In the present day digital landscape, there is a growing awareness regarding design, typography and how things look around them.

There is no doubt about the fact that, typography plays a crucial role in design which is evident from different examples that we see around us everyday – websites, logos, CD covers, posters, billboards, etc.

However, when it comes to logos, one may ask, “Is it really important to select the right typography”? “Is it only about the looks or there is something extra that the ideal typography can express through a logo”? Provided below are the reasons as to why choosing the appropriate typography is important to design an effective and appealing logo.

Successful Branding

In simple words, a brand can be defined as the unique personality of your business. In a more detailed way, a brand can be defined as the psychological and emotional relationship that your business shares with your customers. It is the gut feeling of a person towards your services, products or company. Having a clear perception of “what is a brand” will help you to understand the significance of typography in logo design.

When it comes to your business, the primary aim is to attract people towards your business and increase chances of lead and profit. Typography plays a huge role towards invoking a wide array of emotions and feelings, ultimately leading to the creation of an image for your brand. The use of the right font in your logo helps to gain the attention of people willing to know more about your services and/or products. The use of the right typography helps you to convey a feeling of trust, reliability and support which is crucial to build and expand your brand. Virgin makes use of a handwritten logo with a right slant indicating the self-assertiveness, self-confidence and the positive attitude of the company. The use of the red color also helps to assert courage and confidence which plays a crucial role in the overall branding efforts of the company.

Avoiding Complicacy

Simplicity is the key to success for your logo design. When you make use of complex fonts within your logo design, not only it destroys the main purpose of the logo but, make it difficult for people to relate it to your brand. Apart from that, use of complex fonts may also make it difficult to print your business logo of varying sizes on different materials.

The main purpose of providing your brand with an identity is to get the message communicated to your target audience. If the fonts used in the logo make it difficult to for the audience to apprehend it then, the whole purpose of having a logo gets lost somewhere. It is always better to avoid fonts like Comic Sans, Curlz MT, Papyrus, etc. while designing a logo as they simply don’t find their place when it comes to graphic design. The Coca Cola logo uses the typeface known as ‘Spencerian Script’ which gives it a playful, simple and distinctive look and stands apart from the rest in its own niche.

Uniqueness

They key to the success of a logo apart from being simple, is uniqueness and majority of graphic designers will agree to this fact. If the logo you have designed for your business matches with the design of another logo, how would customers feel about brand?

By using the right typeface, you can easily make your logo look distinct and different from any other brand. This will not only help you create a distinguishable identity but, help people relate to your services and/or products in a more humane way. It is only through strong branding and a well-thought out logo design that you can establish the identity of your brand in the present day competitive market. For instance, the handwritten logo of MailChimp ideally describes the friendly and informal nature of this email newsletter platform in a very unique and appropriate manner.

Conveying the Right Message

You would definitely agree to the fact that, that the wrong font can entirely ruin your logo design. Choosing from such a wide variety of fonts available is no doubt a difficult task and you may get confused. However, through proper research, trial and error and detailed analysis, it is possible to select a font for your logo that helps you to convey the right message through your brand.

Selecting the font for your logo is like choosing the proper dress for an occasion. Would you ever go to a company meeting dressed in casual clothes like jeans and a cool t-shirt? Obviously not! You would prefer a business suit that goes perfectly well with the occasion. Similarly, choosing the right font helps you to reinforce the message and theme of your logo design.

Let’s say you run a financial firm. Conveying a feeling of trust should be your main priority so that people feel safe and secure to use your services. Therefore, if the logo of your company makes use of fonts then, it should exude a sense of professionalism and reliability that would attract people towards using your services. For that, you would require a font that is elegant and simple conveying a sense of confidence and trust. Fonts like Optima – Regular, Bembo – Medium, Interstate, FF Kievit etc. are quite acceptable fonts for designing logos for financial companies. Or Say for example, you own a children’s toy store and want a logo for your company. Which font to choose for your logo? Well, the options are plenty and you can choose from a wide-range of fonts that would seriously appeal to your little audience. Fonts like KG-ABC, Schoolbell, Little Miss Priss, etc. are some creative and eye-catchy fonts that perfectly suit the taste of children of different ages. They are friendly, warm and funny which is what you would desire for your children’s toy store. Baskin Robbins which is a world renowned ice cream franchise makes use of a customized italic typeface along with colors like blue, pink and white that embodies elegance, excellence, reliability and purity. If you take a look at the logo closely, you’ll notice the letter ‘31’ being spelled out by the letters ‘B’ and ‘R’.

