To really bring forth an established and recognizable logo it is not just about the design of the image and putting a few words up there. The font also plays a role in the way your logo represents your brand. For some it sounds like such a trivial element of logo design, but would you believe that some companies go as far as to dissect the font their potential partner or competition uses because they know a lot about the font in logo design?
In essence, the font you choose can go a long way to building your brand image, and just to enlighten you we are going to tell you exactly why!
Why is Reading About Font Selection for a New Logo Design Important?
Once you have read the surprisingly detailed information below that covers such a small and seemingly inconsequential aspect of logo design, you will be just that little bit wiser when it comes to using the font in logo design. Think of designing a new logo as a jigsaw that needs all the elements to match to show off the finished picture. Every jigsaw has its personality just like every photo or painting. It can tell someone a lot about the personality behind it, which is partly why works of art can sell for millions, and in some cases are priceless. As such, the font your logo embraces will play a part in building your brand image!
Therefore, take the time to read the sections below. It will take just a couple of minutes of your time and we hope it will enlighten you. One thing is for sure when you create a new logo or hire a designer to do it, after reading this guide you will most certainly be taking fonts into consideration!
The Mix of Colours, Fonts, and Image Tells a Story About Your Brand
OK, so imagine your company is looking for an infrastructure development fund to invest in, or it could be a business looking for a design company to create an attractive website. When you are looking through the company’s portfolio or brochure you notice that the company uses ‘Times New Roman’ for its logo text. Now, this may not bother you at all, but if the roles were reversed and it was a company considering hiring your firm, there are some that would give your services a wide berth just because you used ‘Time New Roman’.
Why? There are many reasons. It may be because your logo uses one of the most common font types out there instead of choosing one of the many funky fonts available. Plus, the ‘Times New Roman’ font may not suit the industry your business operates! Yes, fonts can match industries and we will cover more on this subject in the next section.
Fonts Have Personality Traits!
Ok, so the ‘Times New Roman’ example may not always be a bad choice depending on the industry in which your business operates. We just used that as an example. In fact, this font generally means that your business personality is stable, practical, mature, and formal! Great for a law firm or an accountancy company, but certainly not good for a design company, marketing firm, or hedge fund management company.
The issue with ‘Times New Roman’ for most companies is that it is just too traditional—so much so that Microsoft removed it as their default font on Microsoft Office products—Yes! They really went that far as to change it!
Here is how some other fonts giveaway the personality or brand image of your business:
- Serif—Classic, Traditional, and Trustworthy
- Decorative—Dramatic, Stylized, and Distinctive
- Script—Unique and Elegant
- Handwritten—Informal and Artistic
- Slab Serif—Confident, Bold, and Quirky
Examples of companies that use Script fonts are Ford and Instagram. Elegant and unique is the story both are trying to project while they are vastly different companies in industries worlds apart, so doesn’t this contradict what we were saying above?
Ford Font in Logo Design Explained
You may disagree with Ford’s characterization, but this is a company that formed in 1903 and the Script style came as early as 1909 and all the way until now has changed very little. Back then fonts arguably had more meaning than they do today, and Ford was elegant and unique back then while today a good deal of you may not agree—but due to the company’s long history, there are still plenty of people classified as Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y that still see Ford as the pioneer of car manufacturing, hence the logo font still stands despite the fact it is perhaps not as elegant and unique as it once was.
Instagram Font in Logo Design Explained
Now Instagram we all must agree with. The social media site is both unique and elegant in so many ways. Its uniqueness is obvious- it is a social media site that relies almost entirely on visuals, and what’s more, is that there is no other site designed in the same way. Pinterest comes close but works differently to Instagram. As far as elegance is concerned, Instagram rarely has any bad press. The site is there for people to express themselves via pictures and images. As they say, a picture can speak a thousand words!
Font in Logo Design – How Your Font Could Lose Your Company Business!
To some company decision-makers, the use of the wrong font shows an absence of vision, laziness, and a lack of understanding of the industry in your business operates. It can also be a sign that your company likes to take shortcuts. The logo image could be fantastic, and the colors spot-on, but in the eyes of the company that was considering your services, the job on your logo is only two thirds complete i.e., what is to say that your company will put 100% effort into their contract as your logo is only 66.66% complete!
It sounds crazy to think that there are companies out there that think this way, and guess what? The companies that do think this way tend to be the billion-dollar PLCs, LTDs, and LLCs with fancy logos and custom fonts. Fonts these companies spend tens of thousands of dollars to produce, and more money to patent it! That last fact is the final icing on the cake that proves just how important font in logo design is in the world of business.