Now that we've covered colors for your brand and the top design trends of 2020, it's now time to decide on your brand fonts. It's all in the details and picking the right font will distinguish between an amateur and professional. A solid font can tie your brand personality together and help you build credibility with your target audience. After all, the last thing you want is to be the brand with the cringy font.
Unless you're planning to only use icons and pictures, there's just no escaping the use of written words, even your logo will probably require a typeface. Standardizing your fonts across all visual designs and communication is a great way to show your audience that you really do care about every part of your business including the little details. If you've already created a logo, there's a good chance that you've already selected 1 font for your brand. That's a good baseline to start with. That could act as your primary font. It's a good rule of thumb to only stick to 1-3 font families for consistency.
Do a quick Google search or browse Pinterest and you'll find that there are literally hundreds and thousands of font combinations to choose from. Which one is right for you? Let's take a quick peek at the different font types available:
If you've used a computer in the 90s, you'll immediately identify these classic typefaces. A "serif" is what you call those little decorative lines at the end of a character's stroke. This classic look breeds familiarity in the literary sense and is the font of choice for extended paragraphs of text. This font type is legible and is a classic style. Use it if you're going for a classy, high-end look.
These are basically the Serif Font without the little tails at the end of the stroke. They also have similarly thick lines across the entire typeface. Because of that, this trendy typeface comes with great readability regardless of scale. These fonts look great in fine print for digital use on websites and e-readers. Mix and match these typefaces for a clean, strong font combination.
If you're looking for some throwback fonts, this is what you're looking for. Bring back old-school charm with this typewriter style typeface.
We've included these 2 typefaces but don't recommend using them as part of your brand fonts because legibility will be an issue. Script font comes in cursive and can mimic handwriting. While considered as more feminine, it doesn't really work well in a business setting and can be especially hard to skim or read through on a website. Display fonts can also be similarly problematic because of how highly stylized they are. These typefaces could possibly work for logos or with materials that have minimal texts (read as accents only).
This'll takes the same amount of thought as your color scheme. Pick fonts that'll match your brand personality. This is a subjective matter but it's a good idea to see what competitors are doing and decide from there. It's totally okay to pick the same typeface as them if it matches your brand personality.
If you're bootstrapping, you'll probably be thinking of picking a free font. There's no harm in that but be sure that they come with a commercial license. A lot of free fonts out there are demos or meant for personal use. Always check the EULA (end user license agreement) before using fonts for your business.
Avoid sites like "Dafont" or any other "Free Fonts" websites as most of the free fonts there don't come with a commercial license. Try Google Fonts for a wide range of reliable fonts for your brand. Those are mostly covered by the SIL Open Font License. If you're willing to spend a little on fonts, check out commercial websites like TheHungryJPEG or Creative Market.
Now that you've gotten a better understanding of fonts, start experimenting on font combinations to see which will work best for you. Remember this: always pick a font that's clear and easy to read. You'll want to pick something that can be used across all your designs on all your platforms. Note it down on your style guide along with your logo usage and color scheme. Keeping everything systematically in one place will ensure there's a guideline in place and that your company's marketing stays cohesive and consistent.
Now that you have that covered and need to start making sales presentations, let us know and we at Mad Creative Beanstalk have you covered. Need help picking out the right font or have something to add to the article? Drop us a message.
