offers an adaptable sans serif font that works across industries.
Even Times New Roman has a personality of its own.
No matter which font you use, each one sends a message. Some fonts are more assertive. Others are more subdued and subtle. Meanwhile, you might find additional typefaces that are almost incomprehensible in their appearance.
When choosing the right solution for your business, it’s important to ask yourself a few key questions to ensure you pick one that works best for it.
- – What types of customers/clients do you want to reach?
- – If your brand were a movie character, how would you describe it?
- – What do you want people to take away from the brand when they see it?
As you navigate the vast sea of options, the questions above become guiding stars, steering you toward the fonts that authentically reflect your brand’s identity.
Good business fonts have the power to persuade
Your fonts significantly impact how your business is perceived, helping people feel confident buying from it. They can even get your customers to take action. A study found that people are likelier to complete tasks and view a company positively if their fonts are easy to read.
Other experiments revealed that different fonts can affect a person’s mood, impacting whether they feel more optimistic or pessimistic about the content they’re reading.
From your PowerPoint presentations to your emails and website, your brand’s fonts can influence people’s actions and emotions.
Picking good fonts for your brand might seem like a subtle detail, but its impact on your business is anything but small. Whether it’s shaping perceptions, prompting actions, or swaying attitudes, fonts are crucial in how your audience engages with your brand and whether they take it seriously.
Your business fonts should grow with you
Twenty years from now, where do you see your business? Hopefully, it’s a raging success, and your company has grown exponentially. But to make it big, you need a brand that people love.
They would need to consistently see your brand’s elements and create an association with them over time—yes, including its fonts.
Your brand’s fonts must be versatile enough to evolve with your business as it grows.
Clean sans serif and serif fonts tend to have a timeless quality, saving them from appearing dated. But overly ornate fonts with lots of curves and swirls can quickly look old-fashioned.
If you want to use a script or handwritten font in your brand, it should be simple in its design, legible, and not too elaborate. The busier the font, the faster it loses its charm.
Long-lasting, professional fonts for your brand
Your brand is the sum of its parts and how your customers view it. Choosing fonts that match your brand’s vibe isn’t something you should do randomly or without much thought.
These fonts don’t have to be Baskerville or Helvetica to look professional. But it’s essential to pick typefaces that embody what your brand stands for and what you want people to take away from it.
Remember that the fonts you choose aren’t just letters on a screen. They’re silent communicators shaping your brand’s narrative.