Grabbing Immediate Attention

Wouldn’t you love it, if the logo that was designed for your business grabs immediate attention from the audience? Surely, you will but, that’s no easy task to achieve. You have to remember one thing – the logo will be used across different mediums for branding and marketing purpose. Starting from letterheads to business cards to flyers, brochures, etc. your business logo will be incorporated throughout different mediums to make people aware of your brand. So, it becomes a necessity to provide your logo with an appeal and charm of its own that can easily grab the viewer’s attention.

Several factors need to be considered like readability, pairing (in case, you decide to use two fonts), size, leading, tracking and color while designing a typographic logo for your company. Finding the perfect font for your logo design requires a significant amount of research to ensure that, it represents your brand or business in a way you desire. This is definitely a time consuming process and you need to be extremely patient with the task. If you decide to hire a professional logo design company for the job then, you should be prepared to discuss your business and its goals in detail with them. It is always a better idea to modify the font to some extent so as to make it look like your own. However, you need to be careful as the essence of the font should be lost in the process.

Legibility, as already discussed, is another huge factor that you need to consider in order to make it work across different platforms. You need to think how the logo will look in different marketing collaterals used by your company as well as on your website, letterheads, business cards, etc. If you take a look at the Facebook logo your attention is immediately grabbed by the straight-sided, elegant characters easily recognizable in the blue background. It is one of the best examples of an elegant logo with a simple and eye-catchy design.

Creating a unique and amazing logo will not only require a lot of thought, brainstorming and effort but, also consideration of different factors like, where the logo may be used in future for further brand enhancement.

An Aesthetic Appeal

All the hard work, effort and dedication that you put in towards creating your logo are mostly to generate an appeal that easily engages your target audience.

An eye-catchy logo goes a long way towards making your brand identifiable among the crowd and creates a unique identity of its own. A logo that instantly grabs the attention of the audience helps you to further enhance the reach and exposure of your brand in different ways.

Let’s take the example of the famous logo of ‘FedEx’. If you take a look at the logo it instantly creates a feeling of liking and trust. Not because, that you know it’s one of the most reputed brands of the world but, the fact that, it has a simple design with a lot of creativity and hidden meaning. Have you ever noticed the hidden ‘white arrow’ that is visible between the letters ‘E’ and ‘x’? The main purpose behind the ‘arrow’ is to communicate speed, movement and dynamic nature associated with the business. This legendary logo has won more than forty design awards and the best part is that, the design looks extremely simple, even to a child. That’s the point. The idea is not to make your logo overly fascinating with combination of fonts and colors but, to create a design that is simple yet striking.

Now, what about the colors used in the FedEx logo? The idea was to provide the logo with good visibility so that it’s identifiable even from a long distance. The font used for the FedEx was ‘Univers 67’ but, it was after a lot of tweaks, mixing and matching that the actual logo was produced. You may be wondering that, ‘it’s just a simple logo and do I really need to care about so many things’? If you really wish to making an engaging effect with your business logo the, the answer is ‘yes’.

A Professional Image

Apart from quality of work, efficiency and punctuality, what is the thing that you expect from a graphic design company whom you have hired to design your company logo? Professionalism! Isn’t it?

You would definitely agree to the fact that, your business needs a professional image above anything else, so that people feel confident about the products and/or services you are offering. The font used in your logo design helps you to convey a feeling of professionalism about your company. As already discussed, fonts have the capability to convey different types of feeling and emotions. A font can show a casual attitude, professionalism, creative flair or authority. If it’s a business logo that you are trying to create then, choosing a professional font can work wonders for your brand.

Frutiger, Myriad Pro, Proxima Nova, Helvetica, Charlotte Sans, etc. are some examples of professional fonts that are used widely by graphic designers all over the world. Gaining the trust and attention of the audience becomes a lot easier if you project a professional image of your business through a well-designed logo. The IBM (International Business Machines) logo which is one of the most easily recognizable logos of the world makes use of the font ‘City Medium’ with certain modifications, to give it a more professional well-balanced and grounded look that goes perfectly with its corporate image.

Conclusion

It is quite clear from the above discussion that, fonts have a significant role to play when it comes to logo design. They help you to establish a tone for your business which goes a long way towards making your products and/or services widely acceptable by the people. It is obvious that, confusion will arise while choosing the right type of font for designing your logo. However, thorough research, analysis and a clear concept about what you are trying to achieve with your business will help you filter down the best options available, to a great extent. A simple mistake here and there can prove fatal for your brand, leading to further worries and headaches in the future.