Understanding typography styles & picking the right fonts for your brand
While often overlooked in non-creative circles, typography is an essential part of graphic and website design. It can greatly impact the overall vibe of a brand, and is an amazing signifier of tone alongside brand voice.
There are many different styles of typography (and endless clever combinations) each with their own unique characteristics and conveyed styles. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most popular typography types and discuss when and how to use each style to get the right feel for your brand.
Serif
Serif fonts in black and white
Serif fonts have small lines or flourishes at the end of each letter and are considered traditional, reliable and serious. They are often used in traditional printed materials, such as books and newspapers, but work equally well online for websites such as online newspapers, serious or high-brow blogging and for businesses such as solicitors and banks. Take a look at these examples of serif fonts.
Sans-serif
Sans serif graffiti
Sans-serif fonts are much simpler in their construction as they do not have the small lines or flourishes at the end of each letter. The letterforms are much more basic and lend themselves well to digital screens such as websites and apps as they’re not as fussy for viewing on pixels. Take a look at these sans-serif fonts to get an idea of the style.
Script
Script fonts are designed to look like handwriting or calligraphy. Script typography has had a huge resurgence in both digital and printed mediums in recent years, and is very fashionable to use as a compliment to bold headings particularly for female-focussed businesses. Look at script font examples here.
Examples of display fonts in a typography book
Display
Display fonts are often much more detailed and unique, and are designed to be used at larger sizes such as headlines and titles. A quirky display font is a great way to inject a sense of fun to a brand and make sure your brand’d unique personality is on full show. Check out these examples of display fonts.
Monospace typography used for coding and development
Monospace
Monospace fonts have the same width for every character, making them great for coding and programming. They can also be used in modern, minimalist designs for digital and occasionally print. These fonts are a great choice for body copy for minimal tech brands or those looking to position themselves as disruptors. Browse some great monospace options here.
Slab-serif
Slab-serif fonts have thick, block-like serifs (like slabs, if you will). They are often used for headlines and titles in print and digital mediums, as they don’t often read well at smaller sizes. See some examples of slab-serifs.
When choosing a font, it's important to consider your audience and the message you're trying to convey.
If you’re gearing yourself to young creative women, a traditional serif font probably isn’t the best look as it fails to give off the right vibe. Instead, opt for a quirky display font for headings and sans-serif for body copy (o even monospace if you want something edgier).
A great way to understand visually how typography can impact the feel of a brand is to head on over to Pinterest and search some of your keywords. This is not about copying, but about seeing design choices others in your industry are making and deciding whether you want to follow trends or subvert them. If you have a particular typography style in mind, have a nose around online until you can find others using similar styles and see how they’re coming across. This is a great way to evaluate.
It’s clear that typography is a powerful tool for creating a specific look and feel for your brand and website design. Experiment with different styles, do plenty of research and see what works best for your business!
