Never underestimate the power of the font you choose for your brand’s logo.
As the primary symbol of your brand, your logo should express its personality and the qualities or sentiments that you want people to associate it with.
The right font will enhance your logo, helping it to convey what you want it to express. The wrong font, however, could send out all the wrong signals—and that’s the last thing you want.
Some entrepreneurs and owners of small E-commerce businesses try to reduce costs by trying to handle their brands’ graphics design needs themselves. For those who may have studied graphic design, the task may not be too difficult, but for those with little to no experience, it can be full of pitfalls.
One of those pitfalls is the choice of font when designing the logo. You need to know right now that choosing a font after a 5-second glance at the options in MS Word simply because it “looks nice” is not the way to go.
Bad Business Typography Is Bad
You might wonder why bad typography is a no-no in brand logos, and the answer to that is simple. The wrong choice of typeface or font can convey the wrong message. An example of a typeface is Times New Roman, while examples of fonts are Times New Roman Regular, Bold, and Italic.
To give you an extreme example of how poor typography can sabotage your brand, let’s say you set up your own legal practice or open a funeral home.
In both instances, you would want your logo to express trustworthiness, dignity, professionalism, and approachability. You will never achieve that if you use Comic Sans, a cartoonish and childish typeface that’s difficult to take seriously.
Bad typography can make your logo and your business look cheap, tacky, and unreliable. It could even make it difficult for potential customers to recognize your brand from among the countless others vying for their attention.
A good choice of typeface and font for your logo will have the opposite effect. Your logo will stand out from the crowd, express the sentiments and personality you associate with your business, and inspire confidence and trust in your potential customers.
Let’s explore the basics of choosing the right font for your logo.
1. Start With Personality
The first thing you should do when designing a logo is to decide on your brand’s personality. Ask yourself if your brand is primarily elegant and dignified, bold and energetic, sporty and adventurous, quirky and creative, or gentle and homely.
When you know what sort of personality you want to express, you can think about some of the more practical elements involved in choosing a typeface and font for the logo.
A few examples of font and personality are:
- Serif fonts—Traditional, trustworthy, and classic
- Sans serif—clean, minimalist, and modern
- Slab serif—Confident, bold, and just a little quirky
- Handwritten—artistic yet informal
- Script—One-of-a-kind elegance
- Decorative—Dramatic and distinctive
2. Fonts Must Be Legible
Your logo won’t be of much use to anyone if no one can read the font. A typeface that looks like cursive handwriting, or a typeface that looks like dripping paint or blood, may seem like a good idea at the time. But if it’s not legible, people are likely to skip over your logo.
Legibility in your logo is even more important when it’s reduced into a profile picture or thumbnail on social media platforms.
Avoid using light-colored text on light backgrounds, and dark-colored text on dark backgrounds. Contrasting colors are easier to read.
3. Choose Different Fonts For Brand Name And Slogan
Your logo should be the primary statement you want to make about your brand, and your slogan should complement that statement.
This means the slogan should say something about your business, the starting point of your business, or something else that would further attract potential customers.
By using two different fonts that pair well together, you create balance, readability, contrast, and visual hierarchy in your design. A few examples of good pairings include:
- Modern font logo and slab-serif slogan
- Serif font logo and sans-serif slogan
- Script or handwritten font logo and sans-serif slogan
This tip is flexible, as pairing different fonts is not a necessity. For a simpler approach, use the same font for the logo and slogan.
4. Use A Symbol Or Monogram With A Thin Logo Font
It’s easy to see why thin fonts are so trendy. They’re elegant, stylish, and minimalistic—unfortunately, they don’t scale down well as social media profile images, and they don’t always work well in print.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use thin fonts in your logo, though. Instead, you should pair it with a monogram or symbol that offers greater visibility. If need be, you can use the monogram or symbol as a substitute for the full logo, such as when using it as a profile picture on Facebook or Instagram.
5. Keep The Logo Simple
Simplicity should be a guiding principle when choosing fonts and designing logos. As your brand’s logo is likely to appear in different sizes in a variety of media and settings, it’s essential to keep it simple and uncluttered.
That way, you never need to worry about how the image will scale down or up. Instead, the design should be instantly recognizable, even when viewed as a thumbnail on a smartphone or laptop screen.
6. Color Is Optional
Color is an essential but secondary part of logo design. Your logo design—including font choice—should be effective even when color is absent. The font, as well as the other design elements, should convey the same personality and message when viewed in black and white.
Conclusions
Times New Roman, Calibri, and Comic Sans and Papyrus aren’t the only typefaces and fonts out there. There are various nuances to consider, and when well-chosen, a font can make a world of difference to your E-commerce brand and its growth potential.
Picking the right font is as important as selecting the right type of logo, and together, the two can be a powerful marketing weapon.
