Typography In Building Brand Identity And Brand Recognition

The purpose of writing this paper is to create awareness about the power typography in brand building. People have known the importance of writing since the time of its invention but the importance of its lettering style is less popular fact. Typography is an art form that can manipulate the significance of what it communicates. Under its influence the context of communication, understanding typography is especially important when developing a brand identity. This research paper aims to give you a high level understanding of typography includes the specifications of font like style, form, type. Consideration of typography from very beginning is an ideal way to develop a brand identity and it helps to the overall design of brand architecture.

Introduction

Selection of an appropriate typography can be simple and non-obvious, or it can actually enhance your communication. All types of communication in association with brand will utilise this typographic decision. Whenever typography plays an important role in a brand identity, it makes the brand look very appealing to a reader, for good text copy or a catchy headline. It has the ability to provoke its reader & more over remember the design again and again which is popularly known as ‘its recall value’ ! Which is one of the important quality of good branding?

Type has a personality. Selection of right typeface means selecting one that instills your program with the right feeling. The choice begins with serif and san serif fonts. Personality is an important consideration when selecting a typeface, but apart from this, legibility, readability, flexibility and consistency are also important factors to consider for brand identity.

Importance of Typography

Typography is an art or a process of arranging type or data in a most desirable way in context to send the correct message to the targeted audience.

In principle, typography is arranging text in an interesting and legible way that gets the message across most appropriately. It includes the layout, spacing, sizes, hierarchy, colour and integration of type across a variety of mediums.

Any design that has text has some degree of typography involved, whether good or bad. Everything in your brand design from logo, website, signage, poster, packaging, documents or an app to anything containing words, text is typographic, making typography a huge visual brand beyond your realisation.

Ideally, Typography always carries its own history, which often shades the meaning of what is being written. Brand identities built with typographic elements in concert with images may strive for a bit more of viewer than those built with images alone, but the impact created is deeper and long lasting memories.

Branding needs good design as well as recall value. Consistency in branding design is an important aspect keeping the recall value as main focus. Typography can turn out to be the brilliant component in branding and its recall value. Use of colour plays a very vital role into branding but at the same time appropriate selection of font can turn out a strong influence on branding and its recall value.

Typography Impacts Experience

Typography is a critical part of the design, but unfortunately, it is not always well planned. One can create excellent exemplification, graphics and other contents but if the typography of the product design is not good, it could easily turn off potential buyers of any product or service.

When we consider typography, it is not just about selecting and using a particular font, all typographic elements should also be arranged correctly in your design, the visual arrangement, the colour contrast, breathing space, the fonts selection and size of the font. Every typographic element impacts your design on both macro and micro stage.

It simply means, typography is the style and way of presentation of the text. When a company is developing a brand identity, a persistent type of fonts should be used with a particular reason. Typography enables you to create a particular context and have a certain personality. It can be modern, vintage, romantic, shy or rigid just by selecting an appropriate typeface and creating it rightly. Extra efforts on typography can help to express the personality of your brand.

People experience brand through words in many situation, whether seeing an ad on TV, reading the newspaper, or a page of website or looking at the name of your product on the shelf in the supermarket, its all experience. So to create positive connotations for brand, positive experiences are a must. Meaningful typography is the zest of brand identity. Like the colour has meaning for brand, typography is equally as powerful in representing the values and tone of brand design. Each classification of typeface has a different set of connotations and hence it will create a different representation of the brand as who and what the brand is all about. It is the image that grabs the initial attention but consciously and subconsciously it influences by the way in which a brand uses its typographic composition the choice of font, and it encompasses everything about who that brand is. A typeface can create emotion (happiness, sad, etc) enhance a theme, spark interest, add personality and it also conveys the trust which is crucial for brand image to make it successful and memorable brand design.

Typography Builds Brand Recognition

The typographic choice we make can have a serious effect on how people perceive a brand. The Typography represents the tone and values of brand. Every category of the font has a different meaning and consequently it portray a different representation of branding.

Typography contributes hugely making up in the brands visual identity and can therefore become integral to the audience perceives and remembers the identity.

Most of us can recall and recognize the fonts associated with brands like Coca Cola, Disney and Harry Potter and at the same time people are witnessed the brands like Apple, Google changing their well known typography. Companies like Netflix, Apple Coca Cola have created their own typefaces in a move to make typography a more considered part of their identity. One must learn to admire a brand considering their typography. The tone, feel of the typography is creating an image which gives you a good experience or not so much. Is it consistent, and has a recall value ?

Large corporations simply use typographical compositions in their logos to highlights the impact fonts can have, not having to be used in conjunction with any added graphic or symbol. The focus on the form the letters, the spacing and the size.

Typography is very expressive therefore making the right choice is sometimes turn out to be the most difficult task in brand communication. Certain types of brands certain types of fonts can be attributed to a ‘trend effect’. This can be a collective interpretation of design, absorbed through our likes and dislikes and also understanding the culture we are part of.

So it is important to choose right font for the successful brand communication. Just like a logo or colour palette, the right font can help consumers identify the key characteristics behind a brand’s attitude and encourage them to make positive association with its products and services. Consistency in typography across different communication channels establishes a sense of empathy and loyalty between the brand and its audience over time, and is an unquestionable asset in a good branding. So the task is to choose the suitable font for brand. A various parameters and features affect the stylistic and functional properties of a typeface.

With the modernisation of type design tools and the boom of available designs, one can pick up the desired font. Being aware of the interpretation of the emotional qualities conveyed by a typeface will always be helpful.

How to Select an Appropriate Font

The initial concern in choosing a font for a project should be that it matches the message or purpose of the design. While making a choice, one must have a blueprint in the mind that should match up the font that one want to use. This is important because every typeface has its own mood or personality. It may be Serious, casual, playful or elegant. Designer need to be confirm upon the decision about a particular font, its feel and whether that fits with your design.

If the characteristics the font is communicating do not match the message of overall design, then there are chances of having visual conflicts for its viewer. The choice has to be done by considering whether a serif or sans serif design is suitable. Serifs originate from carved inscriptions, mostly from the Roman Imperial period. This deep-rooted history brings with it an inescapable association between serifs and their antique origins, making serif fonts more suited to cultivated, academic and more thoughtful communication.

The advantage of serif letters has been understood for hundreds of years of print-based typography; The internal density that serifs provide also creates more clearly defined horizontal rows of text.

Sans serifs, made their first appearance in the 19th century and were used initially for commercial headlines and advertisements. In the age of print revolution, their low contrast and absence of serifs made most sans typefaces harder to follow for general reading and so they were not a suitable choice for the text book, magazine or newspaper. With the modern age technology brought resurgence in the popularity of the sans serif. The complexity and density of the serif fonts did not always perform well in digital form.

Conclusion

Typographic palette for any designer is very important as well as it has an emotional angle as it insures an increased brand consistency to marketing communications. While selecting the correct font for branding it is important to consider the feel, tone and attribute of the brand. Typefaces are associated with the brand attributes very strongly. The need of using the appropriate font makes the designer create a new font to draw visual attention to the brand. With the right typography one can not only communicate the brands strengths, but it can increase its memorability. This is a true power of typography, so it has a strong influence in brand design.