How to Choose the Right Font for Your Logo

Often it’s not what you say, but how you say it. Choosing the right font is the difference between saying something with sincerity or sarcasm, between sounding knowledgeable and unsure. So how can you make sure you choose a font that lets your business speak with the voice it deserves?

Font categories

At the most basic level ,fonts can be divided into several categories: serif, sans serif, handwriting, script and display.

• Serif fonts are the most traditional. These fonts, which have lines at the end of each stroke, look professional and classic. Times New Roman is one of the most commonly used serif fonts.
  
  
• Sans serif fonts have a much more clean and modern look, as they don’t have the lines on the end of strokes.
  
  
• Handwriting fonts are designed to look more human and usually look warm and inviting.
  
  
• Script fonts are very elegant and can suggest luxury. Like handwriting fonts, they have a personal touch.
  
  
• Display fonts are typically reserved for logos because they’re so distinctive.

Once you’ve decided broadly what you want your font to say about your brand, you can look within the category family to find the perfect font that represents exactly what your business is about.

Multiple fonts

You’ll notice that most big brands stick to one font. This allows a strong single message to be sent to the consumer. Occasionally, the biggest brands use additional fonts for advertising purposes or in the logos of sub-brands.

Whether you want to use multiple fonts in your logo or as part of an advert, you need to make sure the fonts complement each other.

As you might imagine, wildly different fonts won’t sit well together, but neither will fonts with minor, subtle differences. Your eyes should give you a good idea of whether different fonts go together, but as a general rule, a script font with a sans serif or serif font works well.

Scaling, spacing and case

As well as choosing your font, you’ll want to think about scaling, spacing and case.

• Case

  The use of case can complement the font used to emphasise the particular message you’re trying to send consumers. Uppercase doesn’t always have to suggest strength.
  
  

• Scaling

  The scaling of a font refers to how wide or narrow the individual letters are. Usually, you’ll want a regular scale but making your font particularly wide or narrow can create a distinctive style.
  
  

• Spacing

  This refers to the gaps between the letters.

Conclusion

The font you choose will go a long way in determining how your brand represents your company, but it won’t go all the way. You still have other important design decisions to make.

As long as every decision is made with the purpose of reinforcing your brand message, you’ll find that your logo says not only what you want, but how you want.

SOURCE: UCreative