It is a funny quirk that many of us can own up to having a favourite font! For me it is Times New Roman and I am sure there are experts out there who would perhaps say it was because I am a traditionalist at heart! But joking aside, choosing fonts when it comes to business for things like a logo design or marketing materials does require some careful thinking. It seems our choice of fonts can say rather more to potential customers than a business name or your latest promotions.
Although there are literally thousands of different fonts or typefaces out there, most of us will connect with the more familiar ones. Fonts like arial, comic sans and courier all stand out as being easily recognizable and common throughout all forms of media. However, it seems a particular font can present an image of your business that you may not have even considered.
Comic sans for instance is one of those fonts that you either love or hate. It has a casual feel to it and can often be found on materials relating to entertainment, children’s services or café menus. But given the casual nature of this font you would not want to use it if you were promoting legal services or looking to get a foothold in corporate business.
Arial has become the standard for pretty much everything these days, but many think it is a boring font for use in business and boring is not an image you would want to project if you want to market yourselves as a young, energetic, up-and-coming company! At the other end of the scale, script style fonts are great for wedding invitations, but they can be difficult to read in terms of logo design especially where they are reproduced in small sizes.
When it comes to business image is everything and your choice of font is important when it comes to creating the right impression with customers. For instance a logo design with a fun graphic but a conservative typeface could leave customers confused, whilst an overly funky font on the logo of a firm of lawyers could see clients labelling you a bunch of clowns!
Choosing the right fonts for your promotional materials is perhaps less about personal taste and more about what projects the right image to your customers. You do not have to like the font you use, but if it gives the right message to potential clients then you need to go with it. And it goes without saying that once you choose a font you need to use it across everything related to your business, from your stationery and logo design, to business publications and your website.
Web design throws up an interesting point however, because not all fonts are web friendly and conversely what works nicely on the web may not work so well in hard print! Little wonder so many revert back to our old friends arial and verdana!
If you thought picking a font for your business would be easy then think again. Take notice of what your design company recommends and check out what other like-for-like businesses are using, judge for yourself if you think they work well and if you think they project the right image. It may not be your favourite font but if it brings in the customers it has to be worth living with.