Five Font Tips for Your Brand
Decades have passed with Times New Roman as the default font used in word processors, but you aren't limited to that classic anymore. The internet is filled with a growing selection of fonts, some free, some expensive, but not all good. Let's cover five quick tips for good font use to represent your business.
1. Limit Your Font Selections to Two or Three Fonts
At EstateSales.NET we use the font Montserrat for headings because it is a clean, easy to read font at large and small sizes. Lato is the font we use for paragraph text to clearly separate headings from paragraphs. Limiting ourselves to only using these two fonts on our website gives our brand a consistent look and quality on every page.
Defining the fonts, you will use and how you will use them will lend consistency to any message your company displays, whether it's signs in front of a sale or a graphic uploaded to social media.
Useful site for finding good (and mostly free)font pairings:
https://fontpair.co/
2. Use Clean and Simple Fonts
There are countless fonts available on the internet. Some are good, some not so much. When selecting fonts to represent your company, make sure they are clean, simple, and legible at different sizes. You want fonts that will work on something as small as a business card and as large as a billboard.
Looking for some new good quality fonts? Check out Google's free collections:
https://fonts.google.com/
3. Change Font Weights Instead of Adding New Fonts For Variation
Most fonts come with multiple weights: Bold, Thin, Medium. If you limit your designs to 2 or 3 fonts, you will need to use different font weights to add variation. For example, you might use Bold for headings, medium for subheadings, and light for paragraph text.
4. Be Careful Using Script Fonts
Script fonts can make for a very classy looking formal invitation, but they can be challenging to read. Any digital or printed content you make available for customers and clients should be easy to read to prevent missing out on their business over a simple miscommunication.
5. Check for Commercial Use on Any Free to Download Fonts
Googling "free fonts" returns over 17 Billion results. Some fonts may be free to download, but not free to use for commercial or professional uses. On the download page for a font, you might see phrases like "free for personal use only" or "commercial license available," meaning that you could be held financially liable for payment for using the font if you haven't licensed the font.
How can you be 100% certain you are using legal fonts?
- Download from free to use, legal collections like Google Fonts
- Purchase fonts from online font shops, such as www.myfont.com, www.fonts.com, www.fontshop.com, Adobe Fonts
- Use the default fonts that came with your computer. Most of them have been made available for any use.
Thoughtful font selections for your websites, emails, print materials, and even yard signs can be a simple but effective way to build your brand's visual appeal.
If you are looking for additional resources on typography, check out these resources: