Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Energizer, Toy Story and Google. While one the surface it may seem like this random string of words may not have anything in common, I’d like to pose this question: Were you able to picture each one? If you were, what was it that you saw in your head? Was it perhaps their typeface? In the design world, one typically links a brand to their logo. It’s the case with the Nike Checkmark, the Lacoste Alligator and the Starbucks Siren. However, just as a brand’s logo is vital to its brand identity, so is its typeface.
When you think of Coca-Cola, you can probably picture the beautiful and lavish script, Energizer is white, bold and thick, Toy Story looks bubbly, warm and youthful, and Google is modern and minimalistic. Though neither of their brand identities are similar to one another, they are all memorable, and that’s what a strong typeface can accomplish.
However, the importance of a typeface goes beyond just thinking of a certain brand. It also has the power to make you feel a specific mood, as author Cath Caldwell states in her book “Graphic Design For Everyone: Understand the Building Blocks so You Can Do It Yourself.”
Mood for thought
With more than 171,000 words in the English language, there are bound to be words that can elicit specific reactions or moods. Whether it’s happy, warm, excited or anxious, words have the ability to make one feel something. To test this, I chose six nouns at random and created three variations of each word in an attempt to evoke a mood by only changing its font.
Though each font is different, they each convey the same word and emotion. The mood is clear and readers will likely feel it with each variation.
What’s your type?
Fonts also play a vital role in the mood designers wish to portray. As with the case above, there are typefaces that are bold that elicit strength, and those that are minimalistic and clean and evoke softness. There are also those that we can all recognize and may feel annoyed with after overuse— I’m looking at you Comic Sans and Papyrus.
Because fonts have been around for decades, it’s easy to cling to our favorites when writing or designing. A font I’ve personally been leaning toward for about five years now is Futura. Created by Paul Renner in 1927, Futura is a versatile and elegant font that feels timeless. While I first began using Futura because it was my department’s official font, I’ve since begun using it on my own because it helps me create modern and clean designs. Its design is based on simple geometric forms— triangles, squares and circles— giving it a refined and tasteful look.
As a way to frame my enthusiasm for the font, I created the Type Specimen below. A specimen’s is to feature a font and highlight how it can be used in various ways. Typically, one uses these as examples when proposing a font to a client.
When creating my Type Specimen for Futura, I wanted to keep its geometric forms as the star of the poster, which is why I featured its capitalized and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols as a right angle on the top right hand corner. I also used the curvature of the U’s to guide the kind of Futura fonts one can find and chose those colors because the neon tones give off a futuristic vibe.
Brand Identity
After diving deep into the world of fonts, typefaces and typography this week, I wanted to apply what I learned to the small business rebranding I created last week. Customers expect brands to be consistent and professional, so I developed a brand identity package with a local ramen shop called Dragon Warrior Noodle, where you’ll find a consistent theme, minimalistic typography and clean graphic elements.
Included in my brand identity package are the business cards I created that are sleek, modern and within theme, a restaurant invoice that can be used to order supplies, which also utilized the business card’s graphic elements to keep in theme, and a menu in the same color scheme. Additionally, I designed a staff uniform utilizing my new logo and used the website www.placeit.net to show what a face mask, apron and t-shirt would look like on an actual person. I also created promotional merchandise for potential giveaways and used PlaceIt once again to put my logo on a mug, phone grip and a baseball cap.
What I’m taking away at the end of this week is the vital role typography plays in graphic design. It has the power to impact how the audience feels, as well as help ensure they have memorable impact. Brand identity is just as important for businesses as you want customers— both past and potential— to feel comfortable in the place they are patronizing.
In the end, all elements in the design process should be heavily researched and considered for the successful outcome of the physical or digital environment they are being designed for.